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What Causes Sudden Dizziness And Loss Of Consciousness?
Question: Sudden onset of dizziness and disorientation, attempted to sit down and collapsed onto the floor. Four hours later, dizziness persists. No prior history of this. Checked out by EMT's, vital signs all normal. What might it be?
Brief Answer:
Need further evaluation
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
This is Dr Sameer, Cardiologist.
Dizziness & loss of consciousness at your age has a lot of causes.
Most important cardiac cause to rule out is heart block causing heart rate to decrease to a very low level causing loss of consciousness. You need further evaluation for that in form of ECG, 2D Echo.
Sometimes ECG does not show the abnormality. In that case we put a 24hr ECG monitoring called as Holter.
Other causes could be a minor stroke, blockage in Carotid arteries for which you need a MRI brain & carotid Doppler.
It could just be a vasovagal synchope(due to excessive stress) or orthostatic hypotension (due to change in posture). These 2 are also frequent causes of loss of consciousness at your age.
Hope you find this useful.
Wishing you good health
Let me know if there's any further queries
Regards
Dr Sameer Maheshwari
Need further evaluation
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
This is Dr Sameer, Cardiologist.
Dizziness & loss of consciousness at your age has a lot of causes.
Most important cardiac cause to rule out is heart block causing heart rate to decrease to a very low level causing loss of consciousness. You need further evaluation for that in form of ECG, 2D Echo.
Sometimes ECG does not show the abnormality. In that case we put a 24hr ECG monitoring called as Holter.
Other causes could be a minor stroke, blockage in Carotid arteries for which you need a MRI brain & carotid Doppler.
It could just be a vasovagal synchope(due to excessive stress) or orthostatic hypotension (due to change in posture). These 2 are also frequent causes of loss of consciousness at your age.
Hope you find this useful.
Wishing you good health
Let me know if there's any further queries
Regards
Dr Sameer Maheshwari
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Arnab Banerjee
My severely diabetic brother, who admittedly is not medically trained but knows the ramifications of blood sugar imbalance, suggested that my blood sugar may have been abnormally low at the time of the onset of my episode. I had not eaten or taken any other nourishment for some twelve hours prior to the occurrence of the event. What do you think?
Brief Answer:
Yes it could be a cause, but
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Dizziness & loss of consciousness is very common in Diabetics who takes medication but do not take regular meals. But this dizziness persists till we correct the blood sugar by giving intravenous sugar(dextrose). It does not get relieved by itself.
So yes it could be a cause but not common if it was relieved by itself.
Regards
Dr Sameer Maheshwari
Yes it could be a cause, but
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Dizziness & loss of consciousness is very common in Diabetics who takes medication but do not take regular meals. But this dizziness persists till we correct the blood sugar by giving intravenous sugar(dextrose). It does not get relieved by itself.
So yes it could be a cause but not common if it was relieved by itself.
Regards
Dr Sameer Maheshwari
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Nagamani Ng
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