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My son is 16. He is active, with normal weight and healthy

Sent to Health Experts October 15 2008 at 7:20 AM
   

My son is 16. He is active, with normal weight and healthy in every way except that for 18 months now he has recurring bouts of moderate to severe dizziness and nausea. He has to lay down sometimes for an hour sometimes it lasts a day or so. His father has custody and thinks I'm being an alarmist but I want him checked out. Doesn't recurring dizzy/nausea bouts for 18 months warrant more than your average physical exam? Isn't it wise to test his blood, xray his head, or something just to rule out anything serious?

Customer (name blocked for privacy)
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October 15 2008 at 7:24 AM (3 minutes and 56 seconds later)
         
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Yes, it does seem unusual for a 16 year old to have such severe dizziness that he has to lie down and for it to last for a day.

There are many different causes of dizziness.

Basically, the causes are divided into two, Peripheral and Central.

Peripheral causes are causes in the ear, like BPPV, labyrinthitis, vestibular weakness, etc.

Central causes are causes due to other conditions like cerebellar conditions, strokes, etc. Systemic conditions like low BP, infections, disease conditions, etc. can also cause dizziness.

You should show your doctor for this. A number of investigations need to be done to find the cause of your dizziness. Once the exact cause of dizziness is found, it can be treated.

You can look up here:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dizziness/DS00435/DSECTION=causes
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-causes-dizziness.htm

You can look up here for vertigo tests:
http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/testing/engrot.html

You can look up here for exercises:

http://www.drarmstrongmd.com/vestibularexercises.doc

http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/treatment/rehab.html




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