Why Do You Feel Dizzy When You Stand Up?

Dizziness is an incorrect awareness of one’s body in space or a sensation of imaginary rotation or movement of the body in space. In medicine, dizziness is divided into two main types: systemic and non-systemic . 

Systemic dizziness is felt as a rotation of the body in space and is often described as a “carousel”, while non-systemic dizziness is similar to “rocking on a ship”, a feeling of instability, unsteadiness, invisible from the outside, a feeling of a pre-fainting state. 

The main diseases that lead to systemic dizziness are: 

  • benign paroxysmal vertigo – when the otoliths in the inner ear begin to wander and irritate the receptors when the body changes in space;
  • Meniere’s disease is again a pathology of the inner ear, in which there is an excessive accumulation of fluid (endolymph);
  • vestibular neuronitis is often a viral lesion of the vestibular analyzer;
  • vestibular migraine;
  • less common: acoustic neuroma, stroke, multiple sclerosis. 

The causes of non-systemic dizziness may be the above-mentioned conditions, as well as anxiety and depression, leading to PPPD – persistent postural-perceptual dizziness. 

The presence of iron deficiency anemia and orthostatic hypotension often make themselves known by symptoms of darkening in the eyes and a feeling of instability with a sharp change in body position. 

From the above, we can conclude that the term “dizziness” is not a simple diagnosis and its cause is not “clamped vessels”, “lack of oxygen” and “osteochondrosis”, but more fundamental and complex processes in our body.