Dizziness is one of 34 recognised menopausal symptoms, albeit a lesser-known one.
You may experience faintness, feeling like everything around you is spinning (vertigo), losing your balance and becoming light-headed during hot weather, during this later stage of a woman’s life. It might help you to better handle the dizziness caused by menopause if you know why it happens and how you can support your body when it occurs.
Contributing factors
While dizziness during menopause doesn’t get highlighted much, it may affect more women than we think. Over 35% of perimenopausal and menopausal women reported experiencing dizziness at least once a week, according to one study.
Menopause-related dizziness doesn’t seem to have a single cause, but rather, can be attributed to a variety of factors, including:
Anxiety
Women may experience anxiety due to external factors such as stress and lack of sleep during menopause, caused by fluctuating oestrogen and progesterone levels. Dizziness is a symptom of anxiety, so some women may experience anxiety-related dizziness during menopause.
Dehydration
You might be dehydrated if you wake up thirsty and wrung out after night sweats, or if you continuously sweat throughout the day because of hot flashes. This can lead to dizziness.Your blood volume can decrease due to dehydration, which lowers your blood pressure and prevents your brain from getting enough blood, resulting in lightheadedness.
Fatigue
Night sweats and sleep issues are common symptoms of menopause, which can lead to fatigue and other symptoms. Women who are going through menopause report feeling tired more than 90% of the time. Having a poor night’s sleep can lead to dizziness, as you know if you’ve ever felt woozy after waking up. You can improve your sleep quality and potentially reduce fatigue by making small changes to your bedtime routine.
Hot flashes
The high heart rate and temperature of a woman’s skin caused by menopausal hot flashes often trigger secondary symptoms, such as dizziness. Dizziness during the day can also be caused by fatigue resulting from hot flashes at night, as previously mentioned.
Migraines
A migraine is another menopausal symptom that may cause dizziness due to hormonal fluctuations. When you experience migraines with brainstem aura, this sensation of dizziness is actually related to your inner ear.
Changes to the inner ear
As hormone levels fluctuate during menopause, your inner ear, which helps you maintain your balance, may be affected. These changes in your inner ear may result in you feeling off-kilter frequently.
Vertigo and dizziness can be caused by changes in progesterone and oestrogen levels in a woman’s body during menopause. However, it is unclear why these changes occur.
Unusual blood sugar levels
During menopause, hormonal changes can alter how your body regulates insulin, potentially causing your blood sugar levels to fluctuate outside the normal range.
Since dizziness is linked to both low and high blood sugar levels, it’s important to monitor your blood sugar levels throughout menopause and beyond so that you can possibly avoid this symptom. Consult your healthcare provider if you suspect that you may have glucose intolerance or diabetes.
Managing dizziness
Menopausal women can take steps to manage their dizziness, but the best course of action varies from one person to the next. Among them are:
Understanding your triggers
Menopause-induced dizziness can be caused by a number of factors. Keep a diary of when you feel dizzy, what you eat, how you sleep, and your emotions. Dizziness can be addressed once you determine what factors trigger it.
Drinking plenty of water and staying cool
When you sweat during hot flashes or in hot weather, you may experience dizziness from dehydration. For this reason, it’s important to drink lots of water and avoid overheating whenever possible.
To cope when the weather is hot, keep a refillable water bottle in your bag or on your desk so that you can grab a gulp quickly. You can also keep some wet wipes handy to pat your face and hands to help cool down, or a mist spray bottle for a refreshing spritz on the face and neck.
Prioritising nutrition
The intake of a well-balanced diet, which includes a variety of vegetables and fruits, can potentially reduce dizziness triggers such as fatigue and unstable blood sugar, as well as contribute to overall wellness during menopause.
Taking supplements
Taking a multivitamin supplement can help fill in nutritional gaps in your diet, but certain nutrients may also alleviate menopausal symptoms like disruptive night sweats, which can worsen fatigue and impact dizziness.
A healthcare provider who understands nutritional medicine and hormone optimisation will be able to put you on the path to a more holistic optimal approach.
Tips for faintness
In hot weather, women with menopausal dizziness may need to take extra precautions. During the hottest months of the year, dehydration – and dizziness – is more common than at other times of the year, especially as the body sweats to cool itself.
Whether you’re going jogging or running errands outdoors, feeling dizzy could be a sign that you need to hydrate. It can also be a symptom of heat-related illness like heat exhaustion, so seek some shade if you’re feeling dizzy.
It is recommended that you lie down and prop your feet above your heart if you feel faint or lightheaded, as this will cause blood, which contains oxygen, to rush from your feet to your head and brain. And if you do end up fainting, lying down quickly will prevent you from falling and hurting yourself.
Although dizziness during menopause may be uncomfortable, it doesn’t usually require a trip to the doctor. However, if your dizziness persists and disrupts your daily routine, or if you faint, have chest pain, have trouble breathing, or have changes in your speech or vision, you should seek medical attention quickly.
This is because the dizziness you are experiencing could be due to something other than menopausal hormone changes.
By Datuk Dr Nor Ashikin Mokhtar
Published in Star Newspaper, 23 Jan 2023
