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Felt Dizzy After Smoking Cigarette. How To Diagnose The Problem?
Question: Just had 5 pints of Guinness over 4 hours. Went for a cigarette and all of a sudden went very dizzy, my head was actually wobbling and could not control. Sat down had a drink of water and was fine 5 mins later.
Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic
It is possible that your symptoms were due to orthostatic hypotension which is a decrease in blood pressure in the standing position.
Normally when a persons stands certain mechanisms of the heart and nervous system step in to minimise the change in blood pressure.
These mechanisms can sometimes malfunction.
There are different possible cause of orthostatic hypotension such as:(1) heart disease (2) related to medication and drugs (3) related to abnormal levels of some hormones (4) loss of blood or dehydration
One of the drugs that can cause postural or orthostatic hypotension is alcohol. In addition , in some persons the use of alcohol can result in increase urination with decrease in the fluid volume- dehydration.
It is likely that this is the reason for the episode that you experienced.
As stated earlier, it can also be related to heart disease. Signs and symptoms which may point to heart disease are palpitations, chest pain and shortness of breath before an episode of dizziness.
If you have a repeat episode then you may need to rule out any cardiac cause, if it is only related to alcohol then no specific treatment, other than reduction in use is indicated.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
It is possible that your symptoms were due to orthostatic hypotension which is a decrease in blood pressure in the standing position.
Normally when a persons stands certain mechanisms of the heart and nervous system step in to minimise the change in blood pressure.
These mechanisms can sometimes malfunction.
There are different possible cause of orthostatic hypotension such as:(1) heart disease (2) related to medication and drugs (3) related to abnormal levels of some hormones (4) loss of blood or dehydration
One of the drugs that can cause postural or orthostatic hypotension is alcohol. In addition , in some persons the use of alcohol can result in increase urination with decrease in the fluid volume- dehydration.
It is likely that this is the reason for the episode that you experienced.
As stated earlier, it can also be related to heart disease. Signs and symptoms which may point to heart disease are palpitations, chest pain and shortness of breath before an episode of dizziness.
If you have a repeat episode then you may need to rule out any cardiac cause, if it is only related to alcohol then no specific treatment, other than reduction in use is indicated.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Note: In case of any other concern or query related to prevention, evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, or the recovery of persons with the any type of addiction or substance use, follow up with our Addiction Medicine Specialist. Click here to book a consultation now.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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