Why am I getting dizzy?

[Mike_RN]

Could be a vagal response to lifting. One of the reasons you need to breathe during reps is the increased intra-abdominal pressure created by lifting weights (especially Squats). If you hold your breath you can actually cause yourself to pass out.

 

[BackAtIt]

Could be a vagal response to lifting. One of the reasons you need to breathe during reps is the increased intra-abdominal pressure created by lifting weights (especially Squats). If you hold your breath you can actually cause yourself to pass out.

I remember years ago, a vid of a power lifter who blew his guts out of his anus...he was holding his breath while trying to bring 1000 or so pounds from bottom of lift (squatting) ...was NOT pretty!...

 

[rezjzzor084]

Guess breathing out and stopping to breath in during pressure is not so difficult whereas keeping all air in the lungs and holding it might cause the problem?

 

[mjbanks]

workouts tear down muscle, rest rebuilds muscle, but the muscles don't heal completely and so a long duration of workouts can begin to affect circulation, try an active rest day where you only walk on the treadmill and maybe do 1 set of each of your exercises for that day, using light weight for extra reps forces some good pumping allowing muscles to absorb stuff like aminos and creatine or whatever else your diet has, and sleep on purpose, some people stay up late and it's a bad habbit, insomnia is as bad as junkfood

 

[devst8r]

a 'few' glasses of water is not enough water

 

[TheClap]

Are you dizzy only when working out? Or are you dizzy all the time? Or is it intermittent throughout the day?

If it's only when lifting I'd bet a Vasovagal response like Mike said. Here's some information on Vasovagal Syncope: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vasovagal-syncope/symptoms-causes/syc-20350527

You just aren't making it all the way to passing out. So you would have what's called near syncope or, in layman's terms nearly passing out. The thing I don't like about that article is that it is a little misleading. Triggers such as the sight of blood don't trigger a vasovagal response, those things cause someone to hold they breath and bear down. Bearing down like you're taking a really hard shit stimulates barroreceptors in your neck and stimulates the vagus nerve which causes your hear rate to drop. The vagus nerve is the one responsible for keeping your heart rate under control, so when it gets over stimulated is can sometime go too far and slow your heart rate too much. You also have what are called barrowresceptors in various parts of your blood stream. Barrowreceptors are "pressure-receptors." When you're doing something like a squat and your blood pressure goes sky high they sense that sky high blood pressure and drop your blood pressure way down low. I forget exactly how they do that but... I'm sure it's through vasodilation but not sure exactly the pathway. You can look it up if you want to.

If that's what it is then great. You don't need anything to treat a vagal response. It's pretty harmless.

On the other hand, you could have a hear arrhythmia man. It could be that your hear rate is not too slow, but you could be going into something like supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) or A-Fib RVR. If it's only happening when lifting heavy I would highly doubt SVT or A-Fib, a vagal response is way more likely if that's the case. Anyway I digress. If you are having intermittent dizziness throughout the day and it's not low blood pressure or blood sugar, an arrhythmia could be the cause. Check your pulse next time it happens. If it's super fast then... well SVT is so fast you probably wouldn't be able to even detect your pulse. Talking a heart rate of like 180 for that. If your pulse is irregularly irregular then A-Fib is a strong possibility. There are some very effective meds for treating SVT and for controlling the rapid heart rate of A-Fib RVR.

I would highly recommend that you go see a cardiologist if it's happening intermittently through the day. They can put you on a halter monitor and see if you are going into any arrhythmia during the day. If you go to the ER you're going to get an EKG, a CT scan of the head (which is kind of stupid but the doc will order it anyway to cover his/her ass), and blood work bare minimum. And you and I both know if you are having an arrhythmia off and on then you won't be in that arrhythmia at the moment they do that EKG. So it will get missed. A cardiologist and a halter monitor are what you need if you fit the criteria I mentioned above.

You gotta just suck it up and make however long of a drive you have to make to get this checked out man. Please do this! If this is A-Fib you could have a fucking stroke or pulmonary embolism if you don't get it treated. I don't have time to explain how that happens right now but... A-Fib can cause clots to form, especially with high red blood cell count that can be caused by AAS use.

On the other hand it could just be labyrinthitis (vertigo) which is just inflammation of the inner ear, which is responsible for maintaining balance. That gets inflamed and you're going to be dizzy all the time, not intermittently. There are some medications for treating that but I'm not sure they work all that well. It's kind of just a waiting game for it to go away if that's what it is. And that's what they would likely end up calling it at the end of your ER visit. And they would recommend you go see a cardiologist (like I am doing). There is no test to know definitively that it's vertigo.

Really a vertigo diagnosis means "we don't know what the hell is making you dizzy but we aren't seeing any other likely cause so we're giving you unknown dizziness a name."

I know, I ran on A LOT. But that's just what I do.

 

[rezjzzor084]

check hemoglobin - the limit HGB is 12.0 - it should be higher - but 13.5 must be reached here to donate blood