Do you sometimes feel waves exhaustion even after a good nights' sleep? Is it accompanied by loss of balance, coordination, lightheadedness, nausea, anxiety, or vertigo? Here are a couple of causes that it may be.
Cervical Vertigo
This may come as an obvious first choice, but cervical vertigo caused by a multitude of issues, could be causing your fatigue. When your neck muscles, especially your upper trapezius, sternocleidomastoid (SCM), sub-occipitals, and levator scapulae, are tight or injured, because of the proximity to many nerves and blood vessels, can bring overwhelming feels of tiredness. As well, the constant struggle of battling cervical vertigo can make you exhausted, especially if it impacts your sleep.
Vestibular Migraine
Very similar to above, a vestibular migraine can be an incredibly debilitating phenomena. When most of us think of a migraine, it is the thought of an overwhelming headache that is so bad it makes bedrest a necessity. You feel incredibly tired, yet at the same time the pain is so bad that you can't sleep. You are stuck in a migraine's version of purgatory.
Migraines can be spawn on one side of the head are all sides, but a very common origin for all headaches is from the sub-occipital muscles at the base of the skull. This is the most likely starting point for a vestibular migraine, which is thought to impede or confuse the vestibular system in its job to help your body know where it is in space, although research is still needed. However, a migraine spawning from the sub-occipital region can also manifest these unpleasant symptoms:
Nausea
Vomiting
Sensitivity to light
Dizziness
Balance issues
Lack of Coordination
Tinnitus
Fatigue
Due to the complexity of migraines and how they manifest themselves, science is still researching on how migraines and headache pain form.
Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycima)
A common culprit of fatigue and dizziness (especially for those who suffer from diabetes), and constantly overlooked, is low blood sugar. Low blood sugar can be simply caused by malnutrition or more intricately by adrenal fatigue. Although no scientific evidence proves it as an actual medical condition, the term 'adrenal fatigue' has been used as a blanket term to explain a several symptoms as brought on by long-term mental, emotion, or physical stress.
When our body and/or mind is under a chronic amount of stress, our adrenal glands push out cortisol, which helps the pancreas to produce glucagon. This raises your blood sugar. If your adrenal glands are over worked and not functioning correctly, your blood sugar can drop low, creating dizziness, lightheadedness, and fatigue.
Low Blood pressure
When your blood pressure drops, or is chronically low, it can be a cause of fatigue, dizziness, and lightheadedness. Low blood pressure can range from individual to individual, so it is important to talk to your doctor to know what range is low blood pressure to you.
Concussion/Whiplash/TBI
When we suffer from physical trauma to the head and neck, in the forms of concussions, whiplash, or traumatic brain injury (TBI), we can unfortunately be subject to dozens of health problems. Unfortunately, the cause of fatigue and dizziness due to TBI, whiplash, and concussions are somewhat unknown. One thought is that the brain may not be functioning as well as they were before, or that the brain isn't receiving the correct signals from the nervous system, as a result of the injury.
Anxiety
A wise man once said that 'Anxiety is the cancer of the mind'. They were right. But also, anxiety can be a cancer of the body. When we experience high levels of anxiety, and even panic, our body can produce a wide array of weird and disturbing symptoms. From someone who has struggled with anxiety and panic attacks for more than a decade, I can attest that fatigue and dizziness are some of the symptoms that can arise.
Regardless of the cause(s) that may be contributing to your fatigue and dizziness, please consult your doctor to try and find the root cause. Whether it's your ENT, physical therapist, PCP, neurologist, cardiologist, physiatrist, or chiropractor, please seek proper medical services before diagnosing yourself. Please visit The Dizzy Dude for more on cervical dizziness and anxiety.
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