Nausea and dizziness during peri-menopause and menopause

Today's topic

Today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, I take a look at why you can experience nausea and dizziness during peri-menopause and menopause.

If you are fed up feeling nauseous and dizzy, you're not alone. These symptoms are really common in peri-menopause and menopause. They very often come individually so you can experience one and not the other, but they can also go together.

Today I am going to look at the situations that can cause these symptoms and what you can do to help yourself.

What can cause nausea and dizziness during peri-menopause and menopause?

Let's take a look at what can contribute to or cause these two symptoms:

• Hormonal changes - menopause can be a bit like pregnancy. A lot of women find they get morning sickness during pregnancy because of the hormonal upheaval. It's exactly the same during menopause. If your hormones are falling a certain way, then you're more likely to experience nausea.
• Hot flushes - one of the things we've realised is that a lot of women will have a hot flush and then develop nausea as the hot flush decreases. Many women find that they experience strange symptoms like nausea or other symptoms such as palpitations and increased anxiety after a hot flush or night sweat.
• Low blood sugar level - in peri-menopause and menopause, your blood sugar control can be much more erratic, so your blood sugars can fall really quickly. They can also spike if you take something sugary or something like caffeine. This yo-yoing of your blood sugar levels can very quickly cause nausea.
• Low blood pressure - this can definitely cause dizziness. You might find when you bend or look down and then you look up, such as when getting up from a hot bath or up from a chair really quickly, the dizziness can hit you.
• Inner ear problems - one of the things we've noticed is that some women end up with problems with their ears. It may be caused by a build-up of mucus after an infection. Or it could be that the Eustachian tubes are being affected by low oestrogen levels and they may be drying out a little bit. All of that can end up causing dizziness.
• Fatigue - when you get really tired and your energy just decreases, this can cause feelings of nausea and dizziness.
• Migraines - migraines can be much more common in menopause. Some women find that they develop migraines whereas before, they didn't have them. This can be due to all the hormonal changes going on. Migraines can cause both nausea and dizziness.
• Anxiety and stress - who's not anxious or stressed at some point these days? All the hormonal changes and everything else in day-to-day life can stress your nervous system and that can be a big trigger for nausea and dizziness. One of the things that we do when we're anxious is take shallow breaths so we don't get enough oxygen to the brain. That in itself can be a big trigger for dizziness.

What can help ease nausea and dizziness during menopause?

One of the really easy things to do is try to find out what your trigger is. If you're getting episodes of nausea and dizziness on a regular basis, and especially if you're getting them at the same time of the day, then, very often, there will be a trigger.

You need to look at what was going on just before they occurred. Keeping a diary can often pinpoint what is going on and will make it easier to treat because you will be able to identify which information or tips will help you. I'm going to go through how you can help ease your symptoms.

• Sit or lie down – if you're starting to feel dizzy, it's really important that you sit or lie down as quickly as you can because the last thing we want is for someone to faint. Dizziness and nausea can trigger a faint. Lie or sit down quietly until you can get your breath back and until you feel okay to get on with things.
• Keep hydrated – dehydration is a big, big factor so remember to drink loads of water every day. That one can make a difference really quickly. So many women come back to me who have added extra water into their daily regime and they're really reaping the benefits from that.
• Eat little and often - if your blood sugars are going all over the place, then just make sure that you have three good meals a day and have little snacks in between. There are loads of receipes in the Food Hub of our website for making little healthy snacks that will just help to keep your blood sugars a little bit more stable.
• Check your blood pressure – if you are getting dizziness, particularly on a regular basis it is important to get your blood pressure checked. Although high blood pressure is more common in menopause, some women experience low blood pressure and that will need to be treated just as much as high blood pressure.
• Manage stress - I know this one is easier said than done, but it is really important because stress is a trigger for so many other menopause symptoms as well. I've posted quite a few blogs on stress that you can look at such as my '5 symptoms made worse by stress' blog and my 'Managing stress in the menopause' blog.
• Ginger – this is a good one for nausea. Either ginger tea or a ginger biscuit can often be really helpful. If you're not keen on ginger, then I don't normally recommend sweets or chocolate, but some women find that just getting that little sweet sugar hit can make all the difference. It will steady the blood sugars and that can definitely ease nausea.
• Avoid certain foods – some foods can be contributory factors to nausea. Things like alcohol, spicy foods, and high-fat foods can be a factor, as well as processed foods and caffeine. Coffee, caffeinated fizzy drinks, and tea can all cause your blood sugar levels to fluctuate quite dramatically.
• Look after your liver - if your liver is struggling, which it does during menopause just because of all the hormonal changes that are going on, this can cause nausea. You may find doing a little bit of gentle liver work could be really helpful. I have a plan, if anybody's interested in it, on helping to look after your liver for an extra week or two. Click here to go to my liver detox plan.

When to seek your doctor’s advice?

If nausea and dizziness are really impacting your daily life, it's happening every day, all day or if it's something that you're not coping with and these tips don't help, then it is a good idea to double-check your symptoms with your doctor to make sure that there are no other underlying health issues.

So, I hope you found this one helpful. If any of you have got tips on dizziness and nausea that have worked well for you, then please share them.

Until next week, take care.