Dizzy First Thing In The Morning

[Machair]

I woke up this morning got out of bed too quickly and whoosh - dizziness hit. Sat on the bed for a while and did my BP and pulse. Pulse went up by over 30 on standing. Looking back at the weekend I realised I had not been as good as I should have been about adding salt to food, or drinking each hour, and so the orthostatic problems hit. It's been really hot here too. Are mornings the main time you get dizzy and has anyone any new advice how to stop it?

 

[Tammie]

for the most part I get the dizziest after any period of time spent laying down or standing up (sitting is usually the best), but I am pretty much always dizzy to some extent and often the dizziness forces me to lay down (so it's a fun cycle)

for many people the mornings are the worst, though, bc of dehydration, and as such, having something to drink and laying there for a little while before getting up can help

 

[Sallysblooms]

Disautonomia does that to me. Thank goodness I figured it out. Doctors were clueless. I wear a pulse monitor all the time. I look at it before I stand up. Then I look again before I walk. It has cut dizziness to almost nothing. When you wake up, slowly sit up, drink water. Blood volume can be a problem, drink lots of water during the day. Slowly let your blood circulate and hopefully your head will not lack blood and get dizzy. Try a good heart rate monitor! Works great.

 

[glenp]

When i first get up to use the washroom, I make sure the whole seat is up so that my B-hind is lower in the toilet and i rest my head on knees-this helps quite a bit. I then put kettle on quickly and go back to bed. Make my tea and back to bed again. If I get up too soon after the first time, its bad. I sit while brushing teeth. I have a tv in my bedroom now so sit and watch it Its a learning to live way of living and noticing everything that helps

glen

 

[maryb]

I have water by my bed and first thing try to sit up,pour a glass of water, keep my head as still as possible, push all the pillows behind me and get comfy, put tv on quietly and sit there for about 20 minutes, the dizziness is usually lessened by then, its as if I have to re-orientate myself to the upright position after being in bed all night, its an absolute pain but if I try to rush it can make me feel sick and dizzy for the rest of the day, not worth it.

 

[alex3619]

Hi

You need to be tested for OI and POTS with a tilt test if you haven't already had one. I've lost count of how many times I've past out from getting out of bed too quickly, and much of the rest of the time I am very dizzy. Do make sure you have a clear space near the bed - if you pass out you don't want to hit your head on furniture on the way down.

The simple solution is: always get out of bed slowly, ditto for getting up out of a low chair, or walking up stairs.

Bye
Alex

I woke up this morning got out of bed too quickly and whoosh - dizziness hit. Sat on the bed for a while and did my BP and pulse. Pulse went up by over 30 on standing. Looking back at the weekend I realised I had not been as good as I should have been about adding salt to food, or drinking each hour, and so the orthostatic problems hit. It's been really hot here too. Are mornings the main time you get dizzy and has anyone any new advice how to stop it?

 

[taniaaust1]

My POTS on testing is the most obvious in the mornings when first getting up.

I never just wake up and jump out of bed.. i spend about half an hr or longer, waking up moving about in bed before i get up.

As others suggested i suggest to keep some water by the bed and drink that, then wait a bit before getting up. Even sitting up in bed for a while reading before getting out of bed, can help.

 

[caledonia]

I would keep some salt water by the bed.

I had some mild to moderate OI symptoms. This has improved once I started treatment for adrenal fatigue. The adrenals control the balance of sodium and magnesium. I no longer have to do salt water and was able to cut back on magnesium 1/3.

You can test for adrenal fatigue with a saliva test. You'll probably need to be working with a holistic doc or naturopath for this.

 

[Machair]

Thank you all for your very helpful replies. I have POTS and CFS/ME but this morning thing is probably the most troublesome issue just now- related to POTS I know. So reassuring to know others feel the same things- though I wish you were all well and not going through all this. I've had this for nearly 15 years- that's a lot of rough mornings! Luckily some mornings are better than others- do you find this that some days symptoms of this are less? Also how bad do your dizzy spells get - do you ever have spinning vertigo with these episodes?

 

[taniaaust1]

Thank you all for your very helpful replies. I have POTS and CFS/ME but this morning thing is probably the most troublesome issue just now- related to POTS I know. So reassuring to know others feel the same things- though I wish you were all well and not going through all this. I've had this for nearly 15 years- that's a lot of rough mornings! Luckily some mornings are better than others- do you find this that some days symptoms of this are less? Also how bad do your dizzy spells get - do you ever have spinning vertigo with these episodes?

i dont just get dizzy.. i can go completely unconscious for up to 5 mins (that time is according to a friend cause being unconscious i had no idea how long i was out for.. came around to find out i'd been put into the coma position. My friend didnt worry at all that i was unconscious).

I dont see the room spin with the POTS (only once have i watched the room actually spin but i dont know if that was POTS at the time but that was certainly CFIDS induced). i just feel extremely tired, weak, dizzy and very spacy along with pressure in head or headachy when POTS starts to hit, sometimes some POTS nausea can happen too. The key lays in avoiding it if at all possible.

 

[Machair]

Taniaaust- gosh that is dreadful. My heart goes out to you. Interesting to read that you try to prevent this - I guess that would be by salt loading and fluids. Do you think the POTS attacks are related to overdoing it in general, and are you worse first thing in the morning too? One thing I have noticed when I am really bad is that I will wake up early and can be very hot and sweaty - sometimes that's all that happens, but generally it's a warning that an attack is not far away.

 

[BEG]

Do you think the POTS attacks are related to overdoing it in general, and are you worse first thing in the morning too?

In regards to my situation, the answers are yes and yes. I overdue one day, and the next is worse as far as the heart rate upon standing. Mornings are absolutely the worse. At my most severe, in the mornings I would struggle to sit up against the pillows, and my husband brought me a cup of coffee (only 1/3 caffeinated---didn't want to raise that heartrate more.) It worked wonders, enough to wake me up and something to linger over and enjoy in bed while my body oriented itself. I eventually moved a single-cup coffee maker in the bedroom, made the coffee at night and just needed to press a button in the morning. Good luck, Machair.

 

[Machair]

Thank you Brown-eyed Girl for that- do you also get the dizziness? I have figured the more I do the day before, the next morning I'll have a smaller pulse pressure when I stand and a higher heart rate increase too! Sometimes I even feel ok in the evenings, go to bed and wake up and get dizzy when I stand. Very odd!

 

[BEG]

Thank you Brown-eyed Girl for that- do you also get the dizziness?

Machair,

I'm now treating the POTS a with low dose beta blocker. Thank goodness, it works for me. I still need to get up from a supine position very slowly to avoid dizziness. Mornings are still worse for me than the evenings. True for most with CFS?

 

[L'engle]

It's pretty changeable for me whether evening, morning, afternoon or a combination are worse. I have to be careful with blood sugar overnight, too. Maybe try to keep a salty protein snack as well as water. Salted seeds or almonds or something. I also started raising the head of my bed, and I'm up to 4 pillows or so now. My sleeping posture isn't that much more horizontal than my daytime reclined at computer posture. I also keep my head bent over when I stand up sometimes, to prevent that rushing out of blood being so dramatic. I guess trying to lessen the difference in angle between your sleeping and waking positions will put less strain on you for OI. A warm drink in the morning seems to help more than a cold one, not sure why. I can't have caffeine or tannins though so it's tricky.

Good luck! Thanks others for your suggestions, too. Very useful thread!

 

[kerrilyn]

If I get up before 10 am I feel worse than usual all that day. This week I had to be up at 5 am two days in a row to travel two hours to a hospital for a 24-hr holter monitor test. I felt horrible! The doctor wanted me to 'be active' that day, to check how my heart responds to activity. That didn't happen, because I was so dizzy and nauseated all day (from having to get up so early) that I couldn't do anything but lay still and hope not to vomit and just sleep. Finally by late afternoon I was better and could move around.

I hope the test showed something, and it wasn't a complete waste of time. I'm waking up more at night feeling my heart pounding, that never used to happen, but I read on the forum people equate that to over doing activity. I've noticed that the times that I am dizzy in the morning or come close to fainting are during menstruation so there must be a hormonal component involved as well.

Usually my main problem is light-headed and weakness, not dizziness and nausea. I feel really bad for you guys who experience that a lot.

 

[Sallysblooms]

Kerrilyn, do you have POTS?

 

[kerrilyn]

Hi Sally,
I believe so, as well as NMH. I did a TTT a few wks ago but haven't gotten the (written) results back yet. I've had a lot of POTS symptoms for many years but I usually do not feel dizzy upon standing so I didn't think I actually had POTS, but when I did a poor man's TTT at home, it showed I did. I bought a heart rate monitor and my HR will increase 30 bpm upon standing, but some days it will drop back down and hover at or just under the increased 30 bpm mark, and other days it will continue to climb 60-80 bpm from the supine position HR. I feel pretty sick/lightheaded if it increases 30-50 bpm, and if I stand too long my BP will drop and I will feel like I will faint. I did faint during my TTT, but I'm not sure if I truly fit the increase 30 pbm POTS criteria that day or not. Doc just mentioned dysautonomia.

 

[Sallysblooms]

Kerrilyn, I didn't have perfect symptoms either. I think it varies. I think when the nervous system isn't giving the right guidance to the body, vessels, nerves, it can vary. OI seems to have more rules. POTS often has varied symptoms from what I have read and experienced. Helping the neurotransmitters that send the messages has helped me greatly.

What is NMH?

Sorry you fainted. I am not going to take the tilt test. My doc did other tests.