Any bout of dizziness is horrible so to see women suffering this daily is nasty and looking at how medical practise can help you resolve these symptoms permanently; the options can be limited. What is going on to make women in perimenopause dizzy with associated symptoms of tinnitus and then vertigo? I’ve never met a woman who says she’s dizzy and not been fatigued and the likelihood is that you have anxiety as well? These symptoms are all linked to a root cause which I’ve learnt from my background in Chinese medicine. I want you to understand what is truly causing your symptoms so that you learn how to resolve them holistically. This month’s blog is: what causes dizziness and tinnitus in menopause?
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What causes dizziness and tinnitus in menopause?
It’s good to rule out that there isn’t anything more medically serious in western terms and this may mean a tests with your medical provider. In going through menopause there are changes to your hormones and these can cause:
Hormonal fluctuations: Oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone affect blood vessels, the inner ear, and the balance areas of the brain. When hormone levels fluctuate, it can cause dizziness, light-headedness, and pressure.
Anxiety: Anxiety and dizziness can reinforce each other, meaning one can cause the other.
Hot flushes: blood rushes through dilated vessels, potentially making you feel dizzy.
Heart flutters: Hormonal fluctuations can impact the heart.
Blood sugar imbalance: can trigger light-headedness.
Muscle tension: cold tight muscles can cause a dizziness or sickness feeling.
If you’re waiting on tests this doesn’t stop you from taking action and making other changes and seeking out other possible causes of which I’ll expand on in this blog.
If you are given a diagnosis what is more important is a solution. For example, a diagnosis of Ménière’s disease has no known cause. It can be still resolved though as normally there is an array of symptoms that you are experiencing and a holistic practitioner will take all of these in to consideration; not your ears in isolation.
Don’t be disheartened if standard medical tests showing up nothing as this means the cause is more likely to now be in the holistic realm of health and that’s what this blog delves into!
The Chinese medicine of tinnitus and dizziness in menopause
In Chinese medicine (TCM) we learn that your vital organs are linked to outward i.e. your orifice’s! For example, if the whites of your eyes are yellowed we look to your liver; this is well known. What isn’t so well known in the west is that your ears are an indication of your Kidney energy (the western equivalent is the adrenals). This is why tinnitus, vertigo and dizziness are all linked, they are rooted in your energy levels and if you’re extremely fatigued this is how it manifests overtime when not dealt with. Anxiety is nearly always associated with these symptoms in peri and menopause because anxiety is adrenalin based, it comes on in waves as the hormones are released from your adrenals. If you’re in a constant state of fight or flight this exacerbates this release.
Headaches – the stress from trying to hold yourself together and hold yourself up right and trying to push on when your body is telling you to lie down and sleep. This can then lead to secondary symptoms like muscular tension in the neck and shoulders which will exacerbate headaches further and cause migraines. You can also get that sicky-feeling (I used to experience this regularly when I was younger) which was resolved after receiving cranial osteopathy and shiatsu. However, when I hit perimenopause even with monthly treatments the symptoms stacked up and overtook me. I speak from a lot of experience when I write these blogs!
You may not realise that you have incredible will power if you’re pushing through with all these symptoms daily to exist; this really is mind over body. Now is the time to listen to your body as this is how you’ll truly resolve your symptoms.
Irrespective of whether you get a good night’s sleep, if you’re still tired when you wake in the morning you’re not getting back on top of your fatigue levels. In TCM we call this your Kidney energy – it is your constitutional energy and this is different from your daily energy; it is your life force and it’s being depleted right now.
The problem with the current menopause generation is that the stressed lives we lead exhaust us more than previous generations, and this is why we’re seeing such a rise in perimenopause symptoms.
Think of it as your Petrol tank of life!
You’ve got to that stage where the petrol gage is in the red. Your body starts telling you this with fatigue, anxiety and loss of joy and/ or libido - this is the red light coming on. With a petrol tank you start getting a beeping sound – this is your tinnitus.
When you go to western doctors, they treat the ears in isolation but when you come to eastern solutions, we treat your body as a whole and understand that your ears are linked to your fatigue and stress levels.
In Chinese medicine (TCM) we call it a loss of Kidney Essence causing a deeply-rooted fatigue; in western terms this is linked to adrenal health or exhaustion. We have to look at ways of helping you deep constitutional energy with food supplements and lifestyle changes.
Chinese medicine of fatigue in menopause
What is the time of day that you can feel utterly exhausted and could crash?
The late afternoon slump. If you have this along with the ear symptoms then this is you.
If you can have a 20-minute nap around 3pm and you feel refreshed and get on with your day then this isn’t too bad but it’s still an indication of what’s going on and should be noted.
If, however (as some of my clients have been) you’re crashing for 2/3 hours and feeling utterly exhausted or you’ve had to give up your job through fatigue then this is incredibly serious. If you can’t replenish your energy after sleep then you have to resolve your symptoms from another angle.
How did these symptoms start?
These symptoms don’t happen overnight. Once tinnitus, vertigo or dizziness starts it may seem as if overnight but if you look back over your previous 3 or more years you can see how it builds. How long have you been feeling more and more tired? This grows over many years - an initial tiredness and then anxiety may appear after a year. Then you feel that you can’t juggle stressful situations like you once did and you reach the point of loss of joy and libido.
These were all indicators as you continued to push on; you’re trying to cope but your body can’t. Your body literally sets off alarm bells - tinnitus! It doesn’t want you standing up right anymore as it thinks you’ll fall over – dizziness and then vertigo. Our bodies are incredibly clever they will self-preserve and if this means stopping you from walking or getting out of bed it will do so. It knows when it’s on empty and it’s desperately trying to tell you; but westernised life doesn’t know to listen.
You may even feel that it’s weak to slow down and you push on wanting an acknowledgement for how you’re managing with all these symptoms. It’s only when a symptom becomes debilitating that it forces you to address it.
This is not about scaring you it’s about drawing your attention to an underlying health imbalance and that it can be turned around. That health imbalance in TCM is called Depletion; something is missing and in many of my blogs I’m always stating THIS as the cause of a majority of peri and menopausal symptoms.
“The way you’ve explained it makes it less scary. It’s okay I’m all off kilter; more than just my ears being off kilter and actually the way my brain works that makes it feel more like a project to resolve everything rather than just trying tablets or drops that just address ears. If you had a broken arm, you wouldn’t just put a plaster on it; you’d work out where it was broken and do something more structural. “
Emily – Founder of The Perimenopause Hub
It’s so frustrating if you’ve tried a lot of things specifically for ears and not gotten a resolution? A holistic approach will come at the problem from many angles and there are many parts to the overall solution.
Your symptoms are linked at the body organ level so the really good news is that as you work to relieve a specific symptom you will inevitably resolve many of your symptoms.
If tinnitus is a sign of Depletion, how can I resolve it?
As Depletion in your body is a sign that you’re missing something it’s time to add that something back in. What your mind and body desperately needs is nutrients. You may/may not be eating a very good diet – if you’re not then this is when you start!
However, women who are here researching for a solution are normally already on a very good diet; this is where I step in to help. As nutrition is one of the key areas that we have to boost you need plant-rich supplements; you can’t eat enough food to top up your emptying tank. Food is very watered-down fuel at the moment; you can fill up on it but it won’t be enough to help you drive for long. We have to fill your tank with the most nutrient dense fuel!
You may be craving greens. I meet women who can eat a whole head of broccoli or a plate of sprouts in one sitting and crave more – why is this?
They want the nutrients. Their body is telling them to have more…
A capsule of the RIGHT plant-based supplement can give you more nutrients than you can eat in a day; THAT is a lot of super nutrients your body can use. This is why Greens-style supplements are so good for you; they give you the energy that food isn’t currently supplying. However, you should start with ensuring you have a varied healthy diet; only supplement thereafter.
Why can’t I get enough nutrients from my food?
Due to intensive farming now over the last 50 plus years the soil in which food is grown is depleted. If our food sources are depleted so is the food we eat; and so now are we.
This is now recognised in the health arena and ethical companies are creating supplements to combat this whilst we’re in a food short fall but it’s going to take time to turn the food process around. We’re the generation that’s being hit hard by this perfect storm of nutrient loss.
Lifestyle changes to reduce tinnitus and fatigue in menopause
Putting nutrients into your body is the fuel that it needs. The other components are increasing your sleep and reducing High impact exercise; your body needs to rest right now and this shouldn’t be compromised. If you’re struggling to alter your sleep patterns you may want to contact me for a chat. Anything that triggers your body to release more adrenalin (including exercise) will exhaust you further and if you want to train like an athlete, you’ll need even more nutrition to support this.
Mindfulness is another important aspect. Being more thoughtful about how you expend your energy and more respectful of your time; incorporate saying no IS self-care. Gone are the days of wearing a badge of honour that you’ll push on through illness and fatigue; that doesn’t end well. Altering the way you feel about yourself and respecting that your body needs energy to transition well through your menopause is a monumental change of thinking – but it is a vital one.
Keep your kidneys warm – do this test!
This is so simple: Check your hands are temperate and then place them over your kidneys (situated on your back lower ribcage). Does it feel pleasant? If yes then your kidneys are cold and would appreciate being kept warmer. Even if you have hot flushes the likelihood is that your kidneys are cold and in keeping them warmer you can regulate your overall temperature. No matter the weather or date check if your kidneys need warming.
From wearing an extra vest when you’re running around or wrapping a scarf around your middle as you sit at your desk; to wearing a Haramaki. Your body will appreciate trapping in your natural body warmth in this region; it’s a gentle way to support your natural healing system.
A holistic approach to resolving tinnitus and dizziness in menopause
I want today’s blog to open your eyes to how your symptoms are link as this is key to resolving them. A holistic approach to your menopause from eastern medicine is a powerful way to resolve any health issues at any time of life. During the menopause transition your body is put under increasing stress by the hormonal changes and the catch 22 is that a stressful life causes a hormonal imbalance as your body is trying to transition. This is the root cause of symptoms in perimenopause and beyond. Listen to your body, resolve symptoms as they appear or tackle your whole health in one go; but do it holistically.
“As a person who pushed through, pushed through, pushed through … and then pushed through some more knowing that I was beyond exhausted continuously it took having to completely stop. I desperately wish to never let any other woman get to that place where she has to completely stop as it is an awful place to get to. If you’re feeling like you’re going in that direction please make space for yourself now so that you don’t have to feel like I felt.”
Emily – Founder Perimenopause Hub
You can’t push through this – when the tank is empty you are in bed. The warning bells are literally going off in your ears – this is your body telling you to change. I understand that your frustration is that you don’t know how to change; and that is why I’m here.
Next steps to resolve dizziness and tinnitus in menopause
Lifestyle changes including reviewing how you go about your week; along with increasing your nutritional intake significantly. I have a supplements guide that can help you plus an area for self help or you can book in a chat with me if you would like one to one support to relieve your symptoms more quickly.
Meet Andrea - Holistic Menopause Specialist
Andrea is a shiatsu and Chinese medicine practitioner who uses the principles and wisdom of Chinese medicine in a completely practical way to help you resolve your symptoms naturally and effectively. If you live locally you can book in for a wonderfully relaxing Shiatsu for Menopause, otherwise Andrea does online indepth consultations where you'll leave with an actionable plan to follow. Andrea is also passionate about doing workplace talks and has written a book to help you step through simple and effect changes to reduce your symptoms: Understanding Your Menopause
KNOWLEDGE . PAUSE . FLOURISH
