Blowing Nose Causes Lightheadedness

[agortera]

I have had sinus issues for years. Not to mention the fact that I have yearlong allergies. I have recently been worried that I get rather lightheaded (having to sit down for a moment) after I blow my nose. It's not that I'm blowing my nose too hard or violently; I'm doing it as normally as possible. I'm concerned because after I blow my nose and get lightheaded, my heart starts to race as well. Am I falling apart? Or should I just refrain from blowing my nose? Please give me a clue. Thanks.

[MoWright]

Hello

My sinuses has been bothering me for almost two weeks. I blew my nose this weekend and almost hit the floor but I managed to fall back on the toilet and hit my head on the wall. I also got very nauseous and vomitted. I had to lye down for at least 15 minutes because I felt ill. I was very scarred. I thought I should make an appointment with my PCP.

[JAHsina]

Today for the first time I blew my nose as I always do when I get a head cold and I immediately got so dizzy I went straight to the floor. I couldn't exactly hear I could tell that the congestion was so bad it was clogging my ears so much that it's caused  the faint along with shaking , and pro longed dizziness after until I popped my ear back . It felt as if I was on a plane after I had blown my nose and the sharp pop needed to happen in order for me to feel better. But Iv never had it happen I felt a bit nauseous after as well. I chalk it up to the congestion and head cold. If anyone else feels it or has that experience Im fine I am still getting a bit dizzy when I blow but I figure getting the snot out will make it go away.

[Stoutpoison]

Thank you. I've had allergy & asthma problems for a long time. I have a terrible head cold & can't hear out of my left ear. When I blow my nose, the only way I can think to describe it is Alice falling through the rabbit hole. It's a scary weird feeling.

[Nancy T]

It would be very unusual, but extremely hard nose-blowing could cause a perilymph fistula (tear in one or both of the membranes separating the middle ear from the inner ear). This would cause hearing loss and dizziness (but not just transient dizziness like y'all are describing).

Holding in sneezes (sneezing with your nose and mouth blocked off) could also cause enough pressure to cause a perilymph fistula.

So--please be careful with the nose-blowing and sneezing! Do it GENTLY and keep your mouth open!

I permanently lost most of the hearing in my left ear when I sneezed hard 8 years ago (and I wasn't even trying to hold in the sneeze). A perilymph fistula was suspected, but the doctors finally decided it was more likely either an intracochlear membrane break or a sudden blood clot in the inner ear.

Nancy T.

[MDA]

I have a eustacian (sp?) tube dysfunction and if I blow too hard, some mucus can get blown into the tube, causing pressure in the ear. Sometimes I barely realize it happened, but it still makes me just enough "off" that I would describe it as light headed. On a couple of occasions when I've blown harder than I should, it's been bad enough to clog my ear and cause dizziness and nausea until the tube clears. (Lesson - don't blow hard!)

But in my case, at least, even mild blowing can cause just enough pressure to throw my balance perception off and result in mild light headedness.

[Nancy T]

I think (not sure) that blowing your nose increases the intracranial pressure--the pressure inside your head. Perhaps this is the reason for your lightheadedness. Perhaps it's affecting your inner ear slightly when you blow your nose. I wouldn't be too worried about it if you aren't having other problems. (But I'm not a doctor.)

Nancy T.

[staley]

I am a long time sufferer of allergies and also get lightheaded after blowing my nose. I don't think I have the heart racing bit, but the rest sounds the same. Mine has been going on for a while, so I have just learned to deal with it. Hopefully, someone will post something helpful. Unfortunately, no one has been able to give me an answer.