Can a Sinus Infection Make a Person Dizzy Or Feel Fuzzy? A Nurse’s Guide

If you have a full blown chronic or acute sinus infection you probably are experiencing many sinus infection symptoms. Some of the symptoms that people report are a feeling of dizziness, dizzy spells, lightheadedness or they feel fuzzy headed.

Generally with a sinus infection you won’t have true dizziness. Dizziness is called vertigo and takes place in the inner ear. If sinus drainage reaches your ear it would be in the middle ear not the inner ear where your balance could be affected. The inner ear is completely sealed off. Two or three conditions can be responsible for dizziness caused by the inner ear.

Benign positional vertigo is vertigo that occurs when you change the position of your head too fast. It is harmless but some people are plagued with it often. Labyrinthitis usually follows a cold or the flu and is caused by a viral infection in the inner ear. Meniere’s disease is another inner ear problem. It causes vertigo, loss of balance, and ringing in the ears and can deeply affect people’s lives.

With true vertigo, which is a feeling that you or the room is spinning or moving, you may be light-headed, or feel faint, be unsteady or have a loss of balance. This usually does not happen with a sinus infection. Most causes of dizziness are not serious and either gets better on their own or is easily treated.

Often people who have a sinus infection report they feel dizzy when actually they feel fuzzyheaded or a little light headed. This could be due to pressure in the eustachian tubes or from other causes such as getting up too fast from a sitting or lying position causing a change in the blood pressure, called orthostatic hypotension.

Or one could be dehydrated, especially if you have an elevated temperature (fever). Another cause of dizziness may be from any medications you’re taking. So make sure to check and see if dizziness is a side effect of your medications or any sinus medications, which I don’t recommend.

Of course with congestion in the head or nasal passages one can feel pretty miserable and not be drinking enough water and not getting enough sinus drainage. Breaking up the dried up mucous in your sinus cavities may help get the sinus drainage going and get relief from the congested feeling which may be causing the lightheaded or fuzzy headed feeling.

With proper natural treatment one can quickly turn their sinus infection symptoms around and get better fast. It’s normal to think your dizziness is something serious but it’s not likely you’re truly dizzy especially from a sinus problem. If you have any of the other conditions you probably would have had some warning before the infection. Most likely you just have some temporary sinus symptoms that will soon go away, especially as you get better from the sinus infection.