Dizzy/Lightheaded

[Jnfinney 515]

I am on day 11 of my pre-op diet and am having surgery Monday. The past 3 days I've been experiencing dizzy/lightheaded spells. They come on suddenly and only last a second or two and typically occur when I am standing or walking. Has anyone else experienced this or know what could be causing it? I have attributed it to the fact that I've been on a liquid diet for over a week, but I'm not totally sure.

[Hop_Scotch 1,627]

Not an expert here by any means but is it possilby a lack of electrolytes?

What is your liquid diet made up of? Just Protein Shakes or meal replacment shakes?

[Jnfinney 515]

@Hop_Scotch I am allowed to have juice, Gatorade, Powerade, etc. I usually do 1 12 ounce bottle of Gatorade Zero a day and a Propel Water along with my other liquids. I'm not really sure how much I'd need to drink to replenish electrolytes, though.

[Arabesque 6,502]

No expert but it sounds like postural hypotension. Your blood pressure drops on standing - all your blood rushes to your feet & takes a moment or two to re equalise. Consequently your vision narrows or darkens, you may feel a little light headed or momentarily dizzy. At worst you can faint. Stand slowly & wait before moving until everything settles. It happens to me multiple times a day. I always make sure I have a chair, wall, table, person, etc. nearby I can touch to ground myself when my vision goes.

With anything that is unusual for you, feels strange, is painful, etc, on this journey see your doctor.

Good luck.

[mswillis5 127]

My electrolytes were out of balance during my preop and I had to consume quite a bit of salt for my headaches/light headedness to go away. It is very possible that this is the case. To help with my situation I drank the broth of full salt Progresso Soups. It helped to alleviate my symptoms pretty quickly. I also made sure to get plenty of fluids in throughout the day and not drink them too quickly.

[Jnfinney 515]

@Arabesque that sounds like what I am experiencing. Thank you for sharing.

[bohobabemama 1]

I was thst post diet. i started to drink body armor lyte daily. with electrolytes. and my potassium was low and my Dr said those two things would make me feel that way.

Sent from my SM-N986U using BariatricPal mobile app

[ms.sss 14,731]

On 3/11/2021 at 4:46 PM, Jnfinney said:

Has anyone else experienced this or know what could be causing it?

Yep, I had dizzy, eyesight-darkening, woozy episodes when I moved from sitting to standing, bending over, or just move suddenly. I had to hold on to something (or someone) to get steady. I never fully blacked out though, but came close a few times. This happened pretty regularly the first couple months, and decreased in frequency as time went on. Now (2+ years out), it happens very rarely (if at all). The last time was probably before xmas.

I understood it to be low blood pressure (even though my doc was not concerned about my BP readings back then). Or that orthostatic hypotension thing that @Arabesque was talking about:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/orthostatic-hypotension/symptoms-causes/syc-20352548