Sudden Onset Of Dizziness, Nausea And Sweating

See your healthcare provider if you have recurring episodes of dizziness and sweating, or if these symptoms are affecting your day-to-day life. Seek emergency medical attention if dizziness and sweating are accompanied by other symptoms such as chest pain, severe headache, or vision/hearing loss.

Possible Causes of Dizziness and Sweating

Sudden sweating accompanied by a feeling of dizziness or weakness can result from many causes. Dizziness is feeling faint, light-headed, or unsteady. People say they “feel dizzy” to describe a variety of different sensations.

If you feel like you or the room you are in is spinning, you are experiencing vertigo. Feeling imbalanced or as if you are leaning to one side is known as disequilibrium.

You may experience other symptoms when you feel dizzy, such as sweating. Dizziness and sweating can often be caused by an illness or condition that will resolve on its own or is easily treated. But sometimes dizziness with sweating can be a sign of a serious medical condition.

This article explores the potential causes of dizziness accompanied by sweating, and when to seek medical attention.

Getty Images / VioletaStoimenova

Causes of Dizziness and Sweating

There are many different reasons for feeling dizzy or weak and sweating at the same time. The most common causes are listed below.

Hypoglycemia

Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) occurs when glucose levels in the blood drop below healthy ranges. It is common in people with diabetes. Hypoglycemia is frequently a side effect of certain medications (e.g., insulin), but also occurs if blood glucose levels fall too low due to not eating enough throughout the day.

Hypoglycemia often comes on suddenly. In addition to dizziness and sweating, symptoms of hypoglycemia include:

Blurry vision
Confusion
Headache
Hunger
Irritability
Nervousness
Rapid heart rate
Shakiness
Sleepiness/fatigue
Weakness
Nausea

Heart Attack

A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart is significantly reduced or blocked. The primary symptom of a heart attack is chest pain or discomfort. Dizziness and breaking out into a cold sweat can also occur. Other heart attack symptoms include:

Discomfort in the back, jaw, neck, or upper abdomen
Feeling unusually tired (more common in women)
Light-headedness
Nausea and/or vomiting
Shortness of breath

When to Call 911

If you have symptoms of a heart attack, call 911. Seeking immediate medical care may prevent further heart damage.

Hot Flashes

Hot flashes are sudden, intense bursts of heat felt on the upper body, including the face, neck, and chest.

When estrogen levels decline during menopause (when menstrual cycles have stopped for 12 consecutive months), the hypothalamus (the area of the brain that controls body temperature) becomes more sensitive to changes in temperature that can result in hot flashes.

Hot flashes can last anywhere from less than a minute to an hour, and are associated with the following symptoms:

Dizziness
Flushing
Rapid heart rate
Sweating
Loss of energy or mental focus

Anxiety

Anxiety can often lead to dizziness and sweating, particularly when anxiety levels are high. Many people with anxiety and panic disorders report feeling dizzy and sweaty in the moments leading up to or during a panic attack.

A panic attack is an intense fear or discomfort that may last several minutes and can cause physical symptoms, including:

Accelerated heart rate
Sweating
Dizziness or weakness
Chills
Trembling
Shortness of breath
Tingly or numb hands
Chest pain
Stomach pain or nausea

When you experience high levels of anxiety, a surge of stress hormones (e.g., adrenaline, cortisol) floods the body. This can affect the vestibular system (sensory system in the inner ear) and cause dizziness. Studies show that people with anxiety disorders have an increased risk of developing benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).

Fainting (Due to Low Blood Pressure)

Fainting ( syncope ) occurs when you lose consciousness for a brief period. It occurs when your blood pressure drops suddenly, causing a decrease in blood flow to the brain due to an insufficient supply of oxygen. You may feel dizzy and light-headed or break out into a sweat moments before fainting.

In most cases, fainting is not caused by a serious medical condition. Before you faint, you may experience:

Dizziness
Lightheadedness
Feeling cold and clammy
Nausea
Vision changes (whiteout or blackout)
Loss of muscle control/falling

Motion Sickness

Motion sickness is feeling unwell when traveling by car, boat, bus, plane, or train. It occurs when your brain gets conflicting signals from your eyes and inner ears about your body’s motion.

Symptoms of motion sickness include:

Dizziness
Cold sweats
Nausea
Vomiting

Motion sickness is temporary and usually goes away when the motion stops.

Other Possible Causes

Other causes of dizziness with sweating include:

Heat exhaustion: This condition results from exposure to high temperatures combined with a lack of hydration. Symptoms include dizziness or confusion, profuse sweating, excessive thirst, headache, nausea, and muscle cramps.
Medication side effects: Many different medications, as well as medication interactions (drugs that are potentially harmful and unsafe when taken together), can cause dizziness and sweating, as well as other side effects. Always check with your healthcare provider if you experience these symptoms after starting a medication.
Dumping syndrome: Symptoms such as sweating, dizziness, nausea, and diarrhea can occur when your body rapidly moves food from your stomach to your duodenum (the first part of your small intestine). Dumping syndrome most commonly affects people who have had part of their gastrointestinal system surgically removed.
Alcohol withdrawal: Withdrawal occurs when heavy, long-term drinkers stop consuming alcohol. Withdrawal symptoms include dizziness and sweating, as well as anxiety, restlessness, irritability, nightmares, and even tremors, hallucinations, and seizures.

Diagnosis

Your healthcare provider can help you determine the cause of your dizziness and sweating. During your appointment, they will take your medical history, ask about your symptoms (e.g., when they began, and how long they last), and perform a physical exam.

To provide an accurate diagnosis, your healthcare provider may perform additional tests, such as:

Electrocardiogram(ECG): This is a simple test that measures your heart’s rhythm and electrical activity to detect heart conditions.
Electronystagmography (ENG): An ENG can be used to conduct several tests that measure the electrical activity of the eyes to detect vestibular system disorders.
Syncope test: A tilt-table test is often used to evaluate the cause of unexplained syncope. You will lie flat on a table that changes your position from lying to standing. During the test, you are connected to blood pressure monitors and an ECG to measure your body’s response to the changes in position.
Blood tests: Blood draws can help detect any issues with your blood sugar levels, heart health, and hormone levels.
Imaging tests: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, computed tomography (CT) scans and X-rays provide your healthcare provider with detailed pictures of your body’s internal tissues and structures to help detect potential problems.

When to Seek Medical Care

If you have unexplained dizziness and sweating or experience prolonged or recurring episodes, it is important to see your healthcare provider for proper diagnosis and treatment.

Seek medical care immediately if you experience dizziness and sweating with any of the following symptoms:

Chest pain
Confusion
Difficulty breathing
Fainting
Headache—particularly if it is sudden and severe
Irregular pulse
Loss of consciousness
Loss of hearing or vision
Numbness in the body (e.g., face, arms, legs)
Recurrent vomiting
Weakness in arms or legs

Summary

Many conditions can cause dizziness and sweating to occur together. Some are temporary and may pass on their own, while others require medical attention. Dizziness may occur along with sweating during episodes of anxiety, fainting, hot flashes, or motion sickness. Alternately, dizziness and sweating may be signs of a serious or life-threatening condition that requires medical attention, such as hypoglycemia or a heart attack.

Testing to identify the cause of dizziness and sweating can include imaging, blood, ECG, ENG, and positional evaluation.

See your healthcare provider if you have recurring episodes of dizziness and sweating, or if these symptoms are affecting your day-to-day life. Seek emergency medical attention if dizziness and sweating are accompanied by other symptoms such as chest pain, severe headache, or vision/hearing loss.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why am I dizzy and sweaty after eating?

Postprandial hypotension (low blood pressure) causes dizziness and sweating after eating. After you eat, your heart rate goes up and blood vessels constrict to increase blood flow to the stomach and intestines. In people with postprandial hypotension, blood flows normally to the intestine, but the heart rate does not increase enough and blood vessels do not constrict adequately, causing a drop in blood pressure.

Can dehydration cause dizziness and sweating?

In addition to dry mouth, dehydration can cause confusion, light-headedness, and dizziness. As dehydration worsens, you may sweat less.

Can stress cause dizziness and sweating?

High levels of stress can set off the body’s stress response, which releases hormones such as cortisol that can affect the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. This causes blood vessels to narrow, an increase in heart rate, and rapid breathing. These symptoms can lead to dizziness and sweating.

Why do I get dizzy while lying down?

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a common cause of dizziness when lying down. BPPV occurs when tiny crystals in the gravity-sensing area of the inner ear move to motion-sensing parts of the ear. This can result in brief but intense dizzy spells (vertigo) that make you feel like the room is spinning when your head changes position.

23 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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Centers for Disease Control and Preventing. About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery.
Cedars-Sinai. Why Hot Flashes Occur and How to Treat Them.
National Institute of Mental Health. Panic Disorder: When Fear Overwhelms.
Dieterich M, Brandt T. Central vestibular networking for sensorimotor control, cognition, and emotion. Curr Opin Neurol. 2024;37(1):74-82. doi:10.1097/WCO.0000000000001233
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By Lindsay Curtis
Curtis is a writer with over 20 years of experience focused on mental health, sexual health, cancer care, and spinal health.

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Dumping-Syndrome

Dumping syndrome describes a collection of symptoms that occurs when food is emptied too quickly from the stomach. When this happens, the small intestine is filled with undigested food that is not adequately prepared to permit efficient absorption of nutrients.

Dumping syndrome is most commonly seen after a gastrectomy – the surgical removal of all or part of the stomach, usually for ulcer disease. It is now recognized that other types of patients, including those with symptoms suggestive of functional dyspepsia, may have rapid gastric emptying.

Symptoms
The symptoms of dumping syndrome include:

Nausea
Abdominal cramps
Diarrhea
Dizzy spells
Weakness
Cold sweats

Symptoms occur either with or after eating. The symptoms are often divided into “early” or “late” symptoms.

Early symptoms begin during or right after a meal. These include nausea, vomiting, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, dizziness, and fatigue.
Late dumping symptoms occur 1-3 hours after eating and include hypoglycemia, weakness, sweating, and dizziness.

People with dumping syndrome often have both types of symptoms.

Diagnosis
The diagnosis of dumping syndrome is based primarily on the development of symptoms in a person with a history of stomach surgery. Tests may be needed to exclude other conditions that have similar symptoms.

These tests may include blood tests, upper endoscopy, and/or gastric emptying test. Gastric emptying demonstrates rapid stomach emptying, especially in early scans taken one half and one hour after eating the test meal which shows nearly complete stomach emptying.

Treatment
Medical management of dumping symptoms involves dietary changes, and at times, the use of medications.

A change in diet is tried in most cases as the initial treatment. In moderate to severe cases, medications are taken to slow the stomach emptying and movement of food in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Rarely, doctors recommend surgery.

The following suggestions may help guide your eating to maximize your nutrition status and minimize symptoms of dumping:

Basic Dietary Guidelines for Dumping Syndrome

Eat smaller, more frequent meals. Eating 5 or 6 small meals more often will allow you to eat the equivalent of 3 regular meals without feeling full too fast. Eat slowly and chew all foods thoroughly. Sit upright while eating.
Solid foods account for most episodes of dumping. Symptoms are triggered more by solid food that requires breakdown in the stomach such as a piece of steak or pork chop rather than ground meat that is already broken down by the butcher.
Limit fluid consumption during meals. Drink liquids 30-60 minutes before or after meals instead of with meals.
Avoid nutrient-rich drinks since dumping syndrome is easily triggered by any rich emulsions such as a liquid nutritional supplement or a milk shake.
Eat fewer simple sugars. Foods high in simple sugar should be avoided because they pass through your stomach quickly and may cause diarrhea and cramping. Avoid or limit high sugary foods and beverages including the following examples: Kool-Aid, fruit juices/drinks, soda, cakes, pies, candy, doughnuts, cookies.
Eat more complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, pastas, potatoes, rice, breads, bagels, unsweetened cereals, etc.
Eat more foods high in soluble fiber. Foods high in soluble fiber slow stomach emptying and prevent sugars from being absorbed too quickly. The following examples are foods high in soluble fiber: apples, beets, Brussels sprouts, carrots, oats, spinach, pears.
Try increasing the amount of fats in your diet. Fats slow the stomach emptying and may help to prevent dumping syndrome from developing. Butter, margarine, mayonnaise, gravy, vegetable oils, salad dressings, and cream cheese are good choices; use some at all meals and snacks (for those trying to lose weight, an individual meal plan can be designed with a registered dietitian).
Increase the protein in your diet. Eat a protein containing food with each meal. Examples of high protein foods include the following: Eggs, meat, poultry, fish, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, peanut butter.
If milk causes distress, try lactose-free milk. Milk and milk products are often not tolerated; reduce or avoid consumption if this it true for you. It will be important to ensure that adequate calcium and vitamin D are eaten in the diet.

If you have difficulty maintaining your weight, ask to meet with a registered dietitian (RD) to help you with a meal plan. One possibility is to drink a nutritional supplement for extra calories; unfortunately, some of these may worsen symptoms. If tried, drink slowly to prevent symptoms.

Most people with dumping syndrome have relatively mild symptoms and respond well to dietary changes. In people with low blood pressure after meals (feeling lightheaded or sweaty), lying down for 30 minutes may help.

For persons that do not respond to the above dietary treatment, medications are sometimes given. The drug acarbose delays carbohydrate absorption and has been shown to help patients with late dumping. Another drug, octreotide, has been used with some success also. Octreotide is a synthetic form of somatostatin, a naturally occurring hormone in the body. Octreotide and somatostatin delay stomach emptying and exert a strong inhibitory effect on the release of insulin and several gut-derived hormones. Octreotide is a therapy used sparingly since this treatment significantly impairs digestion.

There are several newer agents that are also beginning to be used in attempt to slow gastric emptying (many of these are also used to treat patients with diabetes). In people who do not respond to medical treatment, surgery is sometimes considered.

More dietary information may be found at:

University of Virginia Health System Digestive Health Center for article on Dumping Syndrome
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics web site web site at www.eatright.org, or by telephone at 1-800-366-1655

Adapted from IFFGD Publication: Dietary and Nutritional Recommendations for Patients with Dumping Syndrome (Rapid Gastric Emptying) by Carol Rees Parrish, RD, MS, Nutrition Support Specialist, University of Virginia Health System; Henry C. Lin, MD, Chief, Gastroenterology Section, New Mexico VA Health Care System and Professor of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico; and Henry Parkman, MD, Professor of Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.