do/have either of your ears feel itchy/achey/"cruddy", etc deep down inside? Did you have tubes in your ears as a kid, were you prone to ear infections?
the dizziness you describe is called vertigo, and it is caused by something being wonky in your inner ear (fluid filled area behind the ear drum that co-ordinates balance among other things.
I had a lot of ear infections as a kid, fine from 3-4 to 25 or so, had lots more (prob 2-3 yr)since then.
go see your doctor.
if it's the first time it's happened, if it's just an ear infection, you'll likely get a steroid, or antibiotic.
for the dizziness, they might give you a pill called Antivert, which the generic version is available OTC, it's called Meclizine, usually sold in 25mg doses.
be careful with it.
some people can take it with no side effects (the world just stops spinning YAY!!), others it knocks out.
I'm in the first group. it makes the spinning stop, and that's it
in a pinch you can get meclizine 25's where you would get motion sickness pills(Dramamine,Bonine, etc) one of the varieties of the national brand is just a 25mg meclizine. look to spend around a $1/pill that way.
your pharmacy should have them in a bottle of 100 for about $5,usually kept behind the counter. ask your pharmacist.
I take them quite regularly.
don't know if there's a direct correlation or not, but from my observations:
if meds that say "may casue drowsiness" do make you drowsy, these will too.
I can pop benadryls like candy with no sleepy-time effects.( i take a lot of allergy meds..) so no problems with these.