Many drugs can cause this symptom. Consider strategies to manage the risks. You’re taking a new prescription, and you’re feeling a little lightheaded. Are the two connected? It’s an important question, since many drugs are known to cause lightheadedness. And lightheadedness comes with a dangerous risk: falling. “Just being older increases your risk for falls. If you add three or four medications — or even just one with a known side effect of lightheadedness — it increases risk even more,” notes Joanne Doyle Petrongolo, a pharmacist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. Recognize the Symptom Lightheadedness can mean many things. You may think of it as feeling faint or about to pass out, off-balance, nauseated, confused, or weak. All of those symptoms fall under the umbrella term of “lightheadedness.” But lightheadedness is not a sensation of the world moving or spinning around you. Such a sensation is vertigo, which occurs when …