Vertigo

Vertigo is the sensation of losing balance or experiencing a moving environment. Vertigo can also cause nausea. There are a lot of causes of vertigo. Vertigo is most commonly caused by an imbalance in the inner ear. Other causes include Meniérè’s Disease or inflammation of the vestibular nerve that runs into the inner ear and sends messages to the brain. You feel like the whole world around you is spinning.  Another cause is BPPV, which is a short term for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Its role is to help you stay in balance. There is no reason for this to occur; it can be associated with stress or age. An inner ear problem that is caused by an infection is called vestibular neuritis and is also one of the causes of vertigo. The infection causes an inflammation of the nerves in the inner ear and therefore causes imbalance. Vertigo can be caused by a head injury, strokes, or brain tumors, medications that cause ear damage, headaches, migraines, etc.

People who have had vertigo at some point in their life explain it as a feeling of spinning, swaying, unbalance, like the room is spinning around. Other symptoms are nausea, sweating, and headache. More severe symptoms are hearing loss and ringing in the ears for a longer period of time. While vertigo often resolves on its own without specialized therapy, severe or chronic cases may require medical intervention. In these instances, a treatment known as vestibular rehabilitation is often recommended. This therapy is specifically designed to strengthen the vestibular system and improve balance.