Dizziness, vertigo, loss of balance…on the surface these all seem to be very similar. However, they are all different, and have different causes. A good place to start is to be able to describe what it is that you are feeling, which will help your practitioner figure out what’s going on.
Dizziness and vertigo – what’s the difference?
Although the terms dizziness and vertigo are often used interchangeably, they are two different conditions. Dizziness is the feeling of being about to pass out, sometimes accompanied by nausea or a feeling of weakness or lightheadedness. You might appear pale. Dizziness, unlike vertigo, can also be accompanied by a mental feeling of confusion or spaciness. Lying down can help relieve dizziness.
Vertigo is the sensation that the room is spinning or tilting, and this feeling may persist even if the person is lying down.
A balance disorder can be similar to vertigo but is an issue when walking or standing, not sitting or lying down. It can feel like you are about to fall or tip over, and you may not trust yourself to walk up or down stairs or ladders, or on narrow walkways without walls.
Dizziness
Dizziness is most commonly due to an abrupt lowering of blood pressure, such as from physical or emotional shock. Dizziness can be caused by any heart or circulatory problem that can decrease the blood flow to the head.
Dizziness can be a symptom of chemical reactivity, and the key to eliminating that kind of reaction, or any kind, is to detoxify yourself from chemicals. The detox measures in the book Detox or Disease is a good place to start. Even if you aren’t especially sensitive to chemicals, a number of solvents and chemicals can make you dizzy.
Motion sickness, which can happen when riding in a car, boat, or plane, is a common cause of dizziness, often with nausea. The problem occurs when there’s a difference between what the eyes and the ears perceive. If riding in a car, the eyes see the car’s stationary interior, especially when in the back seat, while the curves and dips tell the balancing system in the inner ear that you are moving. This is why reading in the car causes dizziness in some people – the book isn’t moving but the body is. Sitting in the front seat and watching the scenery pass by can help remedy this disconnect and the associated dizziness.
The ears
The ears are the body’s balancing system, and many if not most cases of dizziness and vertigo can be traced to a problem in the inner ear. Tiny hairs in the inner ear set in a gelatinous material help to keep balance by acting as a carpenter’s level; they perceive more pressure from one side than from the other. Since the ears regulate the sense of balance, an ear problem such as an ear infection or even earwax buildup can cause dizziness or vertigo.
Structural issues can be part of this as well. If the body is misaligned, the message from the inner ears (e.g. the terrain is tilted, such as when one leg is functionally longer than the other) conflicts with the message from the eyes (the terrain is flat). The resulting mismatch of information is felt as vertigo as the body attempts to cope with the conflicting signals. Falls and stumbles can result from this mismatch. Problems with the jaw, such as TMJD, can also cause dizziness. Cranial adjustments can be done if a cranial-sacral problem is affecting the ears and thus balance.
Meniere’s disease is a disorder of the inner ear that causes vertigo along with fluctuating hearing loss, ringing in the ear (tinnitus), and/or a feeling of fullness or pressure in one or both ears. Causes can be head trauma, abnormal immune response, allergies, viral infection, or chemicals.
Balance problems can be interpreted as dizziness, and the inner ear nerves are affected in both dizziness and balance difficulties. The person tries to obtain more visual information to compensate, and walking in the dark can be difficult for this reason.
Both dizziness and vertigo can be felt in multiple sclerosis (MS). In the case of vertigo, the nerves in the middle and inner ear that promote balance can be affected by the plaques characteristic of MS.
Vertigo
In some cases, sudden-onset vertigo can be a sign of a serious condition such as a stroke or aneurism (brain hemorrhage); immediate medical care should be sought.
Vertigo can be a type of migraine, and can precede or even occur instead of the typical migraine headache.
Some medications such as anti-seizure drugs and sedatives can cause vertigo and dizziness.
In summary
In summary, vertigo, dizziness, and balance difficulties are a sign that something isn’t right with the body, most likely with the ears or structure. If you have these conditions, the practitioners at CAM can help to figure out what’s going on.
