Dizziness

Dizziness affects millions of people every day, for many different reasons.  The trick is to find the correct cause and to treat it.   It should not be something you have to live with.  Studies have shown that a person with dizziness or balance problems sees on average 5 different doctors before finding one who could properly diagnose the cause of their dizziness.  This is because there can be so many causes of dizziness.  Dizziness can be due to all sorts of things, such as low blood sugar, abnormal blood pressure, response to certain medications, anemia, narrowing of the arteries, migraine, anxiety, inner ear problems, etc.  Finding the cause may be a process of elimination. 

Many people don’t associate dizziness and vertigo with the ears.  A lot of people fear they are having a stroke when an attack of vertigo comes on.  It can be very frightening.  Sometimes that is the case. However, dizziness coming from a problem in the ear is a likely cause.  The reason for this is that the hearing and the balance structures are connected, they share the same fluids, and they respond in similar ways.  The information transmitted to the brain travels the same pathway for hearing as it does balance.  The auditory nerve and the vestibular (balance) nerve are bound together, one on top of the other.  With so much in common, it is very often the case that dizziness and ear problems go hand-in-hand. 

The Difference Between Dizziness And Vertigo

You may have heard the term “Vertigo” used in the same context as dizziness.  However, dizziness is different from vertigo.  Dizziness is commonly described as a feeling of unsteadiness, lightheadedness, or turning on your part.  You feel you are turning.  Vertigo feels as though the world is turning or spinning around you, when in fact, you aren’t moving at all.