When you feel like you’re on the boat during a storm, know that you likely have vertigo. It’s an ailment described as an imbalance in the body caused by some sort of disturbances to the brain. The brain responds to this disturbance through nerve impulses, telling your eyes that they are not working together, making you feel like the room is spinning or experiencing motion sickness.
According to an article on PubMed, vertigo is a common disorder in the inner ear. An infection or inflammation can cause it. Even though it affects more women than men, you should seek medical help when you experience even the slightest dizziness because there are cases where the cause is something more serious, like a tumor.
If you think an injury causes your vertigo, overworking yourself, or some other stress at work, it’s time to see a chiropractor. A chiropractor can adjust your spine and neck, affecting the nerves causing your dizziness, and putting you back on your feet.
Symptoms and Causes of Vertigo
It is easy to identify vertigo, but it may be difficult to determine its causes. One of the most common symptoms is feeling like you’re on a boat which makes you feel nauseous and totally out of balance.
You might not be able to focus on anything, but you’ll feel like your head is spinning around and around.
- Headache
There are some cases where a headache causes vertigo. This usually happens when you’re experiencing high blood pressure, stress about something, or too much exposure to sunlight. It’s also possible for this type of vertigo to last only a few minutes and go away on its own without medication, so it might be best not to take any.
- Ear Problems
There are instances where the ear canal might be blocked because of some fluid or wax, leading to a sense of imbalance. The nerves in your ear that tell you what’s up and down get mixed signals causing disorientation, resulting in vertigo. When you see a doctor about this symptom, they’ll most likely do a hearing test and determine what’s causing it.
- Middle Ear Infection
If you’re suffering from vertigo because of an ear infection, the dizziness will last for around ten days or more. You’ll feel like you can’t hear any sound even if someone is talking to you, and there might be some pain that comes with it.
- Labyrinthitis
This is an inner ear infection that causes total disorientation, vertigo, and problems with your eyesight. The symptoms are so pronounced that you may have to be hospitalized until the medication starts to work. Even if you take the prescription given by a doctor, there’s no guarantee that you won’t have to take it for at least a month.
- Migraine-Related Vertigo
If you have migraines, your vertigo may be caused by something called Migraine-Associated Vertigo which is when the migraine affects not just your head but somewhere in your ear too. The symptoms are dizziness, nausea, and vomiting that typically last for 4 to 72 hours.
- Labyrinthine Concussion
If you suffer from this type of vertigo, it’s not just the nerve affected but also something called “otolithic organs.” This means that your body may compensate for the dizziness by having problems recognizing new sensations and changes in your head position, which results in blurry vision.
- Imbalance
When you have vertigo, you’ll often feel like your balance is off even when you’re standing still. This doesn’t mean that it’s the only symptom because there are cases where people experience nausea, vomiting, and headaches too.
- Stress
Are you feeling dizzy all of a sudden? Stress might be the culprit because it can affect your entire body. Studies show that stress can cause cavities, heart problems, and high blood pressure, which causes dizziness.
- Meningitis
When someone thinks they’re suffering from vertigo, the first thing to do is see a doctor or chiropractor immediately. This is especially true for those with meningitis or any bacterial infection that can affect your brain.
Vertigo is a common symptom that many things can cause, but seeing a doctor is the most important thing to do. This way, you’ll know if your dizziness is something that only needs simple medication or if it’s more severe and might require surgery.
A Chiropractic Treatment and Approach to Vertigo
If you are looking for a chiropractic treatment approach to vertigo, make sure the office has experience treating this type of condition.
Chiropractors are trained to deal with common symptoms like back pain, headaches, migraines, shoulder pain, and more related to your dizziness.
Cervical vertigo (and not dizziness or nausea) is the most frequent symptom of this condition. Once you’ve recovered from your neck injury, chiropractic treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder may be valuable. The main goal of chiropractic manipulation treatments is to realign joints and vertebrae in the cervical spine and correct nervous system function.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is another type of vertigo that requires immediate attention. This is the most common type of vertigo and can be treated with head and body positioning or physical therapy. Epley maneuver is the physical therapy used to treat this condition, and it’s a test performed by a physical therapist or a chiropractor.
Epley maneuver is effective in treating BPPV as well as 83% of cases involving vertigo. This type of vertigo is associated with nystagmus (involuntary eye movements) triggered by head movement. This is why you should see a physical therapist or chiropractor who can help you get rid of this condition.
If your vertigo comes about due to other conditions, you may need more medication because it will not cure the underlying problem. Your doctor might prescribe drugs, but it’s time to see a chiropractor if you are still not better.
Various things can cause vertigo, so it’s essential to see a doctor as soon as you can. Your regular chiropractor may help, and if not, they should know the right person to refer you to for proper treatment.
