Imbalance & Unsteadiness

There are a wide variety of reasons that a person can experience dizziness or a sense of imbalance, and the most common cause of these ailments is related to the vestibular system. Your vestibular system, located in a person’s inner ear, sends information to the brain in order to assess balance and the orientation of the head and body.

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)

BPPV is the most common cause of vertigo. It is usually experienced as brief, intense moments of vertigo directly after changing the position of your head. Many people experience BPPV when lying in bed on their side. BPPV is treated with canalith repositioning therapy.

Learn more about BPPV

Inflammation In The Inner Ear (Vestibular Neuritis)

Vestibular Neuritis can cause spontaneous and constant vertigo that may persist for several days. Patients may also experience nausea and imbalance. Vestibular Neuritis can be incapacitating, often requiring bed rest. Generally, it subsides and will clear up on its own.

Vestibular Migraine

The main symptom of a vestibular migraine is dizziness that comes and goes and lasts for more than a few minutes. Headache is sometimes, but not always, a symptom. Other common symptoms are nausea, balance problems, extreme motion sensitivity and sensitivity to sound. The cause of vestibular migraines is not completely understood and varies from patient to patient. Often, the treatment involves understanding and adjusting the trigger of the migraine. Triggers include diet, medication, stress etc.

Meniere’s Disease

Meniere’s disease is uncommon and usually affects only one ear. Symptoms can include severe vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss and a feeling of fullness in the ear. The symptoms are caused by the buildup of fluid called endolymph within the labyrinth. The labyrinth houses both the organ of hearing and the organ of balance. 

Acoustic Neuroma

Sometimes, a benign, non-cancerous growth will grow on the vestibular nerve. This is called acoustic neuroma or vestibular schwannoma. This nerve serves an important function in communicating balance information from your inner ear to your brain. Symptoms include tinnitus, dizziness, imbalance, and progressive hearing loss.

Other Causes

In rare cases, vertigo may be a symptom of more concerning problem like multiple sclerosis, a stroke, or a hemorrhage of the brain. Vertigo would be present along with a variety of other symptoms such as, but not limited to: weakness or numbness in facial muscles, blurred or double vision, loss of limb coordination, or extremely severe imbalance or unsteadiness.