Looking for Reliable Dizziness Treatment Near You?
Are experiencing frequent bouts of dizziness, vertigo, or a feeling of unbalance or lightheadedness? Do you feel like you are going to faint or your surroundings are spinning around you? It’s advisable you seek your doctor’s attention for dizziness treatment.
There are a few dizziness treatment approaches that are commonly used to alleviate or eliminate symptoms of dizziness or vertigo. Dizziness is often characterized by a false sense of motion, lightheadedness, unsteadiness (or a loss of balance), feeling of floating or wooziness. This feeling may sometimes be accompanied by nausea or vomiting, but it is important to note that dizziness is not actually a medical condition. Instead, it is a symptom of a medication condition, such as head injuries, hypoglycemia, hypotension, stroke, etc.
What Causes Dizziness?
Although dizziness occurs in varying degrees and conditions, several conditions can cause dizziness. This is because the balance in the head involves several parts of your body. Inputs about your movement and body position (from the inner ear, eyes, muscles, joints, and skin) all go to the brain to create a sense of balance. But one of the most common causes of dizziness arises from the inner ear.
The eyes enable you to determine where your body is in space and how it’s moving. Messages about your body movements and positions are sent to your brain by the sensory nerves while the inner ear help in detecting gravity and back-and-forth motion.
Some possible causes of dizziness include:
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
Meniere’s syndrome
Ear infections
Brain-related conditions, such as head injury or traumatic brain injury (TBI), migraine, and multiple sclerosis
Hypoglycemia
Dehydration and overheating
Stroke
Circulation problems, such as poor blood circulation a d drop in blood pressure
Neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis
Hypotension
Some medications, such as anti-seizure drugs, antidepressants, sedatives, and tranquilizers
Inner ear problems
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Certain health conditions, such as common cold, anemia, migraines, and anxiety
Therefore, possible dizziness treatment will typically address these other conditions.
How Do I know I’m Experiencing Dizziness?
People who complain of dizziness or vertigo often report the following symptoms:
A feeling of unsteadiness or a loss of balance
A false sense of motion or spinning, also known as vertigo
Lightheadedness or feeling faint
A feeling of floating or heavy-headedness
Dizziness can be sudden or gradual and can affect your ability to perform routine activities like walking, standing, bending, etc. The symptoms of dizziness may be recurrent and may be worsened when you stand, walk, or move your head. Each episode of dizziness may last just seconds or days.
When Can I See a Doctor for Dizziness Treatment?
Ideally, it is recommended that you see your doctor whenever you experience any unexplained, sudden, severe, recurrent, or prolonged dizziness or vertigo. You should see your doctor immediately if you observe any of the following along with dizziness in your body:
Severe headache
Chest pain and difficulty breathing
Fainting
Sudden change in hearing
Numbness or paralysis of arms or legs
Double vision
Seizures
Rapid or irregular heartbeat
Confusion or slurred speech
Difficulty standing or walking
Vomiting
When dizziness treatment is sought immediately, it increases your risk of injuring yourself. Dizziness can increase your risk of falling and injuring yourself. If you’re experiencing dizziness while driving or working, there’s an increased likelihood of an accident occurring. Since dizziness typically presents as a result of certain health conditions, if the condition is not treated, it will also prolong the episodes of dizziness that you experience.
What Does a Dizziness Treatment Entail?
Treatment of dizziness often starts with a proper diagnosis, which may include a CT scan if you’ve suffered a blow in the head, a stroke, or are old. Your doctor will also conduct a physical examination and try to understand how you maintain balance, how you walk, and how your nervous system responds.
Dizziness diagnosis involves the eye movement test, posturography, rotary chair test, and head movement test.
Dizziness often goes away on its own, but if the body is taking too long to adapt to what is causing you to feel dizzy, your doctor will provide treatment based on what is responsible for the condition and symptoms. Sometimes, even when no cause is found for your dizziness, treatment may still be administered.
Below are common approaches for treating dizziness:
1. Medications
These medications are often focused on treating the underlying condition causing the dizziness.
Water pills or diuretics: Your doctor may prescribe a water pill or diuretic to treat Meniere’s disease, which causes fluid buildup in the ear and make you become dizzy.
Antihistamines and anticholinergics: These medications focus directly on treating the dizziness instead of focusing on the underlying medical condition. Many of these drugs also relieve nausea but cause drowsiness.
Anti-anxiety drugs: This includes diazepam and alprazolam, which may also cause drowsiness.
2. Physical Therapy
Sometimes, when you experience dizziness, taking actions like sitting, lying down, moving to a well-ventilated corner, or getting a cool drink can help you feel better quickly. Below are some therapies that have proven to help in dizziness treatment.
Epley maneuver: The aim of this therapy is to maneuver the position of your head to make the dizziness go away faster. It is usually performed by a doctor when resolving benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Be sure to tell the doctor if you have a neck or back condition, a blood vessel problem, or a detached retina.
Psychotherapy: Psychotherapy may be recommended for people suffering from dizziness that is caused by anxiety disorders.
Balance therapy (vestibular rehabilitation): Your doctor might recommend learning some exercises that will help to improve your balance by making it less sensitive to motion. This physical therapy technique is called.
3. Surgical procedures
Injections in the inner ear: In some serious cases, your doctor may inject your inner ear with a special antibiotic called gentamicin to disable the balance function. The unaffected ear takes over the balance function.
Labyrinthectomy: This procedure is rarely used. It is typically recommended when the dizziness symptoms haven’t improved after several other treatments. It is used to remove the inner ear sense organ – the vestibular labyrinth so that the other ear takes over the balance function.
Other therapies include acupuncture, changing your diet, and self-awareness.
What Can I Do Pending Dizziness Treatment?
Falling or slumping is a likely result of not taking adequate precautions or steps when you experience dizziness. Stop driving if you’re behind the wheel, avoid heights, including climbing, avoid walking in the dark or trying to do things alone, and avoid high-heeled shoes. Most importantly, if you feel sudden or recurrent episodes of dizziness, seek medical help immediately.
Our experts at The Hartman Center can also help diagnose your symptoms properly and provided you with the assistance you need to regain your balance. The Hartman Center is a Functional Neurologist based in New Jersey and specializes in Brain Injury Treatment and helping you get your life back.