How do I know if I have vertigo?
Does turning your head while driving make you dizzy?
What about getting up from a seated position and instantly feeling dizzy or seeing double?
Some of the feelings you will experience are a swimmy feeling in your head, lightheadedness, a heavy head, feeling off-balance, or disequilibrium (or the feeling of falling). You may be experiencing something called vertigo.
What is vertigo?
Vertigo is the sense of being off balance in which case the room or objects in the room are spinning around you, or your head feels like it is spinning. Many things can cause these sensations, but the most common is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV).
How does it affect me?
Vertigo can affect people in different ways including everyday activities. Because it affects your balance and causes a spinning sensation, vertigo can affect your walking. These symptoms of vertigo can also cause nausea, hearing loss or ringing in the ear. Since dizziness occurs quite often, an inability to look from side to side and up or down will also be affected.
Why does this occur?
Most common cause of dizziness is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV):
Canalithiasis: “Crystals loose within your inner ear” The crystals are calcium carbonate in the saccule and utricle in the innermost part of the ear. This correlation sends signals to the brain to know what position your body is at in relation to gravity. The hair cells in the tubes where the crystals move, send signals of body movements.
Cupulolithiasis: The crystal becomes lodged and adhered in the canals. This correlation again affects the signals transmitted to the brain
What happens when I notice these signs?
When vestibular disorder goes undiagnosed and untreated, this often leads to a poor quality of life with the inability to participate in normal daily routines, such as bending over to wash dishes or even fold the laundry. This can also affect your social life causing mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
How can we help here at Thrive?
Here at Thrive we can help your body recognize that position changes are normal. We offer Vestibular Rehab which aims to help retrain the ability of the body and brain to process balance information. This therapy also helps to allow free head movement without dizziness, especially while walking. Our therapists can enhance your eye movement, recover your standing balance, improve dizziness/vertigo, and restore activities of daily living that are effected by this disorder. Another important aspect of this rehab is to build gross body muscle strength to improve quick reaction when you do lose your balance.
What to do if you think you may have vertigo?
Give our office a call or click the button below and our staff can get you scheduled with a therapist that can evaluate your symptoms, and then start you on the right path of getting you back to a safe, healthy lifestyle.