Vertigo, a sudden loss of control or balance, can put you in some scary situations and make it difficult to live your daily life. Thankfully, no one needs to accept these dizzy spells as a fact of life. As with most things, vertigo is a symptom of a bigger issue. Holistic treatment can reveal several underlying causes to this topsy-turvy condition—the most common of which is an inner ear problem.
What Did You Say? Ear Issues Can Cause Vertigo?
According to Healthy Hearing, your ears contain endolymph and otoliths, two crystal-like structures that regulate balance. When these aren’t working the way they should, you may find yourself losing your balance or experiencing motion that’s just not there.
Think about it: when you develop a cold or sinus infection, your ears are often affected. The mucus buildup seems to explode everywhere in your head, and it becomes difficult to think straight—let alone walk straight. And especially when the ears become infected, it is difficult to hear our surroundings well enough to stay balanced. While we normally attribute this off-balance feeling to sinus pressure and headaches, it is mostly from our ears.
But even inner ear irregularity, an underlying cause of vertigo, has its own underlying causes. You can find the most common ones below:
Common Causes of Inner Ear Problems
- Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo: A small crystal is floating loose in the wrong area of the inner ear, causing dizziness.
- Vestibular neuronitis and labyrinthitis: Usually due to an infection, the nerves in the inner ear associated with balance have become inflamed.
- Meniere’s disease: A chronic inner ear disorder that also cause tinnitus or even hearing loss.
Treating inner ear problems will depend on what the underlying cause is. If you experience dizzy spells, ask our office to help you find the cause so we can help you get back to a feeling of stability
