Vertigo, or dizziness, can be scary. Anyone that has ever had vertigo will tell you it is not pleasant. The feeling of floating, or being lifted up or pushed down, is not a pleasant one. Even if you only have occasional vertigo episodes, the effect can be frightening and life-threatening. Fortunately, vertigo isn’t the only thing that affects your balance.
Many different things can affect your ability to maintain balance. Balance is a complex system that involves more than simply moving your arms and legs in response to visual input. The eye movements, muscle tone, pulse, and temperature all play important roles. Tests can measure your coordination, analyze your eye movements, check for abnormalities, or test what happens with your body when you are vertigo. Imaging tests, like a computerized tomogram (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), can also be used to identify what exactly is going on within your body to help doctors determine whether or not you need further evaluation or treatment.
The most common causes of vertigo are balance issues, which are relatively easy to correct. One of the simplest things you can do to improve your vertigo is to work on the alignment of your inner ear. When the inner ear becomes misaligned, signals sent from the brain don’t reach the retina where they are supposed to come from and cause vertigo instead. One of the most common ways to fix this is through the use of an electronic device, like a hearing aid. Other common causes of vertigo include high blood pressure, head trauma, or Meniere’s disease.
If dizziness or vertigo continue or get worse, your physician may want to run more tests. Among the many tests he or she might order are Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Electroencephalographs, and Electromyelogram or EMG. These tests can look at everything from brain activity to muscle activity in order to narrow down what is causing your vertigo. It is important to have these tests done regularly in order to identify and treat the cause of your dizziness or vertigo, since the symptoms could be the symptoms of some other illness that needs attention.
Treatment for vertigo usually takes place on a regular basis, usually after a few months of symptoms being diagnosed. The most common treatment is eye exercises to strengthen the muscles in the eye muscles that allow stable vision, balance, and co-ordination. Other treatment options include therapy, which can involve specially designed exercises to help retrain the brain to avoid the problem behaviors that trigger vertigo attacks. Behavioral therapy is particularly useful because it allows you to focus on the specific behaviors and conditions that irritate your vertigo attacks. Cognitive behavioral therapy can also teach you how to train your mind to be less likely to trigger vertigo attacks by focusing on the symptoms instead of the triggers.
The most common causes of vertigo are balance issues resulting from extreme positions, abnormal muscle activity, or from decreased blood flow to the brain or eyes. There are numerous effective treatments that can make a huge difference in the number of vertigo attacks that you experience, and these treatments can improve the quality of your life. For more information about what can help treat your vertigo, talk to your doctor or health care provider today.