Imagine taking a cruise and instantly getting seasick. That would really spoil an enjoyable day. And there’s always that adjustment period when you get back on land where you can still feel the sway of the ship beneath your feet.
What if you felt this way all of the time? That’s what having some balance problems can feel like. And balance problems, much like that seasickness, can take the fun out of everything.
These balance symptoms may come and go or they might be long lasting. It will be easier to determine what the cause of your balance problems is, and how to best treat it after you have some testing done.
What can cause balance issues?
Your ears contain fluid in them. This is the exact mechanism that makes balance work. Your brain utilizes information from this inner ear fluid to figure out your body’s orientation. When things are normal, this all works great!
You might start wondering what causes balance problems in the first place when you start to notice symptoms. Usually (but not always), it has something to do with your ear, your brain, or both. Some of the most prevalent causes include:
- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV): This is a condition where sudden movements of the head or specific positions of the head can trigger feelings of dizziness and vertigo. An episode of vertigo strikes you when you move your head in a certain way.
- Meniere’s disease: Episodes of tinnitus, vertigo, and ear pressure distinguish the symptoms of this condition. Menier’s disease will eventually result in hearing loss after starting in one ear and then moving to the other.
- Vestibular neuritis: When you have inflammation of the inner ear, it’s known as vestibular neuritis. An infection is normally the cause and the outcome is temporary vertigo, dizziness, and balance issues. Symptoms will normally go away when the infection subsides.
- Migraines: These severe headaches can cause a wide variety of symptoms, one of which is balance problems. These balance issues will usually disappear when the migraine clears.
- Head injuries: From mild concussions to more profound head injuries and brain trauma, dizziness and vertigo can often be a result. The seriousness of the head injury can frequently impact the duration and intensity of the balance issues.
- Side-effects from medication: Some medications can generate side effects that result in dizziness and vertigo. Usually, when you stop using those medications, the symptoms will reduce. Before you quit taking any prescription medication, talk to your provider.
Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list. Your provider will have to do special testing in order to ascertain what’s causing your balance problems.
Testing for inner ear issues
Your provider may check your inner ear first when you initially experience your balance problems. As the name indicates, your inner ear isn’t exactly easy to get to. These tests aren’t intrusive or unpleasant, luckily. Here are some of the tests you might expect:
- Audiometry: Audiometry is basically a basic hearing test. It tests to see how well you can hear different wavelengths of sound. Often, this can help determine if there’s an issue with your ears or the health of your hearing.
- Tympanometry: Your ears only function properly when your eardrums are working properly. In order to determine how well your eardrums are moving, a tympanometric is needed. A small amount of air is directed into the eardrum by a tiny probe that looks like a headphone. The test can establish whether your ear is healthy by measuring the resulting movement of the eardrum.
- Videonystagmography or balance testing (ENG): It may help to think of this test as working indirectly with your ears. You use specialized goggles. These goggles track the movement of your eyes, helping to establish where your balance problems are arising from. This can help confirm that something is really off with your balance!
- Electrocochleography (ECOG): This test measures how much electrical energy is produced by your cochlea (which is part of your inner ear). Meniere’s disease is diagnosed using this ECOG test.
- Brainstem auditory evoked response audiometry (BAER, BSER): This test tracks your brainwave activity. Essentially, your hearing is triggered and your brain’s response is determined. There might be a problem with your inner ear, or maybe your ears and brain aren’t communicating effectively, or if your brainwave activity is what would be expected, it could be a more broad hearing issue.
- Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) and Auditory brainstem response (ABR): These two assessments can detect electrical activity. In general, you’ll have a couple of small electrodes positioned against your skin (usually on your head), and they’ll help determine how well signals are going from your brain to your ears and back again.
Your overall health and your symptoms will identify which one of these tests is right for your circumstance. Generally speaking, your provider will be able to identify when you need a basic screening or when a more objective test might be needed.
How are balance issues treated?
Once you’ve established the reason for your balance problems, your provider will be better able to provide practical treatment. Treatments are frequently fairly basic. For example, if an ear infection is causing your dizziness, some antibiotics may be able to help. In other circumstances, more intense and continued interventions could be required.
A few of the most prevalent treatments for balance problems include the following:
- Medication: Over-the-counter or prescription medicines can, in some situations, minimize symptoms.
- Positioning Exercises: These exercises can help with particular types of vertigo. The Epley Maneuver is a popular and often effective example.
- Lifestyle Modification: In certain instances, changing your lifestyle can help minimize your symptoms. As an example, you may be able to control your symptoms by quitting smoking or eating more fruits and veggies.
- Vestibular rehab: Your balance can be improved by these exercises and they could help protect against falls.
- Surgery: In some situations, surgery carried out by an ENT might be needed to correct certain balance problems.
Your balance of power
Your day-to-day safety, not to mention your overall quality of life can be seriously affected by balance problems. If you’re unstable because you are dizzy, it’s hard to walk around your house never mind driving. We will be able to diagnose your balance issues and start working towards an effective treatment.
You need to feel as if you’re back on dry land, so finding the cause of that continuous seasick feeling is the first step.