Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Dizziness & Vertigo

If you or someone you love is struggling with a vestibular disorder, you likely have a lot of questions.

You may feel as if you are suffering alone and that no one really understands why you feel this way.

You may be feeling desperate with questions and no one to turn to for help.

Let me a sure you, you are not alone!

Here are the most frequently asked questions for dizziness and vertigo:

1. Why do I feel light-headed and wobbly, especially when I’m stressed or in crowds?

2. Why does laying down or rolling in bed make me dizzy?

3. Why does driving make me motion sick?

4. Why does my dizziness get worse when I’m stressed or anxious?

5. Why does walking on uneven ground like cobblestones, sand, or gravel make me feel dizzy and unsteady?

6. Why does my neck hurt when I'm dizzy?

7. Why do I feel sick with elevators?

8. Why do I feel nauseous and lightheaded when watching action movies?

9. How do I know if my dizziness is something serious?

10. Why do I feel dizzy and lightheaded under fluorescent, flashing lights and walking over patterned floors?

I'm sure that some of these resonant with you and that these are some pretty heavy questions!

It's important that you connect with a provider who has advanced training in dizziness and vertigo to make sure that you are working with someone who understands your symptoms and can get you on the right path to a diagnosis and treatment.

Here are a few common causes to vertigo and dizziness:

BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo):

BPPV caused from degeneration of salt-like crystals in a part of the inner ear, the utricle, which break free and float into an area they do not belong (semicircular canals). Symptoms can include attacks of vertigo with rapid, pitched head motion like when lying in bed, rolling in bed, looking up or down.

Treatment includes vestibular therapy to perform specific repositioning maneuvers to clear the floating debris from the semicircular canals.

Visual Vertigo

Visual vertigo is the term we use when we have dizziness, vertigo, light-headedness, fogginess, nausea, or imbalance with an increase in visual input like when we are in crowds, driving, in the supermarket, watching action television or even patterned floors and fluorescent lights.

Treatment includes vestibular therapy to strengthen the vestibular system (inner ear) to depend less on what we see to give our brain accurate information on how we are sensing our environment.

Check out my e-book: 3 solutions to resolving your dizziness and vertigo without pills or surgery

How does balance work?

Information from our balance system, which is our eyes, inner ear (vestibular), and joint sense (proprioception), sends signals to our brain for us to view our environment in three dimensions, maintain balance, and coordinate our movements.

When there is a problem in how your systems are talking to each other, it can lead to a variety of symptoms and problems like dizziness, vertigo, imbalance, and motion sickness.

Our brain is smart and senses there is a problem, and will stimulate our “fight or flight” response. Which can lead to a vicious cycle of more feelings of anxiety around our symptoms.

For more information on the relationship between anxiety and dizziness click here.