Balance disorders refer to a feeling of constant or short-lasting dizzy spells. Patients might feel as if their surroundings are spinning, moving around, or somehow not fixed. A feeling of almost fainting or falling down is also common. All these symptoms can occur while you’re sitting, standing, or lying down.
Multiple organs help maintain the body’s balance. These include the ears, the eyes, the leg muscles, nerves, the brain, & the heart muscles. Balance disorders occur when even a single one of these organ systems dysfunction. Although any one of these organ system dysfunctions can give rise to balance disorders, inner ear issues are the most common causes of balance disorders.
The inner ear houses the body’s vestibular system, which is responsible for maintaining the body’s balance.
Balance disorders symptoms:
Balance disorders symptoms range from mild, unnoticeable symptoms to severe, disabling ones. Different people can have different symptoms depending on their medical history, age, the onset of symptoms, & other factors.
Some of the most common Balance Disorder Symptoms include
- Vertigo, which includes a spinning sensation & perception of false motion
- Dizziness, wooziness, & general lightheadedness
- A general loss of balance & unsteadiness
- A feeling of fainting or falling down
- A floating sensation or feeling like you’re on a rocking boat
- Rapid, abnormal eye movements, also known as nystagmus
- Vision changes like blurred vision, or foggy vision
- Any sort of confusion
The last two should signal towards a potentially serious disorder, other than usual balance disorders.
If you ever feel one of the following symptoms in addition to the two mentioned above, you should immediately visit your doctor.
These include:
- Losing consciousness
- Double or blurred vision
- Sudden hearing loss
- Convulsions or seizures
- Low blood pressure/hypotension
- Rapid heartbeat/arrhythmia
- Any sort of confusion or delirium
- Lack of oxygen/bluish coloration of extremities
- Difficulty breathing
Balance Disorders causes
There are multiple balance disorder causes. In most cases, your doctor can figure out the exact balance disorder cause(s) by looking at your specific signs & balance disorder symptoms. Balance disorders also consist of a range of conditions. We list the causes of each of these associated conditions below.
Vertigo(A spinning sensation)
Vertigo is a common balance disorder in both adults & children. It can be caused by a vast range of conditions. These include:
BPPV
Also known as Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. It is an inner ear condition caused by the calcium crystals inside the middle ear, breaking loose & lodging inside the semicircular canal of the inner ear. There they cause problems with how the inner ear perceives motion & sends balance-related signals to the brain. The resulting condition is called BPPV and it can make a person feel sudden spells of dizziness, nausea, headaches, motion sickness, & other vertigo-like symptoms. BPPV attacks are usually triggered by a change in the position of the head, & any sudden head movements. Simple actions like bending over, getting up suddenly, tipping your head to one side, & rolling over in bed can also trigger BPPV attacks.
Vestibular Neuritis
Vestibular Neuritis is an infection of the vestibular neuritis. The Vestibular Nerve is responsible for carrying balance-related signals from the inner ear to the brain & vice-versa. When this nerve gets inflamed by a viral or bacterial infection, it causes problems with the way these signals get transmitted. This leads to balance disorder symptoms like dizziness, nausea, & vertigo.
Labyrinthitis
Labyrinthitis is another viral or bacterial infection of the labyrinth. The labyrinth is the organ in the inner ear that controls balance-related information and transfers it to the brain. When it gets inflamed due to infection, this system gets hampered, causing dizziness, nausea, & other vertigo-like symptoms. It is similar to Vestibular Neuritis symptoms, however, labyrinthitis patients also experience hearing loss & earache along with the other balance disorder symptoms.
Meniere’s Disease
Meniere’s Disease is an inner ear disorder caused by excessive amounts of fluid inside the ear. This fluid creates hindrances with the normal back & forth movement of balance-related signals from the inner ear to the brain. Owing to this, the patient feels dizzy, nauseous, & experiences other vertigo-like symptoms. It’s also common for Meniere’s Disease patients to get headaches, experience hearing loss(partial or complete), & tinnitus(a ringing, buzzing, or whistling sound in the ears). It usually affects only one ear, although cases of Meniere’s Disease being present in both ears have been seen.
Acoustic Neuroma
Acoustic Neuroma is a benign, non-cancerous tumor that grows on the vestibular nerve. Although this tumor doesn’t cause any significant problems, it can interfere with the back & forth of balance signals via the vestibular nerve. If it grows big enough to start compressing the nerve & surrounding structures, more serious problems might arise.
Head Injuries
Any kind of head injury can cause damage to the vestibular nerve & the inner ear structure. This can hamper the transfer of balance signals from & to the brain. This can cause a person to feel dizzy, nauseous, get migraine headaches, as well as other vertigo-like symptoms.
Sometimes, balance disorder symptoms can occur suddenly without any apparent balance disorder cause. This usually happens because of an underlying illness or injury with late manifestations.
Dizziness
Dizziness is a feeling of being lightheaded, woozy, feeling faint, & general unsteadiness. Dizziness arises out of many causes, although ongoing infections, weakness, anemia, & anxiety are the most common causes. Dehydration, lack of sleep, & low blood sugar can also cause dizziness. Low blood pressure, also known as hypotension, can make a person feel dizzy & cause other major problems. Postural Hypotension, which is a feeling of being dizzy right after you get up or sit down, is also among balance disorder causes.
Certain cardiac diseases, like bradycardia, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, & heart arrhythmia can also be balance disorder causes.
In addition to these, certain medications can also be among balance disorder causes. These medications include blood pressure drugs, anti-anxiety pills, antidepressants, anti-seizure medicines, anti-delirium medicines, & some antihistamines.
How are balance disorders diagnosed?
Your doctor can usually tell which balance disorder you’re suffering from by carefully studying your symptoms. There are also some tests that exist to help them arrive at an accurate diagnosis.
These tests include:
- Hearing Tests
- Posturography tests
- Electronystagmography Test(ENG test) & Videonystagmography test(VNG test)
- Rotary chair test
- Dix-Hallpike maneuver
- Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential(VEMP) test
- Imaging tests like MRI scans, CT scans, & X-Ray
- Blood pressure measurement
- Electrocardiogram(EKG)
Balance Disorder Treatment:
Balance disorder treatment depends on the exact balance disorder causes. Based on the causes, your doctor will recommend various treatment methods to you.
Your balance disorder treatment may include:
Balance Disorder Exercises
These will depend on the exact balance disorder cause. For BPPV, a common cause of vertigo, your doctor may recommend the Epley maneuver, the Brandt-Daroff exercises, & the Semont-Foster maneuver. For other types of vertigo, your doctor may work with a licensed physical therapist to design a proper vestibular rehabilitation program for you.
Balance Disorder Medicines
These might include common vertigo treatment medicines like the Meclizine tablet, also known as Antivert. It can also include other common medicines like antihistamines, anti-anxiety medications, anti-nausea medicines, dizziness medicines, & motion sickness drugs.
Home Remedies
Home remedies generally include drinking adequate amounts of fluid throughout the day. Sleeping at least 8 hours every night, & eating a balanced, healthy diet full of necessary vitamins, minerals, & protein. Taking Ginkgo Biloba, Vitamin B12, & Vitamin D supplements can also help in this regard.
Surgical Procedures
If all the other balance disorder treatments don’t work for you, your doctor might recommend a surgical alternative. Surgeries generally work to remove dislodged calcium deposits inside the semicircular canal, & to remove an overgrown acoustic neuroma. Other surgical procedures include fixing a broken window membrane to treat a case of perilymph fistula, or to fix an abnormality in the inner ear structure.
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