The vestibular system helps to maintain a sense of balance and spatial orientation, provides information about the position of the head and fixates images upon the retina. Vestibular disorders can cause dizziness, vertigo, confusion and unsteadiness. Vestibular problems may also cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anxiety or changes in blood pressure or heart rate.
Check with your doctor to evaluate any vestibular system condition before attempting to self-treat.
Dislodged Otoconia
The most common vestibular disorder as well as one of the most easily cured, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV, mostly affects people over age 60, Johns Hopkins Medicine states. Otoconia, small calcium crystals embedded in the inner ear, can become dislodged, particularly as you age. Otoconia move to the semicircular canals, which help maintain a sense of balance, and clump together. Eventually they fall to the bottom of the inner ear, the posterior semicircular canal. When otoconia move, they disrupt the fluid movement in the canals, which causes a sense that the world is spinning around you. Aging, head trauma, high-intensity aerobics and other conditions can cause otoconia to dislodge. Physical therapy maneuvers help move the stones from the semicircular canals. Between 70 and 80 percent of people experience an immediate cure, but the problem recurs in around 50 percent of former sufferers, Johns Hopkins reports.
Inflammation
Labyrinthitis, inflammation in the inner ear often associated with an ear infection or upper respiratory tract infection, causes dizziness and loss of balance. Labyrinthitis may also cause hearing loss in one ear, loss of balance, involuntary eye movements that make focusing difficult, nausea and vertigo. Treatments include antihistamines, corticosteroids to reduce inflammation, anti-nausea medications, sedatives and medications to decrease dizziness, according to MedlinePlus.
Increased Fluid
Large amounts of fluid, referred to as endolymph, can cause vestibular disease. Meniere’s disease, a type of inner ear disease, affects around 15 out of every 100,000 people each year, the Vestibular Disorders Association reports. The excess fluid causes severe vertigo, hearing loss that comes and goes, and ringing in the ear. Meniere’s disease symptoms can last for several minutes or up to 24 hours, and recur at unpredictable intervals that generally worsen over time. Causes of inner ear fluid accumulation include autoimmune disease, allergies, migraine, circulation problems or viruses.
Fluid Leakage
Fluid leakage from the inner ear to the middle ear can cause vestibular diseases such as perilymph fistula. You may experience dizziness, nausea or unsteadiness when walking. Causes include head trauma, changes in pressure, such as occur in scuba diving, ear surgery or chronic ear infections, the National Institutes of Health states.
