Don’t Let Dizziness Throw Off Your Life’s Balance

Dizziness, imbalance, and vertigo are the second most common complaints that doctors hear from their patients. According to the National Institutes of Health, dizziness is the number one complaint reported to medical providers in adults 70 years of age or older. Whether the dizziness is fleeting or chronic may indicate how serious the potential health risks are to you as an individual.

Equilibrium disorders typically fall into two categories:

  • Acute attacks of dizziness, vertigo, or a general loss of balance that may last a few seconds or a few hours
  • A persistent sense of imbalance or unsteadiness

While experiencing a dizzy spell can feel overwhelming, there are a variety of effective treatment options available to help restore your balance. The key to finding relief is getting a proper diagnosis. Advances in treatment over the past decade have made managing dizziness more effective than ever, offering a much clearer path to stability and comfort.

Why Am I Losing My Balance?

To help balance your body, your brain requires input from your inner ear, eyes, and sense of touch to determine where it is in relation to other objects and the Earth. If any one part of this complex system does not work properly, imbalance or problems with movement coordination can take place.

The natural aging process may affect these senses and the central nervous system’s ability to interpret and react to them quickly. For example, medical providers commonly hear complaints that patients may see a curb or step but aren’t able to react quickly enough to keep their balance when using it. With proper diagnosis and therapeutic exercises like balance retraining or vestibular rehabilitation therapy, many older adults can return to a more active lifestyle.

Facts About Dizziness and Balance

  • Loss of balance will affect 90 million Americans at some point during their lives.
  • More than 9 million people each year consult their physicians to find solutions to their dizziness, which is the number one complaint for individuals over age 70.
  • Balance-related falls account for more than half of all accidental deaths in the elderly population, and they cause more than 300,000 hip fractures each year in individuals over age 65.
  • Some balance disorders, like Ménière’s disease, vestibular migraine syndrome, or benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), can have similar symptoms. Because of how they may affect an individual’s ability to stand, walk, see clearly, think clearly, read, watch television, and make decisions, these disorders can be misdiagnosed as things like multiple sclerosis and clinical depression.
  • Children with treatable balance disorders are sometimes incorrectly diagnosed as learning disabled, dyslexic, or psychologically disturbed.
  • Migraine, BPPV, head trauma, and whiplash are frequent causes of dizziness.
  • Ear infections can cause vestibular dysfunction.

 
Center of Specialty Care

Neurodiagnostic Balance Testing

Allegany Hearing & Balance Center is excited to announce our partnership with the American Institute of Balance (AIB), located in Largo, Florida. AIB is one of the country’s best-known diagnostic, treatment, and educational facilities specializing in equilibrium disorders. AIB is widely recognized for providing practitioners with the latest clinical and scientific breakthroughs in treatments. We are proud to announce that AIB has qualified us as a Center of Specialty Care!

We provide expert neurodiagnostic assessment of balance disorders and use state of the art neurodiagnostic equipment allowing for a comprehensive test battery. We offer the following testing to assess vestibular function: VNG, v-HIT, cVEMP, oVEMP, rotary chair, ECochG, and ABR.

Learn more about what to expect during balance tests:

VNG (Videonystagmography)

VNG is a series of tests that involves tracking a light with your eyes while wearing a set of goggles with pupil-tracking technology. The testing requires patients to lay on their back and/or sides at times. The audiologist will also perform a test called caloric irrigation which involves introducing a mild stream of air (cool and warm) into the ears. These tests can tell us if the cause of your balance problem is coming from your ears or from your brain, and if the balance organs are working equally in each ear.

Rotary Chair

Allegany Hearing and Balance is proud to possess rotary chair technology as one of the newer vestibular tests available. This test involves comfortably sitting in a chair while wearing goggles and being gently rotated for about one minute. This test records eye movement in response to the rotation and tells us if the ears are working together, if one is weaker than the other, or if the brain is involved in the balance problem.

v-HIT (Vestibular Head Impulse Test)

v-HIT involves wearing a set of small goggles while staring at a small target as we move your head in different directions. This test is capable of testing all six of the ear’s balance canals and can tell us if one balance system is weaker than the other. It can also indicate the effectiveness of your balance rehabilitation post treatment.

VEMP (Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential)- Cervical and Ocular

This is a test that involves putting electrodes on your forehead, neck, and sometimes face. You will turn your head one direction, then the other, while we look at waveforms generated by your movement. This test evaluates the saccule and/or utricle in the inner ear and can tell us specific information that helps us figure out the possible cause of your balance issue.

ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response)

This test involves having electrodes placed on your forehead and behind each ear, then relaxing and listening to a loud clicking noise. This test is looking at the auditory system past the ear and up the brainstem into the auditory regions of the brain. This test detects possible lesions affecting the hearing and/or balance system.

ECochG (Electrocochleography)

This test also involves having electrodes placed on your forehead and inserts placed in your ears, similar to a hearing test, then relaxing and listening to loud clicking noises. This test can indicate if there is a problem with the cochlea such as Meniere’s Disease.

Please contact us today for a consultation of your unique dizziness and balance difficulties

 

Balance Treatment

We treat Benign Paroxysmal Positioning Vertigo (BPPV) here at Allegany Hearing & Balance. We have various methods we use depending on what the doctor feels will be most appropriate for you and your specific type of BPPV.

Most treatments are simple, quick, and effective in eliminating your symptoms. We strongly discourage you from treating yourself at home with any method you may have found online. There is a possibility that you may do the maneuver incorrectly and risk making your symptoms worse.

 

Self-Quiz for Dizziness or Balance Problems

Does the room spin when you lie down or change positions, e.g., getting in or out of bed?

Can you walk in the dark without difficulty or hanging on to things?

Do you often feel that you are not sure-footed?

Do you sometimes stagger when you walk?

Do you have a fear of falling?

Have you fallen as a result of being off balance or dizzy?

Do you have difficulty keeping your balance when changing surfaces, e.g., walking from a driveway onto uneven grass?

Does looking at moving objects like an escalator bother you?

 Do you fear driving because of your dizziness?

Do you have numbness in your hands or feet?

If you answered yes to one of these questions, schedule your balance evaluation today

 

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get rid of the dizziness?
Sometimes symptoms resolve on their own, but treatment can be provided either in home or at a practice that treats balance issues. Allegany Hearing & Balance Center can help diagnose your specific balance issue and then make an appropriate referral for a medical evaluation, physical therapy, vestibular rehabilitation, balance retraining, or canalith repositioning for BPPV.
How long does vertigo last?
A vertigo attack may last only a few seconds, or up to a few days. Symptoms may last only a matter of weeks, or it may be an ongoing problem. People with persistent, ongoing vertigo may be in danger of harming themselves or others, making treatment a necessity.
Why do I get dizzy when I stand up?
Blood pressure can drop excessively sometimes when you stand, causing dizziness. This is called postural hypotension or orthostatic hypotension and should be addressed by your physician. This dizziness can resolve rapidly within a few seconds, but can result in falling if you start walking too quickly after standing. Because reasons for dizziness vary depending upon specific medical conditions, individuals who experience excessive dizziness when shifting body positions are encouraged to contact our practice for a full consultation.