Vertigo and an extreme sense of dizziness can strike at any given time and for many, many reasons. While vertigo can be painful or mild, quick or aggravatingly recurring, the main thing to do once a sudden spell of the dizzies hits is to see a doctor.
Finding the cause of dizziness and vertigo, truth be told, can be difficult, Think about it, we all get dizzy from time to time and for many different reasons. While vertigo and dizziness can occur and disappear without a second thought, they are indeed the symptoms to many serious problems. Here are three rare cases where vertigo may be a symptom of something greater.
Vestibular Schwannoma
To put it bluntly, vestibular schwannoma is a tumor or abnormal growth found in the Schwann cells that affect the processes of the vestibular nerve. It is very rare indeed, found sparingly in patients with vertigo each year. Rare, but not impossible.
Vestibular schwannoma results in a severe case of chronic dizziness and an example of rotational vertigo. It affects the equilibrium, causing serious problems with walking as it quite literally feels as if the ground is moving below your feet. In addition to this savage case of vertigo, another common symptom to those suffering from vestibular schwannoma is tinnitus. Thankfully this tumor grows at an extremely slow rate and very rarely becomes a life threatening issue.
Mal de Debarquement Syndrome
A description originally found by sailors who felt vertigo after disembarking from a long, rocky voyage at sea, Mal de Debarquement Syndrome is a disorder where the feeling of riding waves on an unsteady sea goes on after you’ve made port. It can take place for months and, in some cases, even years. Think to yourself the constant up and down of feeling as if you’re on a boat in a stormy sea and then imagine having that feeling all the time. Not pretty.
Mal de Debarquement Syndrome, fortunately, goes away on its own, but as already noted the time frame is different for everyone. There are no clear-cut treatments out there right now aside from conventional vertigo treatments such as therapy, acupuncture, and remedies such as Vitamin D and ginger root. Prescription medication that one would typically prescribe to a vertigo sufferer has proven to be less than helpful.
Bilateral Vestibulopathy
The vestibular system is what controls our body’s balance and posture, regulating our reflexes in our spine and eyes. When those signals get messed up due to things such as inner ear damage, chronic dizziness and vertigo become inevitable. While the human body can learn to deal with these issues, the vertigo can be hard to deal with.
Bilateral vestibulopathy can result from bouts with encephalitis or meningitis or potentially as a side effect from taking some medications. Symptoms include a harsh imbalance while in the dark or while trying to move on an uneven surface. In cases where both inner ears are damaged, vertigo-driven instability becomes all the more difficult.
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