Prevention: the best medicine

Dizziness and Balance Disorders are characterized by impairment in awareness, perception of surroundings and stability with standing, walking or sensation in feet/legs. 

Because the term dizziness is fairly general, it can refer more specifically to symptoms of vertigo, lightheadedness, disequilibrium or a non-specific feeling such as floating sensation.  

Patients with balance disorders can have causes that include non-innter ear related (vestibular) processes and often have multiple body system processes contributing to their balance disorder.  Consequently, these patients require a fairly extensive evaluation and occasionally may require more comprehensive workup with consultations among our trusted colleagues in Neurology, Neurosurgery, Internal Medicine or Orthopedics.  Treatment often requires a multi-pronged approach.  

 Symptoms of Inner Ear Balance Disorders:  The symptoms from inner ear balance disorders can vary widely ranging from mildly annoying to totally incapacitating.  The most characteristic symptom is vertigo.  Vertigo is the strong feeling or sensation of motion.  Typically, vertigo is the intense sensation of spinning motion (whether you feel the room is spinning or that you are spinning is irrelevant).  However, feelings of other types of motion are also common: 

• Such as....after moving your head, you can feel like things continue to move in the direction after you have stopped... 
• or feel like your eyes are slightly behind where they should be requiring a second or two to catch up.  
• You can feel like you are swaying as if on a boat, rocking back and forth, being pushed or pulled in one direction, falling or dropping.