Vertigo is something that nearly everyone experiences in the course of their lives. Up to 40 percent of adults report experiencing vertigo. Vertigo can be experienced as dizziness or the sensation that you are moving when you are, in fact, not. It can also be the sensation that the world around you is moving when it is actually still. Vertigo can have many causes, which means it has many treatments, too.
What Treats Vertigo?
Vertigo is often caused by an underlying medical or physical condition. That means that treating vertigo is all about identifying its cause and tackling the problem at the root. So, let’s take a look at some of the top treatments for vertigo with videos where needed.
10. Sit Down
Sometimes, you just need to sit down. Vertigo is directly linked with our sense of balance. When someone is experiencing vertigo, they can lose their balance and fall down. Sitting down can therefore help you overcome a bout of vertigo.
Why Sitting Down Helps with Vertigo
Sitting down helps us get centered. When we sit down on the floor, we immediately lose our risk of falling over. Sitting down also helps reestablish our balance and helps stop the “spinning” sensation from vertigo.
Another easy treatment you can take care of on your own is to just cool down…
9. Keep Cool
Overheating can cause vertigo even in people without an underlying medical condition. When our bodies overheat, for example, it throws all of our internal systems out of balance; this event includes our literal sense of balance.
Why Keeping Cool Helps with Vertigo
Becoming overheated can lead to heat stroke, stress, and dehydration. All of these conditions are known to cause vertigo. If you are becoming overheated, simply make a break for the shade or enjoy an ice cold beverage while you cool back down.
Speaking of enjoying beverages, if you are looking to lower the amount of times you experience vertigo, cutting back on alcoholic beverages is a great place to start…
8. Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol has many negative impacts on our health, but vertigo is one sensation it’s well-known to cause. Namely, when an individual becomes intoxicated, they may experience room-spinning vertigo in addition to other experiences. If you are looking to limit your experiences with vertigo, holding back on the alcoholic beverages can help.
Why Avoiding Alcohol Helps with Vertigo
As mentioned, alcohol causes vertigo when a person drinks to the point of intoxication. Alcohol can also cause vertigo by dehydrating the body. This trigger is easily managed by hydrating with water while drinking alcohol. Alcoholic drinks can also impede the function of medications and aggravate underlying health problems, both of which also cause vertigo.
Lowering your alcohol consumption is just one of a few lifestyle changes you can make to stay on top of your vertigo…
Epley Maneuver
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (or BPPV) is the most common cause of vertigo, a false sensation of spinning. Kristen Janky, Au.D, Ph.D., CCC-A, Vestibular Audiologist at Boys Town National Research Hospital, demonstrates how to treat BPPV using the Epley Maneuver.
BPPV stands for Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo and essentially with BPPV, crystals from the ear get dislodged and displaced into a different part of the inner ear. The treatment for that is to put the head in different positions to move those crystals back into the part of the ear that they belong. As soon as those crystals get back into that part of the ear, patient’s symptoms improve dramatically.
Diet and Exercise
Diet and exercise are the cornerstones of good health. When either of these goes out of balance, you can experience vertigo. Maintaining both a healthy diet and a regular exercise routine therefore helps combat vertigo.
Why Diet and Exercise Helps with Vertigo
This one is all about staying healthy. You see, vertigo often appears as a symptom that is the result of some type of underlying illness. Many of these illnesses can be prevented by having a healthy diet and staying fit.
Another key to great overall health is staying hydrated…
6. Stay Hydrated
One of the primary causes of vertigo? Dehydration. Staying hydrated is vital for our bodies; so, even mild cases of dehydration can cause vertigo to set in. Dehydration becomes more serious if you are engaged in physical activity in hot weather or have underlying medical concerns.
Why Staying Hydrated Helps with Vertigo
Hydration isn’t just about not feeling thirsty; the body needs a regular intake of fluid in order to maintain its systems. The vestibular system is responsible for our sense of motion and balance. This system relies on our bodies being hydrated to work properly. Staying hydrated also keeps our blood pressure up, which prevents dizziness from a sudden blood pressure drop.
Sometimes vertigo is a sign of a more serious medical concern, but thankfully there are ways to treat those concerns as well…
5. Canalith Repositioning
Canalith repositioning is also called Epley maneuvers or head-positioning maneuvers. This technique involves specialized head movements that can be guided by a doctor or physical therapist.
Why Canalith Repositioning Helps with Vertigo
Vertigo often naturally recovers on its own, but canalith maneuvers can help speed up the recovery. You can think about these specialized head maneuvers as a hack to recalibrate our body’s sense of balance and motion faster than it can do on its own. Patients with a detached retina, neck problems, or head injuries might want to avoid this technique, though.
Sometimes the causes of vertigo aren’t physiological but rather psychological in nature…
4. Psychotherapy
Vertigo can be an emotional experience. The sense of the world spinning around us can arise from anxiety just as easily as it can from physical causes. A therapist can therefore help people work through their anxiety to regain their sense of stability.
Why Psychotherapy Helps with Vertigo
When severe anxiety problems pop up, it’s common to experience vertigo. Conditions like anxiety disorders and panic attacks can either make existing vertigo much more severe or cause vertigo all on their own. A therapist can help you regain stability and manage your anxiety thus reducing your vertigo.
On occasion, the cause of vertigo is directly linked to our body’s ability to process motion…
3. Vestibular Rehabilitation
The sense of motion is one of our most vital senses. In some individuals, the body either has trouble sensing motion or it is too sensitive to movement. In either case, individuals can experience vertigo and need physical therapy to better manage their symptoms.
Why Vestibular Rehabilitation Helps with Vertigo
Vestibular rehabilitation is the technical term for balance therapy. In this therapeutic technique, a physical therapist helps a patient become more tolerant of their own sense of motion. This helps people build up their sense of balance and helps to prevent vertigo. This technique is especially useful for people with inner ear conditions.
With some causes of vertigo, preventative medicine can help reduce dizziness…
2. Migraine Medication
Migraines have many different symptoms in the people who experience them. These headaches can range from an intense headache all the way to a debilitating condition. A sense of dizziness and sensitivity to motion are two of the more common symptoms of this condition. Therefore, managing migraines may indirectly help manage vertigo as well.
Why Migraine Medication Helps with Vertigo
There are certain medications that help prevent migraines from starting, which also stops vertigo before it starts. Specifically, these medications can help people with migraines to get a better handle on their symptoms and prevent some of the most debilitating ones which include vertigo.
In extreme cases where vertigo is debilitating and caused by a rare disease, a labyrinthectomy might be needed…
1. Labyrinthectomy
A labyrinthectomy is a destructive surgical technique that removes or destroys part of the inner ear. This procedure is done to treat Ménière’s disease, which causes hearing loss and extremely debilitating vertigo.
Why Labyrinthectomy Helps with Vertigo
Ménière’s disease usually only affects one ear, which means patients who undergo a labyrinthectomy might be able to retain functionality in one ear. By removing the balancing-sensing inner ear, the brain no longer receives information from the affected ear. The result? Extreme vertigo subsides.
Thankfully, this condition is rare and most people with vertigo just need to rehydrate and take a rest.
Final Thoughts
Vertigo is a common human experience. At some point or another, most of us will feel dizziness in our lifetimes. Treating this condition usually requires nothing more than to rehydrate and rest for a short period of time. In extreme cases, vertigo can be a sign of an underlying health condition that your doctor can help you to treat.
