Vertigo, or dizziness as some people call it, is a condition that we see quite often in our clinic. It can have a vast number of causes so the challenge for any health practitioner is to be able to determine the reason WHY a patient feels dizzy. The idea is not to treat the dizziness but rather deal with the person as a whole who is affected. Some of the most common causes of vertigo are:
Otitis media – ear infection. Often an infection of the inner ear will disturb the delicate vestibular apparatus, which plays an important part in the maintenance of balance. This apparatus then will often send wrong messages through the nervous system to the brain, which may result in a feeling of vertigo. In the case of ear infection, a chiropractic adjustment will stimulate the immune system and help the body deal with the infection all by itself. After all, it is designed to do just that. As well, vitamin C, echinacea or a few drops of warm olive oil poured into the affected ear will work wonders.
Hypoglycemia – low blood sugar. We see this especially in teenagers and people who tend to skip lunch or breakfast and do not provide their bodies with the proper nourishment they need to function. Many people actually find this fairly confusing because eating sweets actually worsens the problem. This difficulty is generally the result of a dietary habit the body has adapted to and learned.
For instance, if your diet is rich in carbs and refined sugars, your body learns to compensate by producing more and more insulin to enable it to absorb sugar into your cells for energy. In that sense, your body learns the habit of producing insulin at the slightest sugar provocation. This has the effect of lowering the normal level of blood sugar dangerously low. The result is that your brain is literally starved for energy and you begin to feel dizzy. For hypoglycemia, we suggest you check and/or modify your diet to eliminate sugary, refined foods and include more vegetables and whole grains. We have a wonderful program to help you with this in our office should you need some assistance.
The third reason is what we refer to as a vertebral subluxation – and this is where chiropractic comes in. When some of the vertebra in the spine, especially in the upper part of the neck, are subluxated (misaligned), they have the effect of literally short-circuiting areas of the spinal cord and brain stem, causing erroneous input into the cerebellum and parts of the brain. This affects normal balance and may cause you to feel dizzy. We suggest you consult with your family chiropractor so you can check for the presence of vertebral subluxations, which may be causing your vertigo.
