As a small child you may have stood in place and spun into a circle, making the world around you whiz into a blur. After coming to a stop, everything continued to spin, and you likely had trouble maintaining your balance. This, in a nutshell, is the best way to describe what vertigo feels like.

What is Vertigo?

When you have trouble maintaining your balance, you are experiencing the symptoms of vertigo. Episodes of vertigo can come and go, or they can be so severe that they keep you in bed all day. Vertigo can be debilitating as people need to feel balanced in order to walk, go upstairs, drive or do anything that requires being upright. If you feel dizzy for more than a moment and this scenario plays out several times throughout the day, it is likely that you have vertigo.

Causes

Surprisingly, vertigo can very much be related to your ears. For instance, someone with a bad inner ear infection can suffer from vertigo. Other afflictions of the ear, such as calcium deposits, can make you dizzy and unbalanced continuously. Other causes for vertigo include high blood pressure, Meniere’s disease and certain prescription drugs. If your doctor can get to the root cause of your vertigo symptoms, then there is a good chance you will eventually find relief.

Signs and Symptoms

Because vertigo symptoms can appear out of nowhere, it is important to understand how this disorder manifests. If you wake up and get out of bed you can feel dizzy and unbalanced because your body hasn’t yet pumped a sufficient amount of blood to your brain. In this instance, you would just be dizzy for a moment. Vertigo mimics that same feeling of dizziness, except the symptoms usually hit when least expected.

Treatment

Vertigo symptoms do not need to last a lifetime, but they can be prolonged. If you are experiencing vertigo because of an ear infection, you have to clear up the infection before your vertigo symptoms will improve. In the event you are experiencing problems with balance and dizziness that cannot be accounted for, you should get the opinion of a doctor.

Thankfully, vertigo is highly treatable. Your best bet is to take it easy for a couple of days and see if the symptoms dissipate. If not, go to an ENT and get properly diagnosed. Find the best ENT specialists in NYC by scheduling an appointment today.