What are the causes of dizziness?
There are many causes of dizziness. The main causes include the following.
Vertigo
Vertigo is dizziness with a spinning sensation. If you have vertigo you feel as if the world is spinning around you, and you feel very unsteady. Often you will also feel sick or vomit. Vertigo tends to be eased by lying down flat, and made worse by sitting up or moving around. Vertigo is usually caused by a problem in one of the inner ears when the labyrinth or vestibular nerve is inflamed, damaged, or not working properly. If the labyrinth or vestibular nerve sends too many, too few, or wrong messages to the brain, and conflicts with other messages from the other ear, eyes, or body, then the brain gets confused and results in vertigo.
There are various inner ear problems that can cause vertigo. These include the following:
Spinning around. Many people get vertigo for a short time if they spin around fast. For example, on some playground or fairground rides. Basically, the brain gets bombarded with nerve messages from the semicircular canals in the inner ears due to the constantly changing position of the head. The brain can't cope with the constantly changing nerve messages. Symptoms usually settle soon after the spinning stops, but in some people the symptoms can take several hours or longer to subside.
Labyrinthitis. This means inflammation of the labyrinth in the inner ear. There are various causes. The most common is due to a viral infection ('viral labyrinthitis'). Typically, with viral labyrinthitis you develop vertigo, and often feel sick or vomit. You may have some mild hearing loss on the affected side too. You may also have other symptoms of a virus infection such as a sore throat, flu symptoms, or a cold. The vertigo can be intense and you often need to stay in bed until the condition eases. Symptoms of viral labyrinthitis can last anything from a few days to several weeks, and then usually clear completely. If symptoms last longer, or other symptoms develop in addition, then there may be a more serious cause of the labyrinthitis. See separate leaflet called 'Labyrinthitis and Vestibular Neuritis' for more details.
Vestibular neuritis. This is similar to labyrinthitis but the inflammation is in the vestibular nerve coming from the inner ear rather than in the inner ear itself. Often it is impossible to tell the difference between vestibular neuritis and labyrinthitis. However, as with labyrinthitis, the common cause is thought to be a viral infection and symptoms from this cause usually clear completely as the infection clears. See separate leaflet called 'Labyrinthitis and Vestibular Neuritis' for more details.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). If you have BPPV you develop sudden episodes of vertigo that last just a few seconds or minutes. Each episode typically occurs when you move your head in a certain way. A common example is when you turn over in bed, or when you get up from bed in the morning. The vertigo is caused by a tiny fragment of solid material that has come loose inside the labyrinth. This then moves within the fluid inside the labyrinth when you move your head in a certain way and may stimulate the sensitive hairs inside the semicircular canal part of the labyrinth. This sends wrong messages to the brain about the position of your head resulting in vertigo.
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