Demystifying Dizziness Treatment
By: Carrie Holman
Treating Dizziness
Dizziness can affect people for so many different reasons, and because of that it can be treated in a variety of ways. Talking with your healthcare provider about the nature of your symptoms, your symptom triggers, what activity improves or worsens your symptoms, and how long your symptoms have been occurring can help the provider determine the best treatment for you. Treatment options may include medications, dietary and lifestyle changes, physical therapy, or a combination of these options.
Medications:
Physicians may prescribe certain medications to help manage your dizziness or other related symptoms, like nausea or vomiting. If you are experiencing significant vertigo, your doctor may prescribe medications that suppress the inner ear system, such as Meclizine (Antivert) or Diazepam (Valium) to manage your symptoms for a short period. Medications like Phenergan and Zofran are often prescribed to help manage nausea if this is a concern for you. Sometimes, a short course of steroids is prescribed when certain inner ear issues are suspected. Be sure to talk with your doctor about which medications may be appropriate for you, as well as how long and how often you should take these medications, as they may not be meant for long-term use. It may also be helpful to have your doctor review your entire list of medications to determine if your dizziness could be a side effect of your existing prescriptions and other medications.
Dietary/lifestyle changes:
Management of your diet is an important component of controlling dizziness. Your doctor may talk with you about specific dietary changes that could improve your dizziness, like limiting excessive salt or sugar in your diet. Limiting caffeine and other stimulants may also help improve your dizziness. If you suffer from migraine-associated dizziness or vertigo, there are many foods that have been found to trigger symptoms in these conditions; avoiding foods such as cheese, processed foods, alcohol, and chocolate can help decrease the frequency of symptoms. See the American Migraine Association’s website for a full list of foods that can trigger symptoms of migraine: https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/living-with-migraines/life-with-headachemigraine/diet/.
Exercise is also an important component of managing dizziness, especially if your symptoms arise from medical problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, anxiety, or from inner ear disorders. Exercise is a great way to improve your overall health, mobility, and decrease your symptoms. As always, it is best to discuss your new exercise program with your doctor before getting started.
Physical therapy:
Your doctor may prescribe physical therapy to help manage your dizziness. Physical therapists treat dizziness from a variety of conditions, including BPPV (benign positional vertigo), labyrinthitis, vestibular neuritis, acoustic neuroma, Meniere’s disease, cervicogenic dizziness, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and cerebellar disorders among many others. Your physical therapist will complete several assessments to determine your specific exercise needs aimed at improving the use of your sensory systems to help decrease your dizziness and improve your balance, and develop a program of exercises to control your dizziness based on what specific movements or activities make your symptoms worse. For other conditions, such as positional vertigo, the physical therapist will determine the specific area where problem exists and complete corrective maneuvers to treat your vertigo. The physical therapist will also discuss any safety concerns with you to help you make any adjustments to your home environment or activities to decrease your fall risk while you are experiencing dizziness.
Dizziness is a common problem that can be easily treated. Talk with your doctor about your symptoms to find out which treatments might work best for you.