Miscommunication Between the Eyes, Brain, and Balance Centers: Vertigo and Dizziness

August 18, 2023

Vertigo and dizziness are feelings of movement when there is no actual movement. This is very confusing for the brain and uncomfortable for the individual as the primary symptoms are spinning, dizzy, or light headed feelings. These are due to a miscommunication between the visual, vestibular, and sensory systems throughout our brain, and at times, our body.

When the wrong information is sent from our inner ear (vestibular) system to our central brain regions, it also relays improper signals to our visual system, causing our eyes to move abnormally. This is known as nystagmus and provides the sensation of movement or spinning.

If caught early, it's more easily treatable. Conditions such as BPPV or vestibular neuritis can be corrected with fast and effective Functional Neurological treatment. Vestibular neuritis is typically treated with steroids and followed up with hyperbaric oxygen therapy and functional neurology to repair communication errors.

If it's been there long enough, compensations occur. You probably wouldn't recognize the compensation, but you would recognize the resulting symptoms. These may include headaches, migraines, light headed upon standing or bending, dizzy or vertigo when rolling or moving quickly, fatigue, brain fog, light and sound sensitivity, eye strain, double vision or blurry vision, visual lag, slow processing, disorientation, neck pain, upper back and shoulder pain, cardiovascular changes (blood pressure, heart rate) especially upon standing, and numbness/tingling/pain down an arm or into the face/head as the chronic neck tightening causes disc bulge/herniation and nerve compression.

It's very common in my practice to evaluate patients who come in with multiple symptoms, but are not sure how they started? As a functional neurologist, I thoroughly evaluate the function of the neurological system, espeically as it relates to the inner ear (vestibular), visual, proprioceptive (sensory), motor, and autonomic system. We are typically able to find and treat the source(s) of symptoms by identifying errors in signaling and correcting through neuroplasticity rehabilition (functional neurology). Functional neurology restores normal communication and balance to unhealthy systems in the brain. Once the messages are clear, concise, and quick, the brain is able to function normally without error and symptoms of vertigo and dizziness subside.

I've seen many patients who have had previous BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo), vestibular neuritis, previous illness, Covid, concussion, post-concussion syndrome, and surgeries that result in vertigo and dizziness as well as changes in brain function that result in more vertigo and dizziness and other symptoms previously described due to compensation. It sounds like a lot, but the vestibilar system impacts a lot of areas in our brain and body, so when not working well, lots of things are affected.

To fix these issues we use special infrared cameras that can detect abnormal brain signals by looking at the direction and speed of eye movements. This data tells us where the problem is in the brain allowing us to direct treatment to the source of your symptoms and correct the signaling through functional neurological rehabilitation. Abnormal movements of the eyes, or nystagmus are seen in almost every neurological case we see. When corrected, it can offer tremendous relief to the individual, often correcting all, or at leat the majority of their symptoms.