Germán Sandoval, M.D.

Otorhinolaryngologist Surgeon

Sea sickness and vertigo can be a result of disturbances in a particular part of the inner ear: The vestibular system. This part of your balance structure is in charge of providing information to your brain about changes in head movements in relation to gravity. When this system is not working correctly, results can be sea sickness, vertigo, loss of balance, disorientation, noise inside the ears, and sometimes nausea, vomiting, sweating, and others.

Vertigo is a very wide term, used to explain our feelings, when our balance conditions are altered in any way. If you have suffered from vertigo some time, it is probable that you hardly find words to describe how you exactly felt. Some people feel that the world is gyrating around them, or feel that they themselves are gyrating. Others describe sensations as those usually felt in a moving ship. Others describe their vertigo as “being floating” or “being fainting”. Vertigo may be caused by many factors, including a wide variety of problems within the mechanism that controls balance. The way in which we control our balance is a complex process that involves many different parts of the body.

HOW IS A CORRECT BALANCE ACHIEVED? 

In healthy individuals, all self-sensation systems (feet, ankles, joints), sight (eyes), and vestibular system work in complete harmony with the brain. A person suffering from balance disorders may experience problems regarding any of these systems, or in multiple systems at the same time. When one or more of these systems is not working well, sometimes people don’ t realize that they are simply losing their balance.

Sometimes, brain is confused and produces a falling sensation, when a person is really balanced. Risks of suffering any of these symptoms increase with age, due to possible degenerative or infectious illnesses in senses or cerebral centers, or due to effects of cumulative lesions throughout life. 

Causes: 

Some established possible causes of balance disturbances are: 

CENTRAL OR NEUROLOGICAL VERTIGO: These kinds of vertigo. are originated in the brain, not at the ears. They are a result of cerebral problems. Some of them are:

Arteriosclerosis: It consists on a narrowing and hardening of blood vessels that brings blood to the brain.

Vascular, Cervical and Vertebral Vertigos are produced by problems in blood supply to the inner ear or to brain parts in charge of controlling balance.

Vertigo associated to Migraine: It consists on severe cephalalgia that is associated to balance problems.

Benign Paroxistic Positional Vertigo: It is caused by small particles or crystals that abnormally get and locate inside the inner ear, interfering with the correct functioning of the vestibular system.

Meniere Syndrome: In this condition, repetitive vertigo attacks are usually accompanied by pressure inside ears, buzzes, and/or a fluctuating partial hearing loss.

Ototoxicity: It is caused by ingestion or exposure to a dangerous particular substance, that damages in some way hearing ability and the inner ear system.

Stressed Ear: It is connected to the increased tension throughout masticatory muscles and muscles of head and neck, that occurs along with hearing noises and feeling clogged ears.

Vertigo sensations are always real, no matter how difficult to describe. Specific causes can be identified, after a proper medical evaluation and audiology exams, carried out by a neurologist-otorhinolaryngologist. There is a major news: Once causes are identified, most cases can be successfully treated, by interfering vestibular nucleus action, at the balance organ inside the inner ear. Allopathic and homeophatic medications provide good results in that sense. Also, new therapies to re-train patients after losing their balance have proved to be very successful. They must be performed by a qualified audiologist; This treatment is aimed to restore, compensate or substitute inner ear functions. 

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