Do you ever remember feeling dizzy? Why do you feel nauseous or motion sickness while traveling in the backseat of your car or on a ship?
Answers to these questions may be possible by explaining how we stay in balance.
We need the support of 3 main organs to stay in balance. . These are messages coming from the balance organ in the inner ear, eyes and joints, giving orientation information. The cerebellum supports this system. However, we need a center that coordinates these organs, and this center is formed by the balance nuclei in the brainstem.
If one of these 3 main systems is disabled, it is possible to maintain our balance, but if two of them are disabled, we will fall. If your systems are healthy, you can test this like this. If you close your eyes while standing on the ground with your legs together, you will sway a little, but you will not fall. If you try this while standing on one leg, you will lose your balance and fall to the ground very soon after you close your eyes. For this reason, patients with balance problems in both ears cannot go out in the dark at night because they have serious balance problems.
The balance organ is directly connected to the hearing organ, so when there is a problem in the balance organ. The hearing organ can also participate in this process. For this reason, we often request hearing tests to investigate balance problems.
Dizziness is a very bad feeling, especially if it is severe.
Our patients with severe dizziness will survive the worst. They say that's the bad thing. Fortunately, dizziness occurs for short periods of time in many diseases. The most common of these is position-related dizziness. What their patients tell is very typical..
They state that they feel severe dizziness when turning left or right in bed after waking up in the morning. Or when getting out of bed. This is a short-term (a few seconds) dizziness. But it is severe. The patients have no hearing complaints.
Have the crystals in our inner ear moved, too?
Yes, the inner ear is an organ consisting of different compartments. What we call vestibule and which we use more Rather, this dizziness occurs when the crystals we call "otoliths" in this organ of ours, which provides our balance against gravity, escape into the semicircular canals that provide our balance in motion. The movement of these crystals due to our movement activates the fluids in the channels and therefore the balance cells, resulting in a feeling of dizziness. Since this is the mechanism, of course, drugs have no place in its treatment. But the crystals must return to their original places. This is possible with some maneuvers. But when we have three semicircular canals on our right and left, things get a little complicated. First of all, it is necessary to find out which semicircular canal these crystals affect so that we can make the appropriate maneuver. This is possible with specially designed devices. Fortunately, nearly half of the patients can recover spontaneously.
I always say this. These patients are lucky. It is a condition that can be treated with simple maneuvers without the use of medication or surgery. I wish our other diseases could be treated so simply.
What about Meniere's disease? Is it really a nightmare?
Meniere's disease is the disease that causes the most severe dizziness. Patients suffer greatly. Because crises last a long time. It may even take a day. It generally occurs as a result of high fluid pressure called "endolymph" in the inner ear. Despite all the negativities, there are different treatments for each stage of Meniere's disease.
Salt-restricting diets may be sufficient in the early stages. Of course, while cutting down on salt, we recommend a diet rich in potassium. Just like bananas, dried apricots, potatoes and carrots. Prohibitions... You know. Cigarettes, coffee (may be decaffeinated) and cola drinks. Are crises happening again despite the diet? In that case, we start medication. We prefer pressure-reducing medications first. Wasn't that effective too? That's when more invasive procedures come into play. Such as injecting an injection into the ear, decompressing the sac where the fluid is absorbed, and cutting the balance nerve...
Are you experiencing imbalance?
Usually, the balance organ in the inner ear is bilateral. Do you feel like you are going to fall in this situation that develops as a result of your illness? HE We encounter it frequently, especially in the middle-aged group. What do you feel like doing when you are unbalanced? You say "let's go to bed" because when you lie down you will relax. If you rest for a long time, be sure that when you get up, your complaints of imbalance have doubled. We recommend our patients to walk in environments where there are plenty of moving objects, rather than lying down and resting. We have stated that the eyes (vision) are the main factor in maintaining balance. For example, looking at store windows while walking in a shopping mall is one of the best treatment methods for imbalance. But still, do all these by consulting your doctor.
Why does motion sickness occur?
Motion sickness is a condition that occurs when visual reference points are lost. We have all experienced this unpleasant feeling. However, it is sometimes interesting that there is no dizziness while driving. The scientific explanation for this is that vision is fixed to a point in the external environment. In other words, if the eyes are fixed on the shore, for example, while driving, or on a ship that sails parallel to the land, we will not feel nauseated. On the contrary, we will have many more complaints while sitting in the back seat of the vehicle or in the cabin of the ship. For this reason, you may think that people who are driving will be more comfortable if you sit them in the front seat of the car (in accordance with traffic rules).
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