What is Vestibular Neuritis?

What is Vestibular Neuritis?

Vestibular neuritis is a condition that comes from inflammation of the vestibular nerve that causes vertigo and dizziness. The vestibular nerve is a nerve in your inner ear that sends signals to your brain about balance. When this vestibular nerve is inflamed, the signals are disrupted and the information your brain receives is inaccurate and causes problems with how balance is perceived.

How to “Read” Common Vestibular Neuritis

Vestibular neuritis symptoms are usually known to happen suddenly and can be intense during the first time they happen. Some of the symptoms of vestibular neuritis includes the following:

• Issues with balance
• Dizziness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Sudden vertigo (the sensation of you or the environment around you spinning or swaying)
• Inability to concentrate
• Nystagmus (fluttering eye movements)

Vertigo and dizziness could last up to a couple of days and interfere with your ability to complete day to day activities. Some patients, however, have experienced issues with balance or have had dizziness that last for several months.

What Can Cause Vestibular Neuritis?

In more cases, the cause of vestibular neuritis is due to a viral infection within the inner ear or another part of your body. Some viral infections and others that are known to cause vestibular neuritis include the following:

• Flu
• Shingles
• Chicken Pox
• Rubella
• Measles
• Hepatitis
• Polio
• Mononucleosis
• Cold Sores
• Mumps

Other times the cause of vestibular neuritis could be from a bacterial infection.

Most Common Reasons Adults Have Vestibular Neuritis Problems

Shingles are mostly common in those older than 50, with the chances of developing shingles increasing even more with as they age. Cold sores and hepatitis could bring about vestibular neuritis problems more likely for adults as well.

Most Common Reasons Children Have Vestibular Neuritis Problems

A child’s body can be vulnerable. Just like an adult, the child can develop vestibular neuritis from the same causes although children have a smaller risk of getting shingles. When it comes to which causes affect a child in developing vestibular neuritis problems the most, it could be from the flu, chicken pox, measles, and other diseases or infections that children are more vulnerable to.

What to do About Vestibular Neuritis Problems

There are medications that help with the dizziness and nausea that comes with vestibular neuritis. Medications such as diphenhydramine (Bendadryl), diazepam (Valium), meclizine (Antivert), and lorazepam (Ativan) are a few that help the dizzy and nauseas symptoms.

Most treatment options available look at helping the symptoms that come with vestibular neuritis instead of the underlying issue the body may be experiencing.

To target an issue that could be causing your vestibular neuritis, we must see if your body has the ability to fight against it in its current state. Upper cervical chiropractors focus on your brain stem and its functions.

They study how a misalignment harms your brain stem and causes the body to begin weakening and developing conditions over time. If a misalignment is causing your body harm and stunts its ability to repair and heal itself, it could be causing the vestibular neuritis condition to occur.

Can Upper Cervical Adjustments Help Vestibular Neuritis?

Our bodies react to the stress of our daily habits and lifestyles. We will fall, get into accidents, cause strain on ourselves from lifting heavy objects or improper posture…the list goes on. Over time, or suddenly after an accident or injury, we could develop a misalignment in the upper cervical spine.

The upper cervical spine consists of two bones in the neck area, located right beneath the base of your skull. These two bones protect your brain stem and enable your brain to properly communicate with the rest of your body.

If an upper cervical misalignment occurs, it compresses the brain stem and distorts your body’s signals it sends to the brain, causing confusion and false reactions. This takes away your body’s ability to fight off infections and can cause random pain that seems to occur for no reason.

Those who have vestibular neuritis that might have been caused from an infection could have complications in treating it if their body is not able to respond as it should.

Vestibular neuritis treatments are usually directed at helping you ease the symptoms that come with vestibular neuritis. Upper cervical adjustments, however, can give your body the ability to fight off the infections and repair harm that was done. 

Diagnostic for Vestibular Neuritis Problems

During a diagnostic, an upper cervical chiropractor can see through scans and a physical exam the current state your body is in. Scans can provide an accurate reading on where the misalignment is and how it is affecting your body’s functions.

If you are experiencing vestibular neuritis issues, a scan can give an upper cervical chiropractor an idea if the severity of the misalignment is involved with causing the vestibular neuritis. With a physical exam, the upper cervical chiropractor can see how the body is positioned and if the misalignment is causing physical issues.

Upper Cervical Chiropractic Treatment for Vestibular Neuritis Problems

Those who have vestibular neuritis could see great improvement after underdoing an upper cervical adjustment. This is because upper cervical adjustments work to give your body the strength to fight off the infections or other causes of vestibular neuritis by releasing pressure placed on your brain stem and restoring its brain to body functions and communications.

A simple compression can lower your blood flow, cause tingling sensations and pain throughout your nerves, and bring about lower oxygen levels to the brain which can cause migraines and headaches to appear. The effects of a compression can weaken your entire body and make it vulnerable to infection all while making it more difficult to fight one off you already have.

When a correction is made, proper communication is restored, and the body begins its repairing and healing process instantly. Depending on the severity of the misalignment or how long you have lived with the misalignment, more adjustments may be needed.

The goal for an upper cervical chiropractor is to make adjustments during your body’s healing process until it is strong enough to hold the correction on its own. Patients who have tried various medications and surgeries still had miraculous outcomes from upper cervical adjustments due to its ability to help the body get back to its natural working self.

If you are suffering from vestibular neuritis problems, upper cervical adjustments may be the natural treatment you need to help your body fight against the cause of your vestibular neuritis.

We would like to invite you to accept our invitation for a free 15 minute phone consultation to speak with one of our upper cervical chiropractic doctors where you can ask any questions you may have and decide if an exam or care might be right for you.

If you are interested, you can call our office at (843) 225-5855.