It’s easy to put off getting treatment for your dizziness. You think to yourself, “Maybe it’ll go away on its own.” You procrastinate. Days pass. Weeks pass. Months pass. And you don’t get any better. Finally, you decide to visit your primary care doctor. They say you’re otherwise healthy, you get some anti-dizzy pills and are sent home. Those don’t work. And you’re back at square one, leaving your dizziness untreated. You know something must be wrong. You see specialist after specialist…everything is normal. Now what?
We see dizzy patients all the time with this story. They bounce around seeing 5-6 doctors and making no progress. But the story always goes that they didn’t know Vestibular Audiologists exist, like us at the Dizzy & Vertigo Institute – doctors who specialize in inner ear imbalance and all of the malfunctions that can cause dizziness or vertigo.
Unfortunately, many dizzy patients let their dizziness go untreated. This can be dangerous and frustrating, not only to yourself but to those around you too.
Central Vertigo – This is Serious!
The first and foremost danger of leaving your dizziness untreated is that you could be experiencing dysfunction in your central nervous system.
In other words, something could be wrong with your heart or brain – specifically your brainstem and/or cerebellum. These are the brain structures that assist in coordinating balance, but more importantly operate many of our vital functions (breathing, digestion, circulation, movement).
Central Vertigo is a variety of dizziness that comes from problems in the same systems that regulate your vital functions. And it’s not uncommon for those with Central Vertigo to also be going through a minor stroke, a brain tumor, multiple sclerosis, or another serious neurological disorder.
There’s lots of overlap between symptoms of Central Vertigo and Peripheral Vertigo, so it’s easy to pass something serious off as something not so serious.
And that’s why it’s critical to identify the exact source of your dizziness, to ensure that there isn’t a serious problem going on.
Diminished Livelihood
The life of a dizzy patient is not easy. Never knowing when a bout of dizziness will take control of your day. Or worse, going through life always feeling a little bit off. It’s no way to live life.
The constant or unexpected dizziness affects vacations, family events, how you work, and even when you want to have some leisure time.
You don’t get to pick and choose when you get dizzy. And therefore, your life and the lives of those around you are completely at the hands of your dizziness.
This invisible symptom is difficult for others around you to understand. And so they can’t comprehend why you’re missing important things or why your mood and demeanor is frequently down.
You may think that it’s not selfish to think only of yourself experiencing dizziness. After all, “I’m the one going through this symptom.” But the dizziness you experience has an effect on those around you, whether you realize it or not.
Unintended Costs
Health problems snowball out of control. We don’t need to educate you on how low blood pressure can lead to decreased energy, which can lead you to make bad eating habits, exercise habits, and next thing you know, you’re overweight, out-of-shape, and taking unnecessary medications. Sounds hypothetical, but this is how one minor health problem snowballs into a multitude of problems.
Unexpected or constant bouts of dizziness have an effect on your life and your mood. It can crush your outlook on life, leading you to make other poor choices that have major healthcare costs down the road.
Let’s look at just one of the many sources of dizziness and the costs associated:
Nationwide BPPV diagnosis costs an average of $2,000 because more than 65% of people will go through unnecessary diagnostic testing and treatments resulting in healthcare costs approaching $2 billion per year!
That’s $2,000 just to get a diagnosis. Not even treatment. All because dizzy patients don’t know where to go to get treated.
Furthermore, because dizziness doesn’t schedule appointments with you for when it’ll attack, there’s always a sinking feeling that dizziness can come at an inopportune time. Like when you’re driving, hiking, or doing an activity.
Random bouts of dizziness lead to falls, accidents, broken bones, head injuries, and more. We’re talking about the worst-case scenarios that nobody accounts for until they happen. While it’s more common for the elderly to have a serious fall because of vestibular problems, it can happen to anyone.
And accidents lead to medical bills.
But There’s Hope
Ultimately, no matter the source of your dizziness, there’s treatment out there for you. If you feel like you’ve tried everything, then we ask you, “Have you spoken with a Vestibular Audiologist? Have you been to this specialty of doctors that focuses entirely on the balance system?”
You wouldn’t go to the dentist to fix your broken arm. It sounds silly. But unfortunately, dizzy patients often go to the wrong doctors time and time again.
Vestibular Audiologists, like ourselves, have the specialized equipment, science, and processes to get to the root of your balance problem.
So please do yourself a favor and reach out to us at (310) 954-2207 or get in contact with us here.