Vertigo is a sensation of the surroundings spinning around or moving in an uncontrollable manner. Patients often feel as of the room around them is spinning or that they are in a rocking boat or chair. Other symptoms like headaches, motion sickness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, & hearing issues are also common in vertigo patients. Know about the Food for vertigo.
Vertigo isn’t a standalone condition, it’s rather a symptom of some other underlying disorder that is either diagnosed or is undiagnosed. Depending on the exact underlying condition, your vertigo symptoms may be severe to moderate & mild in intensity.
Vertigo treatment usually depends on the exact condition causing the vertigo symptoms. It mostly involves vertigo medicines, vertigo exercises, & certain home remedies. Additionally, following a certain vertigo diet & eating some specific foods for vertigo can also aid in vertigo treatment.
In this blog, we’ll tell you more about vertigo symptoms, vertigo causes, & vertigo foods to eat that will help in your vertigo treatment.
Vertigo causes:
A range of conditions can cause vertigo in people. These include harmless ones like infections, weakness, BPPV, ear wax accumulation, or side effects of certain medications. However, vertigo can sometimes(though rarely) also be the result of some serious conditions like stroke, TIA(Transient Ischemic Attack or mini-stroke), irregular heart rhythm(arrhythmia), brain tumours, multiple sclerosis, & other central nervous system disorders.
Some well-known & popular vertigo causes include:
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo(BPPV):
BPPV is an inner ear disorder that is caused by the tiny calcium crystals inside the middle ear called otoliths, breaking loose from their original position & depositing inside the semicircular canal of the inner ear. These crystals are motion-sensitive & thus they incite the inner ear hair to send false balance-related signals to the brain. This mismatch in the body’s actual position and the false signals being received from the inner ear is what causes dizziness and a spinning sensation which BPPV is known for.
Vestibular Neuritis:
Vestibular Neuritis is an inner ear infection that is caused by either bacteria or viruses. This infection causes inflammation or swelling of the vestibular nerve inside the inner ear. The Vestibular Nerve is responsible for carrying balance-related signals between the inner ear & the brain. Due to the infection, this nerve can’t function that well, leading to dizziness, spinning sensations, headaches, & nausea.
Labyrinthitis:
Labyrinthitis is also an inner ear infection that is caused by bacteria or viruses. This infection leads to swelling in the labyrinth of the inner ear, which causes vertigo symptoms like dizziness, nausea, motion sickness, headaches, earaches, occasional hearing loss, and spinning sensations.
Meniere’s Disease:
Meniere’s Disease is another inner ear disease that causes dizziness, headache, nausea, motion sickness, & hearing loss. It is caused by an excessive amount of fluid inside the ears. It can also be caused by earwax clogging up the inner ear canal leading to this excessive fluid accumulation. Symptoms often include ringing, buzzing, or whistling sounds inside the ears, coupled with hearing loss on one side of the ear(usually the affected ear). Patients also experience dizziness, nausea, headaches, & other vertigo-like signs.
Other causes of vertigo include:
- Head injuries
- Spinal cord abnormalities or injuries
- Neck injury
- Neck surgery
- Ear surgery
- Ear infections
- Brain tumor
- Acoustic neuroma(which is a tumor that grows on the vestibular nerve of the inner ear)
- Multiple sclerosis
- Other central nervous system disorders
- Migraine headaches
- Some specific medications including antidepressants, anticonvulsants, blood pressure medications, anti-psychotics, & anti-inflammatory medicines. First-generation antihistamines like Benadryl, & some antibiotics can also cause dizziness and vertigo-like symptoms in some people.
Vertigo symptoms:
It’s common for vertigo patients to experience symptoms that come & go in a rather infrequent manner. It’s also possible for them to experience symptoms that are different from the ones mentioned in the official vertigo guides.
Some of the most common & well-known vertigo symptoms include:
- Dizziness
- Sudden spinning sensations, or a feeling as if the surroundings are spinning around or moving
- Migraine headaches
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Ringing in the ears, also known as Tinnitus
- Feelings of pressure inside the ears
- Hearing loss
- Vision issues
- Photosensitivity &/or sound sensitivity
- Motion sickness
- Lightheadedness
- Inability to walk in a straight line
- Rapid, abnormal eye movements, also known as nystagmus
Vertigo treatment usually involves vertigo exercises for patients with BPPV, along with some vertigo medicines to ease the symptoms. These exercises may include the canalith repositioning maneuvers, also known as the Epley Maneuver, the Semont-maneuver, & the Brandt-Daroff exercises.
Vertigo medicines usually include stemetil tablet, meclizine tablet, vertin tablet, stugeron forte tablet, & more. You can also try home remedies like taking Ginkgo Biloba supplements, Vitamin D supplements, Vitamin B12 supplements, & herbal tea for relief from vertigo symptoms during an acute attack.
Foods to avoid if you suffer from vertigo:
If you experience on & off vertigo attacks, it’s best to avoid certain food items from your diet that can trigger your attacks.
These include:
Limiting caffeine:
Limiting your daily intake of caffeine can greatly help reduce your vertigo symptoms, their frequency, & their intensity. Reducing caffeine intake should be your first step towards effective & long-lasting vertigo treatment. Caffeine also reduces the effectiveness of some vertigo medicines, hence it is important to watch or completely stop your caffeine intake.
Limiting your salt intake:
Like caffeine, salt is also something that vertigo patients must avoid if they wish for a complete, effective vertigo treatment process. This is especially true for patients with Meniere’s Disease, & those living with hypertension. Salt can act as a harbinger of multiple problems for such people, hence they should limit their intake of salt in their diet to around 1,000-1,500 mg per day. Instead, try to season your food with natural herbs & spices that don’t contain excessive amounts of salt. This also means that they should also limit their intake of various salt-containing food items including:
-chips or market snacks of any kind
-cheese
-salted or unsalted popcorn
-pickles
-soy sauce
-various types of canned food items
Fried foods:
Fried food items including french fries, fried chips, fried potatoes, etc. can lead to inflammation in the body. This can cause vertigo symptoms to worsen and inhibit your vertigo treatment process. This also includes various other food items like:
-bread & pastries
-Red Meat
-margarine
-processed meats & foodstuffs
Limit alcohol:
Limiting your alcohol intake is also important for effective vertigo treatment & recovery. Too much alcohol can make you dizzy, lose your balance, & also limits your brain’s ability to make adequate decisions about balance & position. This causes the hazy, disoriented feeling most people experience when they get drunk. Hence, staying away from alcohol is a wise choice to make for anybody, especially for those suffering from vertigo.
