Labyrinthitis, vestibulitis, vertigo, dizziness, giddiness. Whatever you call it - whether you use medical terms or not - it isn't pleasant. The feeling that the room is spinning round, the feeling of nausea, you wish it would stop. Most doctors will tell you that it's due to a disturbance in the organ of balance in the middle ear, sometimes due to a virus.
But there is a link between the neck and giddiness and dizziness which is not really recognised by mainstream doctors, although there is plenty of research literature on this subject, some of it going back to before the Second World War. Minor 'mechanical' disturbances or abnormal muscle tensions in the neck can disturb a person's sense of balance and may lead in turn to nausea and vomiting. Sometimes there is a history of a minor injury to the neck, not always recent; sometimes the symptoms may start with a minor viral illness, but the giddiness just doesn't settle and may go on for months or even years.
Over the years I have seen patients who were afraid to stand on a chair because they might fall off, and patients who had to come downstairs backwards, on hands and knees, because of giddiness.
Just recently I have seen three patients with labyrinthitis/vestibulitis who all had a similar problem in the neck, although each story was different.
Mrs A. (in her mid 40s) had had 'labyrinthitis' for 4 months following a mild viral cold and sore throat. She had a constant feeling of slight unsteadiness and was dizzy if she moved her head. She had some pain over the right side of her face and in the right ear. For 2 months she had also had moderately severe pain in her left arm spreading down to the hand. This was bad enough to wake her at night and force to get out of bed and walk round the house.
Mrs B. had had Meniere's disease for 3 years. This is when the combination of dizziness, ringing in the ear and slight deafness occur. Her right ear felt 'full' and 'under pressure' and was painful, and she couldn't lie on that side at night. For 9 months before I saw her she had had episodes of vomiting lasting 4-5 hours and happening every few days. They were unpredictable, seemed to happen for no rhyme or reason, and were completely debilitating, wiping her out of action. Difficult with a young family to run.
Mr T. was a keen scuba diver but was being sick under water. He had always been aware of what he called motion sickness when he turned his head but this was new. It had started when he did a dive in very poor visibility and became disorientated - he wasn't sure which was up and which was down. Suddenly he felt sick and then threw up into his face mask and breathing apparatus. This happened again on a couple of later dives and he now became very worried because this was obviously very dangerous, apart from being very unpleasant.
What was interesting was that all three of these patients had minor disturbances in the neck, all at the same level of the upper spine. Each of them showed a great response to the gentlest of manipulations within a couple of sessions. Mr T. just needed 2 treatments, Mrs A. had lost all her giddiness and pain in her face and arm by the third time I saw her, and Mrs B. also saw a huge improvement within 2 sessions, with some improvement in her tinnitus.
So if your giddiness just goes on and on, perhaps you need to get someone to look at your neck.
