Have you ever experienced getting dizzy while lying down or standing up? One patient described her unpleasant experience. It happened soon after house cleaning, a tiring activity that involved a lot of movement. As she was tired, she decided to stop and rest for a bit, lay down, and the next thing she knew, the world around her was spinning. So there she was, confused and unsure what and why it was happening.
What she experienced was vertigo. Sometimes the episodes can happen suddenly and so fast that it usually catches you by surprise. Vertigo is usually harmless. We don’t recommend ignoring and not addressing vertigo attacks once they happen repeatedly. Sudden episodes may cause unwanted accidents and injuries, which can be harmful when engaging in activities such as driving or going down the stairs.
Although there are vertigo remedies you can explore, we encourage you to talk to your healthcare professional if the episodes significantly impair your productivity or interfere with your life.
How Movement Can Trigger Vertigo
Vertigo is usually linked to an inner ear infection and can prompt episodes when lying down or standing up. Your inner ear helps keep your balance and coordination; if an ear infection occurs, your ability to maintain and control movements can be affected.
Vertigo can happen to anyone, even children. But it’s more common in adults, and there is a high chance of elders experiencing vertigo episodes. Stress and a history of head injury can also contribute to the development of your vertigo. Experts may first need to rule out incidents of vertigo related to your ear infection.
Here are some possible reasons why an inner ear issue combined with movement triggers vertigo:
- Your vestibular nerve is swollen due to an infection.
- Your brain gets distorted or incorrect signals due to the swelling of the vestibular nerve. This can eventually lead to balance problems, including dizziness and vertigo.
- Your inner ear has calcium crystals that aid in maintaining balance. Some health conditions cause these crystals to move from their original position. When the calcium crystals move in the inner ear, it can bring you an uncomfortable whirling and spinning sensation.
Besides an inner ear infection, vertigo can happen when lying down and standing up due to:
- A failed surgical procedure in the ear
- Injury and trauma in the head
- Meniere’s disease
- Fluid buildup in the ear
- Inflammation
Other Health Conditions That Bring Vertigo When Lying Down or Standing Up
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)
This is also called positional vertigo and is one of the most common causes of vertigo. When you are diagnosed with positional vertigo, it can bring a variety of intense or mild forms of dizziness or vertigo. Making sudden head movements, such as lying down, bending, or standing up, can trigger a vertigo attack. This can explain why some patients who complain about vertigo have sudden vertigo episodes due to movement. Apart from dizziness or vertigo, you may also notice signs of nausea, vomiting, and even loss of balance.
Some may experience unexpected, extended, and severe dizziness, while others only get mild symptoms. Although rare incidents, patients with positional vertigo can fall into complex grounds and get injuries, these incidents can pose more danger when the condition is not addressed correctly.
Vestibular Migraines
You get recurring vertigo episodes from vestibular migraines due to a neurological problem. Unlike the usual and more common types of migraine, vestibular migraines don’t always cause severe headaches. Instead, their primary symptom is vertigo and dizziness. If you have vestibular migraine, you may also experience the following symptoms:
- Dizziness
- Balance problems
- Feeling like you are spinning
- Coordination problems
- Heightened sensitivity to sounds
Simple Vertigo Remedies You Can Try
You may spend some time finding vertigo remedies that work for you. It’s a good first step to ease the discomfort. But to get long-lasting relief, knowing the root cause of your episodes can significantly help you find a more efficient approach.
Sudden vertigo episodes can make you panic, but if you familiarize and equip yourself with some go-to vertigo remedies you can safely do, you will be able to respond to the situation better. You may want to remember these two simple remedies for vertigo:
Stay hydrated
Dehydration can trigger low blood pressure and affect the blood supply that needs to travel to your brain. As a result, you may experience vertigo episodes. Keeping yourself hydrated by drinking sufficient water can help reduce your chances of vertigo attacks.
Eat a healthy diet
Your food choices can play a significant role in your overall health and wellness and influence your vertigo episodes. Watching your sugar and salt intake can be helpful if you want to keep your vertigo episodes at bay. Furthermore, excessive salt intake can also increase your chances of fluid buildup in the inner ear.
Upper Cervical Care, a Long-term Natural Remedy Option For Vertigo
We highly encourage people to have their spine alignments checked regularly, particularly the upper cervical spine, which can affect your brainstem and your body overall.
Upper Cervical Chiropractic care employs adjustment techniques that focus on correcting and aligning the misalignment of the top two bones of your spine. These bones are located close to your inner ear, and misalignment can disrupt and affect your inner ear functions. In addition, your brain can perceive your body’s position differently due to distorted signals. Eventually, it can trigger vertigo.
An upper cervical misalignment can irritate your brainstem, a vital part of the brain and body communication. The brainstem transmits messages, including pain signals, and if it gets irritated, its function becomes affected and can eventually affect your body’s response in keeping the balance.
Correcting this misalignment with gentle adjustments done by a well-trained and experienced Doctor of Chiropractic can lessen your vertigo pain and its possible recurrence. It can also let your body heal naturally. Check out our Upper Cervical Chiropractic doctors directory to find a reputable one near you.
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