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Loss of Balance

ENT Conditions > Ears, Hearing & Balance > Loss of Balance

Loss of Balance is a disruption in the senses.

Deep within your ear is a balanced organ that keeps the person upright while moving left and rights and motions forward and backwards. Balance problems occur due to disruptions in the senses, which causes dizziness. The person might feel the room is spinning or feeling unsteady and loss of balance while walking.

Causes

Each symptom can have a specific cause. Vertigo, presyncope, lightheadedness and others can be associated with certain conditions. 

  • Vertigo can be caused by migraine, Acoustic neuroma, head injury, motion sickness, persistent postural-perceptual dizziness, Meniere’s disease and many more.
  • Presyncope can be associated with cardiovascular disease, hemodynamic orthostatic hypotension, also known as postural hypotension.
  • Loss of balance or instability can result from vestibular problems, joint, vision and muscle problems, medications, certain neurological conditions.
  • Lightheadedness or dizziness can result from inner ear problems, psychiatric disorders, abnormally rapid breathing and medications.

Symptoms

There could be a specific type of dizziness, and these symptoms will help to identify the loss of balance- 

  1. Vertigo is the strong sense of motion or spinning.
  2. Presyncope is not feeling conscious or about to faint
  3. Lightheadedness is feeling disconnected from the environment
  4. Disequilibrium is unsteadiness or unbalanced
  5. Confusion
  6. Visual disruptions like blurriness
  7. Maybe associated with Nausea and Vomiting and perspiration.

Tests

Balance problems can occur when a person is sitting, standing or lying. There are many tests a doctor may prescribe to know the actual reason for the dizziness. Neurologist, the cardiologist can commence the test, physical therapist or the primary doctor.

A very common test done is VNG (Videonystagmography), A prevalent in which the movement of eyes are recorded simultaneously to know whether the issue is related to the inner ear or not. It is usually performed by an audiologist or ENT physician.

Another test is ABR  Auditory Brainstem response. In this test, the patient comfortably lies down with closed eyes. The brain waves record the brainstem responses and would help in detecting the problem.

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