Greetings all,
One of my favorite mentors whom I have known and learned from for many decades is Dr. Lindsey Berkson. She is very bright, constantly stays up with all the medical literature, has a great sense of humor, and always delivers a most informative lecture. I have been meaning to send a newsletter out on the topic of dizziness, balance, and vertigo for some time as it is an area that we have had reasonably good success with. One of Dr. Berkson’s latest podcasts deals with her own recent experience with vertigo and is very informative on the topic. The website address for the podcast is noted below. In the podcast she talks about the Cawthorne-Cooksey home exercises and that website address is noted below as well.
Reviewing some basics on getting a handle on dizzy spells, vertigo and balance issues would include some of the below more common causes:
1) Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most common causes of vertigo — the sudden sensation that you’re spinning or that the inside of your head is spinning. BPPV is usually triggered by specific changes in the position of your head, such as when you lie down to go to bed at night. There are numerous YouTube videos (Epley maneuver being classic) that can show you how to self treat the condition which may work and failing that, then see a specialist such as an ear, nose, and throat doctor, a physical therapist that has expertise in the area or this office. The procedure is relatively simple to do and often is successful straight away.
2) TMJ (Temporo-mandibular Joint) dysfunction. This refers to your jaw joint. Often involved in lots of chronic neck, headache, and even low back conditions, it has a direct pathway to causing dizziness and/or vertigo problems because it is so neurologically connected to the inner ear via the 5th and 8th cranial nerves. Turns out this was the major area of involvement of Dr. Berkson’s dreaded dizziness, balance, and chronic vertigo condition. This area can easily be set off by getting dental work done, and can be asymptomatic but still a primary area of involvement.
3) From a chiropractic perspective, not too far away from the TMJ joint is the upper cervical spine whose misalignment/fixation can trigger dysfunction to the brainstem and cranial area. I use an advanced neurological non-force approach for balancing the upper cervical spine as well as the cranial nuclei called P-DTR which stands for proprioceptive deep tendon reflex technique which is my go-to, overall technique in day to day practice. I studied the technique over an approximate 3 year period with its developer Jose Palomar MD who as well happens to be an orthopedic surgeon. You can see more information on this cutting edge technique at https://pdtr-global.com/about-pdtr/. Essentially you are looking to correct a mismatch of sensory information coming into the brain from sources such as head position, cervical vertebrae, TMJ, and specific cranial nerves including cranial nerves V and VIII as well as eye movements and their related muscles and nuclei. In this area of hands-on therapy, not to be missed is prior trauma, especially head trauma – even if it occurred long ago – as it often is an important source of dysfunctional sensory signal to the brain which P-DTR can reset in a gentle and rapid manner.
4) Now moving away from structure and hands-on manual approaches to physiologic and blood chemistry dynamics, let’s start with problems with one’s blood sugar stability. If your diabetic or prediabetic, whether you’re younger or elderly, easy enough – you know you have central and important dysfunction in this area, and diet and proper supplements are basic to getting it under control. You will need to look at related factors such as gut and liver health which also speaks to how is the gut microbiome doing and are your liver and detox organs properly handling the toxic burdens placed on them including all the chemicals and toxic metals in our environment and food. Proper sleep, hormone balance – in particular, the thyroid and adrenals are also important cofactors of getting one’s blood sugar properly regulated. Laboratory tests can be done to check on these various areas of potential dysfunction.
5) Silent infections. Major topic. Present in almost all chronic conditions because the basic microbiomes of the gut, lungs, or sinus or even the blood-brain barrier have been disrupted. A quick example or two because most people are under the impression that if you have a microbial involvement you should have a fever or other such sign of an active problem. Not so in chronic conditions. How about shingles? The virus sits silently until the immune system falters and the microbe sensing opportunity then comes forth from it’s an otherwise quiet and relatively neutral state. Herpes? Yeast infections? Dental pathogens that then travel to the heart? What I am discussing is pathogens that are impacting the inner ear. There happens to be a YouTube on this topic as well with regard to dizziness, balance, and vertigo that one can check out as well. I use a muscle test protocol that I have been very happy with to help pick up on this area of involvement. One can also use laboratory testing of urine, blood, and or stool to get a read on the potential involvement of this area. Once the pathologic microbe is identified, then I will typically use an herbal approach to addressing it, sometimes along with dietary changes such as avoiding sugar and alcohol if yeast overgrowth is being dealt with.
So in conclusion, as with many chronic conditions, the source of the problem if your lucky can be readily identified and handled straight on or more commonly it’s source is multifactoral – that is there are several primary dysfunctional pathways that all need to be addressed in order to get the body back into balance sufficiently enough so that it can take it from there and do the healing that it otherwise is being prevented from doing.
If you are feeling off or are having dizziness and balance issues, it may be time to give us a call. We can set you up with an appointment to discuss your health problems and help to treat them as naturally as possible.
Regards,
Dr. B
For the Cawthorne-Cooksey home exercises mentioned in the podcast, see:
www.dizziness-and-balance.com/treatment/rehab/cawthorne.html
If you would like to discuss this further please email me or contact my office at 805-569-5000 to schedule an appointment.
Dr. Bastomski
Dr. Jacob Bastomski, a board-certified chiropractic neurologist, has served the Santa Barbara area since 1981. As a Santa Barbara chiropractor, Dr. Bastomski seeks to improve health through functional neurology and clinical nutrition.
Please contact us anytime at (805) 569-5000 if you’re looking for a holistic approach to alleviate a chronic condition, especially if traditional medical approaches have failed. Dr. Bastomski’s Back to Health Wellness Center is located at 1900 State St. Suite H in Santa Barbara
If you would like to discuss this further please email me or contact my office at 805-569-5000 to schedule an appointment.
