Vertigo, Motion Sickness, and the Migraine Syndrome

"Whoa! The room started spinning again! I just caught myself in time. I was walking into the kitchen and as I turned, it happened. I closed my eyes as the room was whirling around. I've been noticing this more lately. Sometimes it lasts longer and I will even get sick on my stomach. There must be something wrong with my inner ear or brain. I am going to the doctor and ask him why do I feel this way?" I can remember a patient that I treated in the early 1980's with similar complaints. She also had a lot of neck symptoms. In fact, on neck X-ray she had some worn out discs. Her vertigo (room spinning and dizziness) were at the time her neck bothered her the most. I knew there was a correlation between the neck hurting and the vertigo, but I could not figure it out. It was not until years later when I finally understood what was happening. Migraines, which can present as neck pain, can cause vertigo and motion sickness. I was beginning to understand the migraine syndrome. This person falls into the migraine syndrome profile. Let me explain what I mean by the migraine syndrome. It is the outward expression of the body's sensitivity to light, sound, smell, food, and/or stress. Some people are more sensitive than others; therefore, their reactions to different stimuli are greater. This sensitivity can be manifested in the body as migraines, sinus headaches, neck aches, palpitations, irritable bowel syndrome, motion sickness or vertigo, reactive hypoglycemia, temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ), panic attacks, and/or fibromyalgia. Now that's a mouthful! Understanding what is going on with you is very important in the healing process.