Why You Should Never Try a Home Remedy for Vertigo

You have been dealing with dizziness, unstoppable room spinning dizziness, and you heard that you might be able to treat yourself at home. You even saw a Youtube video that showed you how you could do the Epley Manuever at home. The problem is there are three reasons why you should never try a home remedy for vertigo.

Make it worse through Conversion

The most important reason you should never treat vertigo on your own at home is that you can make the dizziness far, far worse. The Epley maneuver, or the home version you saw in a video online assumes that you have crystals in your right horizontal canal. And while that assumption is accurate for a lot of people, if  you are wrong, you are highly likely to convert your BPPV into one of the other two canals. Converting BPPV into the posterior or anterior canals (the other two senicircular canals of the vestibular system) is going to make your vertigo harder for a professional to treat, and what little relief you were getting may be gone.

While there are other canalith repositioning maneuvers that work for left sidered horizontal canal BPPV, or for anterior or posterior canal BPPV, you are not going to figure that out at home. A trained vestibular rehabilitation physical therapist can identify which side and which canal your BPPV is impacting in moments, it is not something someone can do at home. 

Making the assumption that you can treat your vertigo at home is dangerous because you have no way of predicting where your vertigo is impacting you. And with conversion to another canal, you are making it harder even for the professionals to heal you.

Is it really vertigo? Central Nerous System Signs

The next important reason to have your vertigo checked out by a vestibular rehabilitation physical therapist is because it may not be vertigo or BPPV, at all. There are several reasons you may be having dizziness, one of the most important is that you are having dysfunction of your central nervous system. Your central nervous system, which includes your brain, controls all of your most important voluntary and involuntary functions.

Dizziness is a symptom of vertigo, yes, but it may be a symptom of something more severe. The physical therapists at FYZICAL Oklahoma City, are trained to assess for central nervous systems signs, and we can make a referral to the right provider if you need something more than vestibular rehabilitation. We work with a variety of physicians and other providers in Oklahoma City and we know that if you are dealing with something other vertigo, you need to know sooner rather than later.

BPPV isn't really benign

Most people suggesting you can treat Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo at home believe that BPPV is truly benign. They think that once your vertigo is cleared up, you are better and have nothing more to worry about. 

The truth is that with vertigo, even once it is cleared up, you have had intense vestibular dysfunction. Even though you aren't dizzy any more that doesn't mean your balance is back to what it was. The reality is the way your brain and vestibular system connect is no longer going to be the same. I like to think about it like a balance scale, after vertigo one side of your vestibular system isn't functioning the way it always has. You need vestibular rehabilitation to rebalance your brain, inner ear connection.

FYZICAL… The Place You Go for Vertigo.

-FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers of Oklahoma City 

FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers of Oklahoma City provides vestibular physical therapy in Lakeside, The Village, Nichols Hills and surrounding NW Oklahoma City. Our physical therapists are specially trained to treat all types of vestibular dysfunction including vertigo and BPPV. Our practitioners take a patient-centered individualized approach that focuses on your health needs. If you are unsure about your dizziness, or you want to see the FYZICAL Difference for yourself, schedule a free consultation today.

*When calling for Vertigo evaluation, we will provide flexible scheduling that allows us to get most patients evaluated within one business day.