Associated symptoms of dizziness

The most common accompanying symptoms of dizziness caused by the inner ear include nausea and even vomiting: Due to the failure of the organ of balance, faulty information is passed on from here to the brain, which contradicts the information of the other sensory organs. Since this phenomenon also occurs in cases of poisoning, among other things, the “emergency system” vomiting is activated to transport the supposed toxic substance out of the body. Another frequently accompanying symptom of dizziness is impaired hearing, i.e. hearing loss or tinnitus.

The reason for this is the proximity of these two sensory functions: Both the sense of hearing and the sense of balance are dependent on a functioning inner ear, which consists on the one hand of arches (sense of balance) and on the other hand of the cochlea (sense of hearing). Therefore, if one element of the inner ear fails, the other may also be affected due to its spatial proximity, as in the case of a spreading inflammatory reaction. Dizziness, which occurs directly in the ear, is usually accompanied by other complaints.

With almost all causes for the occurrence of this dizziness, the affected patients notice additional pronounced nausea. In addition, impaired hearing and ringing in the ears (tinnitus) are among the most common accompanying symptoms of vertigo in the ear. In the typical forms of vertigo, the cause of which is found directly in the ear, a severe impairment of the vestibular organ can be demonstrated.

As false information regarding the position of the body in space is passed on to the brain in this way, most of the patients affected develop pronounced nausea. The most common causes of dizziness in the ear, which is accompanied by severe nausea and vomiting, include benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, Meniere’s disease and inflammatory processes in the area of the vestibular nerve (neuritis vestibularis). In addition, pronounced dizziness, nausea and vomiting can also occur in the course of a sudden hearing loss.

Since most of the diseases leading to dizziness are associated with severe nausea, drugs to relieve nausea and vomiting are among the standard drugs. Ear pain can also be an accompanying symptom of dizziness.The most common cause of the combined occurrence of these two symptoms is an inflammation of the inner ear: this can lead to increased sensitivity and pain in the inner ear structures. In addition, the natural ventilation structures can become blocked, causing the eardrum to be stressed by the positive or negative pressure.

If ear pain occurs first and the dizziness occurs much later, it is possible that an inflammatory reaction has spread inwards in the ear. In this case a doctor should be consulted immediately. Pressure on the ears is usually caused by a ventilation problem in the middle ear.

Normally, ventilation is provided by a connecting channel between the middle ear and the nasal cavity. However, if this channel is blocked, pressure can be applied to the eardrum, the only flexible membrane of the middle ear. Ear pressure or the underlying ventilation disorder is a common symptom of ear infections.

It is therefore important to look for other symptoms, such as fever or difficulty swallowing. Hearing disorders can also be accompanied by inflammatory reactions. The term tinnitus describes a sound that is usually only perceptible to the affected person and occurs without any external stimulus, usually in the form of a ringing, humming or beeping sound.

More rarely, there are also types of tinnitus that are due to muscle or bone sounds, and which can therefore be heard by the examiner. Tinnitus often has no apparent cause, but it can also occur together with dizziness: In the latter case, tinnitus is usually an indication of a dysfunction of the inner ear, which contains the necessary structures of both the sense of balance and the sense of hearing. A Meniere’s disease described above is a common diagnosis, but inflammation of the nerves in the inner ear or autoimmune diseases can also cause dizziness and tinnitus less frequently.

A newly occurring, longer lasting tinnitus should therefore always be clarified by a physician. Dizziness in the ear can usually be shown to have a significant impairment of the balance. The position of the body in space (balance) is determined by the visual impressions, as well as by position receptors in the joints and the organ of balance in the ear. If there is an impairment of the balance in one ear, this leads to severe dizziness in the ear of the affected patient. The balance can be influenced in various ways.