Updated June 2025
"Why do I feel dizzy?"
Dizziness isn’t always just vertigo - it can stem from hidden inner ear issues, cervical spine compression, or even anxiety.
Here’s what your body might be telling you:
🔍 Top causes covered in this guide:
- Inner ear disorders (BPPV, Ménière’s disease)
- Cervical spine problems (pinched nerves, artery compression)
- Neurological triggers (vestibular migraines, head trauma)
- Medication side effects & vision problems
- When dizziness is an emergency
Contents
- 1 What causes vertigo? 18 root problems behind dizziness
- 2 How your inner ear controls balance
- 3 Rotary vertigo: Why your world spins
- 4 Anxiety and dizziness: How stress tricks your balance system
- 5 Neck problems causing dizziness? Cervical vertigo explained
- 6 Occipital neuralgia: When a pinched nerve makes you dizzy
- 7 Can liver problems cause dizziness?
- 8 Blurred vision and dizziness: Is it a vestibular migraine?
- 9 Closed-eye dizziness: What it reveals about your vestibular system
- 10 Can glasses cause vertigo? (How lenses disrupt balance)
- 11 Neurological vertigo: When brain damage causes dizziness
- 12 Inner ear imbalance: ENT tests to diagnose your dizziness
- 13 3 major diseases that cause chronic vertigo
- 14 Vestibular neuritis: The 10-day dizziness nightmare
- 15 Tanganil for vertigo: Does this controversial drug work?
- 16 Vestibular rehab: How physical therapy fixes vertigo
- 17 When dizziness becomes an emergency
What causes vertigo? 18 root problems behind dizziness
The main causes of vertigo are essentially related to:
- Inner ear disorders (the #1 trigger)
- Vision problems
- Motion sickness
- Menopause
- Medication side effects and toxins
- Use of drugs or alcohol
How your inner ear controls balance
The labyrinth, a complex structure in the inner ear, plays a crucial role in maintaining balance.
It comprises three semicircular canals, which detect motion, and the vestibule housing the utricle and saccule, responsible for registering movements and ensuring equilibrium.
Rotary vertigo: Why your world spins
BPPV: The 60-second dizziness trigger
Rotary vertigo is a brief and disorienting balance disorder, lasting less than 60 seconds.
It leads to a sensation of spinning triggered by head movements, often accompanied by nausea and vomiting.
This is a hallmark symptom of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV).
Anxiety and dizziness: How stress tricks your balance system
Phobias that worsen vertigo (Agoraphobia, Acrophobia)
Anxiety and balance issues frequently go hand in hand.
Studies suggest that anxiety disorders are not directly related to vestibular problems but instead stem from difficulty in managing sensory conflicts.
This can manifest as spinning sensations, loss of balance, impending faintness, or visual disturbances, particularly in individuals with agoraphobia (phobia of crowds or large spaces) or acrophobia (fear of heights).
Neck problems causing dizziness? Cervical vertigo explained
How vertebral artery compression triggers imbalance
The cervical spine is the vertebrae that connect the skull and the dorsal vertebrae.
It is traversed by the vertebral arteries on each side which go up towards the posterior part of the neck.
Certain positions can cause compression of this artery and trigger balance disorders.
Occipital neuralgia: When a pinched nerve makes you dizzy
Arnold’s nerve and its role in balance disorders
Arnold's nerve, originating from the first two cervical vertebrae, ensures neck mobility and scalp sensitivity.
When compressed, known as occipital neuralgia, it can cause severe headaches, neck pain, tingling, burning, numbness, and even dizziness.
Can liver problems cause dizziness?
Gallbladder vs. liver: Which one really triggers “hangover” dizziness?
While dizziness is often associated with a feeling of "hangover" following a rich meal, it's usually not the liver's fault.
Indigestion affecting the gallbladder, which contracts suddenly to aid fat digestion, is more likely the culprit.
However, a sluggish or congested liver can contribute to dizziness.
Blurred vision and dizziness: Is it a vestibular migraine?
Eye pain + vertigo: Warning signs you’re ignoring
It may actually be a vestibular migraine.
It results in eye pain that causes violent headaches with sensitivity to light.
A feeling of vertigo is felt, changing between the perception of the person's own movements that do not exist or of their environment that seems to be spinning.
Closed-eye dizziness: What it reveals about your vestibular system
Peripheral vs. central vestibular syndromes
The vestibular syndrome causes the dizziness that tends to get worse when you close your eyes.
It shows the involvement of the vestibular system.
There are two specific vestibular syndromes:
- the peripheral vestibular syndrome is found in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), Meniere's disease, vestibular neuritis, labyrinthitis, etc
- the central vestibular syndrome is linked to a dysfunction of the central nervous system which causes a loss of balance.
Can glasses cause vertigo? (How lenses disrupt balance)
Progressive lenses and motion sickness: Fixing the adjustment period
Wearing glasses with progressive lenses can actually cause dizziness.
Adjustment time is necessary due to the particular curvature of the lenses.
The only way not to perceive this sensation of pitching is to look in front of you in the precise centering of the glass and to have a perfectly adjusted frame.
Neurological vertigo: When brain damage causes dizziness
Stroke, tumors: The scary causes of balance loss
It has been proven that a third of vertigo is of neurological origin.
They are usually related to head trauma, migraine, damage to the brain or cerebellum, tumor, or multiple sclerosis.
They are also different from inner ear vertigo and manifest more as a balance disorder than rotational vertigo.
Inner ear imbalance: ENT tests to diagnose your dizziness
The “drunk” feeling: Is it vestibular or neurological?
An imbalance of the inner ear results in rotary dizziness, a feeling of pitching, or light inebriation.
It can also be more sneaky and present as a heavy-headed feeling accompanied by constant nausea.
It is confirmed by an ENT examination.
The specialist performs visual tests, a subjective visual vertical (VVS) test to assess the sense of verticality, and caloric tests to put to the test the canal apparatus which plays the role of a motion sensor.
3 major diseases that cause chronic vertigo
Dizziness can have multiple causes.
However, the three major ones are Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), Ménière's disease, and vestibular neuritis.
They are then peripheral vertigo that can be found in chronic otitis, trauma to the inner ear, inflammation of a nerve, or a blood supply problem.
When they are of central origin, they are often closer to a gait disorder and postural instability.
They are manifested by the presence of a tumor or a disorder of the vascularization of the areas of the brain in charge of the movement.
Vestibular neuritis: The 10-day dizziness nightmare
Vestibular neuritis is an inflammation of the nerve of the inner ear which suddenly results in intense dizziness accompanied by nausea and vomiting.
The episode can last three to ten days and does not require treatment.
It is however relieved by the prescription of anti-vertigo medication and the implementation of vestibular rehabilitation.
Tanganil for vertigo: Does this controversial drug work?
Acetylleucine’s hit-or-miss results
Widely prescribed to treat Ménière's disease, Tanganil is indicated to counter vertigo attacks but is not effective for balance disorders.
This anti-dizziness reserved for adults does not require a medical prescription.
Note that its effectiveness is uncertain, some patients do not obtain a favorable response to its substance, the acetylleucine.
Vestibular rehab: How physical therapy fixes vertigo
The Epley maneuver and other liberatory techniques
Vestibular rehabilitation is the intervention of a physiotherapist to restore balance and eliminate vertigo.
He performs liberatory maneuvers, particularly when Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is diagnosed, performs a vestibular examination using videonystagmoscopy and /or the head shaking test which consists of performing rapid horizontal and vertical movements of the head to determine peripheral vestibular dysfunction.
The goal is to get the central nervous system to develop new abilities to restore balance despite damage to the vestibular system.
→ 78 Natural Remedies for Common Ailments
When dizziness becomes an emergency
As a rule, dizziness does not pose a great danger to health, it is even mild.
The complications it can cause are more related to the risk of falling.
On the other hand, sudden dizziness with violent headaches, nausea and vomiting, high fever, difficulty in coordination, and speaking difficulties are an emergency and require prompt medical attention.
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