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[email protected] · WWW.VESTIBULAR.ORG How Do I Know if I Have a Balance Disorder? This article is adapted from information provided by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders, (NIDCD). Millions of individuals have disorders of sensation of spatial disorientation or balance they describe as “dizziness.” imbalance. Experts believe that more than four out of ten Americans will experience an Almost everyone experiences a few episode of dizziness significant enough to seconds of dizziness or disequilibrium at send them to a doctor. some point —for example, when a person stands on a train platform and What can be difficult for both a patient momentarily perceives an illusion of and his or her doctor is that the word moving as a train rushes past. However, “dizziness” is a subjective term. This for some people, symptoms can be means that the word can be used by intense and last a long time, affecting a people to describe different sensations person’s independence, ability to work, they are experiencing, but it is hard for and quality of life. anyone but the person experiencing the symptoms to understand or measure Balance disorders can be caused by the nature or severity of the sensations. medications or certain health conditions, In addition, people tend to use different including problems with the inner ear terms to describe the same kind of (vestibular) organs or the brain. problem. “Dizziness,” “vertigo,” and Dizziness, vertigo, and disequilibrium are “disequilibrium” are often used all symptoms that can result from a interchangeably, even though they have peripheral vestibular disorder (a different meanings.