Vestibular Hyperfunction

The vestibular system is that part of the brain which, among other things, lets you stand up straight, keep your balance and move through your environment. It accumulates information from a wide variety of sources such as your inner ear, eyes, muscles, fingertips and sensors on the pads of your feet. A malfunction in this system can cause such diverse problems as difficultly in keeping your balance, panic attacks, teeth grinding, hand waving, difficulty defecating and academic problems.

Definition of Hyper

• The prefix "hyper" in medical terms means excessive, overactive or functioning at a rate greater than normal.

First Symptoms

• So vestibular hyperfunction means that this section of your brain is working too hard. One of the most common symptoms of this ailment is that you become dizzy. The vestibular system coordinates your vision to stability and hyperfunction can mean that you have blurry vision which in turn makes you feel dizzy.

Secondary Symptoms

• The dizziness and blurred vision caused by the malfunction in the vestibular system can then have the secondary effect of causing panic attacks. You may feel as if you are spinning around and cannot control your movements. This condition continues even if you rest your head or lie down.

Diagnosis

• The vestibular system is not one that you often consciously think about. If you have a pain in your back you can describe the type of pain, tell the doctor where it is located and how it is impairing your normal performance. With the vestibular system this is much less true. Trying to describe your dizziness or disorientation can be difficult. You are less specific and thereby offer the doctor a wider range of possibilities to explore. One help is that the vestibular system has a right and left component and if your dizziness is more accentuated by movement or the head in one direction, this helps with the diagnosis.

Treatment

• Although treatments such radiotherapy have been tried for some vestibular problems the most common treatment is a form of exercise regimen to help reduce symptoms. This includes muscle coordination in the eyes to reduce blurriness and exercises of the rest of the body to help reduce instability.

Prognosis

• As of 2010 there is no medical cure for vestibular malfunction. The best option offered is rehabilitative exercises to help the patient return to a life as normal as possible.