Vertigo: Diagnosing an Autoimmune Disorder

Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts as self, which allows an immune response against its own cells and tissues.

Most patients who come to me suffering from vertigo, dizziness or balance disorders have been told that their conventional, allopathic medical doctor can’t help them anymore. They’ve had a number of tests to rule out tumors, strokes, hypertension, inner ear problems, virus and a host of other maladies that can cause vertigo. One area that may be overlooked is abnormalities within the immune system.

Although it isn’t a common diagnosis by conventional practitioners, vertigo can sometimes result from an autoimmune reaction against an area of the brain called the cerebellum. In other words, autoimmunity can cause some cases of vertigo. It should be considered when conventional testing and treatment fails to yield results.

Although autoimmunity is on the rise, conventional testing for many autoimmune conditions is, sadly, deficient. Antibody tests exist for conditions such as Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus and Hashimoto's Thyroid. There are no equivalent tests, however, that are specific to the cerebellum, or even the brain as a whole.

In the absence of targeted tests of an autoimmune response against the brain, some doctors perform other autoimmune tests to try to ascertain whether a patient has an abnormal attack against any part of their body. The problem with this approach is that it’s “hit or miss”, not very specific and not dependable yielding many false negatives. (A false negative means that the patient has an autoimmune response against their brain but the testing suggests otherwise.)

Thanks to fairly new and ongoing research into the immune system it may be possible in the near future to test for antibodies (autoimmune disease) against the cerebellum. Until then, doctors need to keep an open mind what may be causing vertigo or balance problems and run tests that are available. If autoimmunity against the cerebellum is found, there are a number of nutritional strategies which can effectively reduce vertigo and other associated symptoms.