Most people are familiar with that dizzy feeling after standing up too fast, skipping a meal or attempting an advanced move in an Energy Yoga Studio class. While we can often attribute temporary dizziness to these little things in our daily lives, there’s one culprit that you may not have considered yet: sinus infections.
How Are Sinus Infections and Dizziness Connected?
A sinus infection occurs when something inflames the tissues lining the sinuses, such as a cold or allergies. The sinuses, ears and throat are all connected by thin canals called Eustachian tubes. When your sinuses are inflamed, that inflammation can spread to the ears via the tube; that’s where the inner ear comes into play.
The inner ear houses the hearing and balance systems. The balance system includes two parts:
- Three fluid-filled semicircular canals. The semicircular canals are coiled in the inner ear and lined with hair cells. The hairs react to your body movements, sensing motions like turning or tilting your head to help keep you stable.
- Two otolith organs. Consisting of the saccule and utricle, the otolith organs contain tiny hair cells and crystal-like structures that sense movement when the fluid in your ear shifts. The organs sense when your body moves forward, backward, up and down.
Your brain uses signals from the semicircular canals and otolith organs to help your body stay balanced.
When inflammation from a sinus infection spreads to the inner ear, it can temporarily disrupt the functioning of these balance organs—causing you to feel unsteady on your feet. Because they sit next to each other, disruptions to the balance system may also affect the hearing system, causing temporary hearing loss.
Finding Stability
If your balance issues are sinus-related, they should go away soon after your infection clears, or as the other symptoms start to wane. Taking cold and flu medication and trying home remedies such as facial steaming and sinus irrigation can help reduce inflammation while you wait for the infection to clear.
If you have recurrent sinus infections or your dizziness persists beyond your other symptoms, contact Midwest ENT Centre today to schedule an appointment with one of our specialists.