There may be a new solution to the dizziness of vertigo. It turns out, D is for dizzy.
Vertigo can lead to intense dizziness and the sensation that you’re spinning or that the inside of your head is spinning. Sometimes it can feel like your surroundings are spinning. All of these sensations of motion can lead to loss of balance, nausea and vomiting.
One of the most common causes of vertigo is Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). Recently, several studies have suggested that vitamin D deficiency could increase the risk of BPPV recurrence and of more complicated forms.
A new study has confirmed that vitamin D deficiency is significantly more common in people with high recurrence of BPPV. It has also confirmed that giving them vitamin D helps solve the problem.
This controlled study included 128 people with a high recurrence rate of BPPV. 93 of them had insufficient or deficient levels of vitamin D. When they were given a supplement that included 800IU of vitamin D, 600mg of the antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid, 7.5mg of zinc and small doses of 165mg of carnosine, 0.8mg B2 and 1mg B6, they had a significant reduction in relapses. People with sufficient levels did not have significant improvement.
The people with low levels of D also had improvement in all subjective measures, including dizziness.
This study suggests that, if you suffer from recurrent vertigo, you may benefit from supplementing vitamin D and alpha-lipoic and perhaps by adding small doses of zinc, carnosine, B2 and B6.
Audiol Res. 2022 Aug; 12(4): 445–456
D is for Dizzy!
