Why do I sometimes lose my balance?

It is difficult to explain what the sense of balance is because we don't even understand it very well.

But it is the one that allows us to know at all times what our body position is: if we are lying down, standing, sitting, crouching... It is located in the middle ear area.

There is liquid in there and it works like using a plumb bob in construction to determine that a wall is straight.

The middle ear is the one that tells the brain: “at this moment you are completely straight, or now you are turning”.

When the fluid in the middle ear is not balanced, it is when the person has the feeling that they are losing their balance and are going to fall to the ground.

There are times, such as when alcohol or some drugs have been consumed, that what is lost is the perception of balance, even though the fluid in the middle ear is perfect.

What happens there is that the brain is not capable of interpreting well what is happening because alcohol or drugs alter it.

In the body we have different sensors, for pain, touch, temperature... And we also have kinesthetic sensors that allow me to know the position of my body.

There are times that his alteration causes me not to know if I am standing or sitting.

And to complicate everything further, the part of the brain that decodes all bodily movement integrates all the information from the receptors, in addition to that coming from the middle ear, in which the balance itself is, and tells us what position we are in.

And why do we sometimes lose our sense of balance?

Well, it depends on the origin.

A typical example in women is that as we tend to have low blood pressure in childbearing age, if you get up very suddenly or have been crouching for a long time and you stand up suddenly, orthostatic hypotension occurs, which is a rapid drop in blood flow to the head It produces a feeling of dizziness and loss of balance.

That has happened to all of us at some point.

Also to men, but it is more frequent in women.

In this case, that loss of balance is caused by tension, it has nothing to do with the middle ear.

It can also happen that balance is lost without movement.

That's where the middle ear is.

And a frequent cause of loss of balance is vertigo.

Most often you are sitting or lying down and everything is spinning as if you were spinning.

There is the middle ear that, for various reasons, is not working well.

These various reasons can range from a wax plug that generates internal pressure that prevents the fluid from the middle ear from moving properly, which is why we receive the information that we are unbalanced.

It can also be due to other pathologies, some of them serious, such as a tumor.

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That is why it is important that we identify very well when this loss of balance occurs to us.

Does it happen to me when I have taken certain medication?

For example, benzodiazepines, sleeping pills, etc.

They usually generate that feeling of loss of balance the next day.

Does it happen to me when I just had my period?

Because with menstruation our blood pressure drops more.

Have I lost hearing?

Well, maybe I have a stopper.

Or I have made a turn and everything starts to spin.

I still have a cervical clamp.

Who do I have to ask?

To the healthcare professional.

With some simple tests, the rule is made: if it is the inner ear, if it is a stopper, if it is vertigo.

And if for whatever it is in the primary care consultation they see that it could be something else, they will refer you to the specialist who, in general, will be the ENT.

It is also important that you know that with age you have a greater feeling of loss of balance.

From the age of thirty, the aging process begins very, very slowly.

Depending on your genetics and the lifestyle you lead, you age better or worse.

And usually the organs of the body age at different rates.

The first is usually the skin, but the sense organs are the next to be affected by age.

Especially sight and hearing, from the age of forty-five or fifty.

After that age, the whole ear, which is a very sophisticated mechanism, it's state-of-the-art technology, it gets much thicker.

Normal hearing loss associated with age is called presbycusis.

What happens is that things that you used to do without any problem, such as walking very fast or David Bisbal-style turns, etc.

they start to get more difficult.

But we are correcting those normal changes of age, the body is very wise.

Carmen Sarabia Cobo

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The advice of this office is of a general nature and does not replace medical consultation.

If you have any questions about your specific problem, contact your doctor or pharmacist.

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