Vestibular Migraine

The blood vessels of the inner ear are innervated with the same nerves that innervate the blood vessels in our brains. In the brain these nerves secrete inflammatory chemicals that cause complex changes in nerve conduction and blood flow. It is possible the delicate inner ear is also affected and even injured by migraine activity. This video does not address possible changes in the brain that can lead to dizziness and vertigo.

This video shows as a white cloud the inflammatory substances secreted by the nerve fibers on the blood vessels, changes in blood vessel diameter known to occur in migraine, and changes in the size of the membranous labyrinth usually associated with Meniere's disease. While it may take decades to fully understand how migraine may affect the inner ear it is known that here is an unusually high association between Migraine, chronic low grade headaches or head pressure, and Meniere's disease. Many patients with Menieres disease improve with preventive headache treatment.

Migrainous vertigo may also generate symptoms in the brain and not affect the inner ear at all by altering normal processing of vestibular information from healthy inner ears.