Why Is My Child Dizzy? The Trouble with Pediatric Vestibular Problems

If someone asked you to picture in your head a person being affected by dizziness and vertigo, what age group does the person you imagined belong to? We’d be willing to bet that regardless of other characteristics, the person you pictured in your head was an older adult. But why is that the case? Why don’t we usually associate these symptoms with children?

If you said dizziness symptoms are more common in adults, you would be right. Most people probably know of at least one adult who has dealt with these symptoms at some point in their lives. But balance problems such as dizziness and vertigo are much more common in children than you might think. It has been estimated that between 5-15% of school-aged children experience these symptoms annually.

Most often dizziness is caused by complications within a part of the inner ear called the vestibular system. Children who struggle with their vestibular system are more likely to have complications with their balance and motor skills. These children may even have episodes of visual disturbance, which can look something like the picture below.

The trouble with this happening in kids is that they’re still developing, and if these symptoms go untreated the child can fall behind in developing important coordination skills. Which creates a developmental delay in comparison to their peers.

We know that studies have shown that the top causes of dizziness in children are vestibular migraine, benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood (BPVC), otitis media which is a middle ear infection, viral infection, or physical trauma. The road to diagnosing the culprit for dizziness is usually a long one. The reality is that only 1 out of 6 children who experience dizziness receive an accurate diagnosis of what is causing it:

The Root of the Problem

Part of the trouble children have with receiving appropriate diagnoses and treatment begins as a communication barrier. Children have less complex vocabularies and a poorly defined sense of how to explain their feelings and sensations so it’s difficult for them to describe their symptoms.

This communication barrier is not their fault. Adults also have problems trying to explain their dizziness because of the complexity of the feeling. The word itself encompasses a wide variety of symptoms including feelings of being off-balance, feeling lightheaded, a spinning sensation known as vertigo, a tilting sensation, and blurred vision. 

Even if a child can take a shot at describing what they are feeling, studies have suggested that unless the parent has a reason to believe that the child has experienced some sort of physical trauma to the head, then they are highly likely to dismiss the child’s complaints as something insignificant. Due to this communication barrier between children and their guardians, only a third of them seek treatment to find the cause of their dizziness. 

The Other Half of the Problem

Now, let’s assume that a child can accurately describe their symptoms and their caregiver takes these complaints seriously, responding by bringing them to a doctor. When these children arrive at their appointment to see their physician, they run into the same problem of trying to accurately explain their feelings of dizziness.

It is then left up to the physician to try and make an accurate guess as to exactly what the child is experiencing, and more often than not, they’re stumped by the lack of patient history they would usually rely on to diagnose their older patients. Ultimately, a physician is first trying to understand if the dizziness is caused by a problem in the inner ear, which indicates a vestibular system disorder. If the physician has enough information about the child’s symptoms, they can run diagnostic tests to see if there are complications within the inner ear. Doing these tests involves a degree of patient coordination that is difficult to get from smaller children, especially those who don’t feel well.

At this point, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that out of all the children who seek treatment for dizzy symptoms, a mere half of them can actually figure out what was causing the dizziness. But what can be done to improve these odds? 

Play Your Part

For starters, parents or caregivers should keep tabs on any complaints of dizziness from their children, and look for any patterns or recurring events. You can keep track of these events, and then your doctor can use them as a tool to make a diagnosis if needed.

If you think you might need to bring your child to a doctor, be sure to see a specialist such as a pediatrician who better understands a child’s needs. When you come in for the appointment, do so with as much information as possible on the symptoms that your child is experiencing. You should also keep up with how long they’ve been complaining of dizziness, as well as how long the episodes normally last and anything that might be triggering it.

That part seems self-explanatory, but it is very often overlooked and can be the difference between many expensive generalized tests and fewer, more specific tests to narrow down the cause.

Let the Rest Fall into Place

When your child is visibly distressed, it is only natural for you to want your child to feel better as fast as possible. Pediatric dizziness is much more complicated than it appears and can be difficult for a doctor to diagnose. However, if you do your part by going to the right doctor and giving them the information they need to properly do their job, they will be able to get your child in the fast lane on the road to recovery. 

For more information on vestibular therapy and dizziness as well as many more topics, please visit us at Caregiver Univeristy!