Bilateral Vestibulopathy results as the culmination of damage done to both inner ears. Bilateral Vestibulopathy causes problems in vision, hearing and motor coordination.

Symptoms

Symptoms typically include imbalance and visual problems. Dark or unsure situations generally increase this imbalance.The imbalance is worse in the dark or in situations where footing is uncertain. Spinning vertigo is unusual. Oscillopsia

Oscillopsia

Oscillopsia is a visual disturbance in which objects in the visual field appear to oscillate. The severity of the effect may range from a mild blurring to rapid and periodic jumping...

, visual symptoms of Bilateral Vestibulopathy only occur when the head is moving . For instance, when driving, a person with Bilateral Vestibulopathy may see very blurry objects. Oscillopsia is often common during walking . Transient visual blurring occurs with quick movements of the head.

Diagnosis

Your physician will make a decision based on your history, physical examination or vestibular tests in a rotary chair. There are several different causes of Bilateral Vestibulopathy, including Gentamicin toxicity, but the rotary chair test will determine the effects on both ears. Tests for syphilis, an antibody test for autoimmune inner ear disease

Autoimmune inner ear disease

Autoimmune inner ear disease is a suspected autoimmune disease characterized by rapidly progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. It occurs when the body's immune system attacks cells in the inner ear that are mistaken for a virus or bacteria. Autoimmune inner ear disease was first...

 or audiogram

Audiogram

An audiogram is a standard way of representing a person's hearing loss . Most audiograms cover the limited range 100 Hz to 8000 Hz which is most important for clear understanding of speech, and they plot the threshold of hearing relative to a standardised curve that represents 'normal'...

s may be important in determining if you have bilateral vestibulopathy.

Treatment

Treatment differs depending on the cause. Each cause has a different treatment, and may involve either medical treatment, surgery, or therapy. If serious damage has already been done, then the focus of treatment is upon avoidance of vestibular suppressants and ototoxins. It is recommended that you tell your physicians to avoid drugs that end in mycin ( Azithromycin

Azithromycin

Azithromycin is an azalide, a subclass of macrolide antibiotics. Azithromycin is one of the world's best-selling antibiotics...

, Erythromycin

Erythromycin

Erythromycin is a macrolide antibiotic that has an antimicrobial spectrum similar to or slightly wider than that of penicillin, and is often used for people who have an allergy to penicillins. For respiratory tract infections, it has better coverage of atypical organisms, including mycoplasma and...

 ) because of possible reactions which could lead to setbacks. Vestibular rehabilitation is important. Your physician will try to keep the administering of drugs to a minimum.