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The Possible Cure for Long-Term Dizziness
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The Possible Cure for Long-Term Dizziness

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“I feel off.”

“I’ve been dizzy for years, but doctors can’t figure it out.”

The Possible Cure For Long-term Dizziness

Have you ever said something like this to yourself? Many people don’t realize that “dizziness” is more than just the head-spinning sensation most of us have come to equate with the term. Dizziness actually encompasses several different conditions, the three primary types being:

  • Disequilibrium: Feeling unstable or experiencing a rocking feeling while walking.

  • Lightheadedness: Feeling like you’re going to faint. Frequent lightheadedness could be a blood pressure or heart rate problem.

  • Vertigo: Feeling like the world is spinning. This is usually a sign of a vestibular (inner ear) problem, and severe attacks can lead to other types of dizziness.

How Vertical Heterophoria Can Lead to Dizziness

Headaches and dizziness are often experienced together, along with motion sickness and nausea. While some patients may experience only one or two of the different types of dizziness, others are inundated with all of them. Each type can be caused (or made worse) by a condition called Vertical Heterophoria (VH).

Your eyes have to be perfectly aligned in order for the two separate images from each eye to merge into one. When this alignment is thrown off, the body corrects it by forcing the eye muscles to move the eyes back into the correct position. This overworks the eye muscles to such an extent that they become strained and extremely fatigued. It’s at this point that the often-debilitating symptoms of anxiety, motion sickness, nausea, headaches and dizziness appear.

Making Time for Our Patients

One thing many doctors don’t take to time to do is really listen to their patients. This may be why dizziness is so often misdiagnosed as another condition. Many of the patients we’ve seen for VH have previously been diagnosed with one of these conditions:

  • Meniere’s Disease

  • Vestibular Neuronitis

  • Psychogenic Dizziness

  • Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness

  • Agoraphobia

At Vision Specialists of Michigan, our patients are not rushed in and out. Our NeuroVisual Examinations are approximately 80 minutes in length, which gives us plenty of time to conduct a thorough, comprehensive examination. We want to learn what’s going on with the patient and his or her symptoms, and look for patterns that can help with diagnosis. We are then able to treat the long-term dizziness that many patients have been suffering from for years by prescribing special aligning prismatic lenses to provide long-awaited relief.

Schedule a NeuroVisual Examination

If dizziness and the other symptoms of VH are making your life miserable, you need to see the doctors at Vision Specialists of Michigan. Give us a call today at (248) 258-9000 to schedule your own NeuroVisual Exam.

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Dr. Sandy DiPonio earned her optometry degree from Illinois College of Optometry in 1996. She is a highly skilled and experienced eye care professional dedicated to giving her patients of all ages excellent and compassionate care. She has a wide variety of experience in binocular vision, pediatric and adult eye care, ocular disease and contact lens fitting. She strives to provide each of her patients the best quality of life they can achieve with their vision through knowledge and education of treatment options.

Dr. DiPonio is a member of the American Optometric Society and Michigan Optometric Society.

Dr. Sally Hoey has been practicing optometry since graduating from Michigan College of Optometry in 2001. During her time in optometry school, she developed an interest in binocular vision, culminating in a senior thesis involving binocular vision.

Prior to joining Vision Specialists of Michigan, Dr. Hoey specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of vision-related learning problems as well as other binocular vision disorders. Her other areas of interest include specialty contact lens fittings and treating dry eye. Dr. Hoey strives to provide her patients with clear, comfortable vision while meeting their individual needs at the same time.

Dr. Hoey had the opportunity to provide eye care on an optometric mission trip to Guyana, South America and vision screenings at a local medical clinic. She is a member of the American Optometric Association, Michigan Optometric Association, Metropolitan Detroit Optometric Society and the College of Optometrists in Vision Development.

Dr. Jennifer Place graduated with honors from Michigan College of Optometry in 2001.

Before joining Vision Specialists of Michigan, she specialized in treating pediatric and adult patients with binocular vision disorders and vision-related learning problems, as well as fitting specialty contact lenses and managing various types of ocular disease. She enjoys working with patients with unique visual needs, and she takes great pride in providing all patients with highly customized care.

Dr. Place has volunteered for Opening Eyes, a program that provides eye exams to the athletes of the Michigan Special Olympics, and she participated in an international mission to St. Lucia to provide eye care to those in need. Dr. Place is a member of the Detroit Optometric Society, the Michigan Optometric Association, the American Optometric Association, the College of Vision Development, and the Optometric Extension Program Foundation.

Dr. Mary Jo Ference has been practicing optometry since 1990 upon graduating from Ferris State University- Michigan College of Optometry, and is certified in Low Vision Rehabilitation. She has worked at Sinai-Grace Hospital systems for over 20 years before joining Vision Specialists of Michigan in 2013 to work with binocular vision disorders. Her clinical areas of expertise include visual rehabilitation of pediatric and adult patients who have suffered from brain trauma, injury or disease. She has taught both optometry and ophthalmology residents at Sinai Grace Hospital. Dr. Ference has sat on numerous boards, including Sinai Grace Hospital, Berry Out-Patient Surgical Center, and Seedlings Braille Books for the Blind. She is actively involved in area school districts to provide education, training and access for students, teachers, OT’s and PT’s to eye care service rehabilitation information. Dr. Ference has lectured extensively nationally and internationally.

Dr. Debby Feinberg began practicing Optometry in Oakland County in 1983, upon graduating from Illinois College of Optometry. She joined her father, Dr. Paul C. Feinberg, at Mall Optical Center, which was located in Summit Place Mall.

Since 1995 Dr. Feinberg has been developing the field of NeuroVisual Medicine which is the optometric subspecialty that identifies and treats neurological / medical symptoms that originate directly or indirectly in the visual system.

Dr. Feinberg has been performing pioneering work with Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD), a condition where a vision misalignment (frequently subtle) creates difficulties with the two eyes working together to create a single 3-dimensional image, and difficulties with the two eyes following that image as it moves.

The symptoms caused by BVD are not usually associated with problems with the visual system, and include headache, dizziness, anxiety and panic, persistent post-concussive symptoms, gait instability and balance problems, frequent falls, neck pain, motion sickness, nausea, and reading and learning problems.

In 2004. Dr. Feinberg established Vision Specialists of Birmingham, specifically designing the practice to accommodate the needs of the NeuroVisual Medicine patient.

In 2011, the office moved to its current location in Bloomfield Hills and updated its name to Vision Specialists of Michigan.