Is Vitamin B 12 Effective In Treating Vertigo?

Brief Answer:
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Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,

It may be possible that Vitamin B 12 may help certain types of vertigo, if you have known deficiency of it (pernicious anemia). This can be tested with blood tests (CBC with differential will show certain abnormalities such as macrocytic anemia and B12 test will be low). It can take time to replace a deficiency of Vitamin B12.

If you have a strict vegan diet, or certain problems wrong with your stomach, you are more likely to develop B12 deficiency. With a typical diet, it is hard not to get enough B12.

So if you suspect that you might have a B12 deficiency, ask your doctor to test you for it with a CBC/differential and a B12 level.

Here is an article about B12 replacement helping a specific type of vertigo (there are multiple causes/types of vertigo) when there has been deficiency of this vitamin.

You will not be able to just click on this link to open it but can see it by copying and pasting it into your address bar:
http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/article-abstract/603153

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Brief Answer:
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Detailed Answer:
I'm sorry - I know vertigo is hard to cope with. First the type of vertigo needs to be determined. Vertigo can be from many things. These include:

1.benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. BPPV is the most common type of vertigo. It happens due to otoliths (calcium particles) in the inner ear canals being where they shouldn't be. BPPV can happen at any time and we don't typically know the reason.

Treatment for this is to do head position exercises.
Consider trying these if you can. They help many people (again, copy and paste the link into your address bar to go to it):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VWyPgfMuvM

2. Meniere's disease. This is an inner ear disorder thought to be caused by a buildup of fluid and changing pressure in the ear. It can cause episodes of vertigo along with ringing in the ears and hearing loss.

For this, you really should see an Ear Nose Throat doctor to fine tune the medical management of it.

3. Migraine headaches. Preventing the frequency of migraines with preventive medications can help prevent the vertigo.

4. Vestibular neuritis or labyrinthitis. This is an inner ear problem usually related to a viral infection.

5. A history of head or neck injury can cause vertigo too.

6. A history of stroke or brain tumor.

7. Certain medications that cause ear damage can result in vertigo.

So the underlying cause needs to be considered when treating this. But I do recommend trying the exercises I listed after #1 (Benign positional vertigo).

If that doesn't help, I strongly advise a consult with an ENT specialist, and possibly, if appropriate, physical therapy to strengthen the vestibular system of the ears.

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