It is often said that you don't realize how much you depend on something -- or how valuable it is to you -- until you lose it.

Our Balance (vestibular system) is a perfect example.

Being "dizzy" – "off-balance"– or having "true spinning vertigo" may be one of the worst symptoms anyone can experience. These symptoms can occur acutely – "out of the blue" with an immediate period of being unable to perform the usual daily functions (moving about the house – going to work – driving – etc.) or they can occur more chronically (causing symptoms several times a day which are bothersome but which one gets used to).

Common symptoms are:

• Feeling a spinning sensation (you are spinning around – or the room is spinning around you.)
  
  
• Feeling as if you are falling off toward one side or the other (especially after movements)
  
  
• Feeling as if you are veering off toward one side or the other when you walk
  
  
• Difficulty negotiating uneven terrain like cobblestones, walking through the woods or across a sandy beach
  
  
• Difficulty negotiating the aisles of the supermarket without feeling "off-balance"
  
  
• Feeling disoriented or almost lightheaded especially after movements.

These symptoms very commonly cause severe anxiety as they threaten one's normal mobility and activity. The frequent recurrence of these symptoms without warning serves only to compound the anxiety – resulting in consequences such as inability to complete basic daily activities, inability to drive and even loss of work.

Frequently these symptoms, and others similar to them, are minimized by our medical care system and consequently the proper and appropriate evaluation and treatment is not made available..

Our "vestibular system" is our rudder and gyrocompass keeping us in balance second by second, minute by minute, day by day – in all situations – no matter how much we move – no matter how much movement there is around us.

This week – Balance Awareness Week – is dedicated to heightening everyone's awareness of the importance of normal balance in our day-to-day activities.