I was speaking with a couple of patients today about the symptoms they have been experiencing that are due to vertical heterophoria. The sensation of increased dizziness in certain environments seems to be a recurring theme in a very large percentage of my patients. Malls, supermarkets, big box stores are some of the places where this extreme "visual vertigo" happens.
A woman today told me a story of her first time she had severe dizziness. She was walking in an airport terminal. One of those large airports with very long corridors to walk down to get to the gate. It was so bad that she couldn't even get on her flight. If we examine all these spaces we notice a few similarities. High ceilings, long aisles, a lot of visual stimuli on the sides. All that side visual stimuli, combined with the misalignment of the eyes leads to the dizzy or lightheaded feeling. This in turn causes anxiety. If one gets dizzy in a certain place, there would be associated anxiety with having to go into that environment.
The woman today started me thinking. I wonder how many people that refuse to fly in a plane due to anxiety attacks are actually people with VH. Maybe the anxiety is starting when they are walking in the terminal and not on the plane. Hmmm. I think I will start asking more questions about airports.
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