On balance, the way that you stay standing upright is incredible

IT never ceases to amaze me how remarkable our bodies are.

The eye you’re using to read this right now is one such incredible organ.

And the brain which is making sense of the words is remarkable too.

The fact you’re not falling over is down to a less-celebrated area of your body.

Part of your inner ear is made up of a series of three semi-circular canals and each of these fluid-filled chambers is lined with tiny little hairs.

The fluid moves when you move and this movement is picked up by those tiny hairs.

Your brain can then use the information from the inner ear – as well as other information from sight and touch – to get a sense of balance.

Very neat. A patient who visited me last week had a problem, however, with his inner ear, which resulted in something called labyrinthitis.

A viral infection had caused an inflammation of his inner ear, and this upset the wee canals.

As a result he was experiencing nausea and vertigo – dizziness and a feeling the world was spinning – which only abated when he went for a lie down.

I prescribed anti-sickness medication called prochlorperazine to help the nausea and ease the vertigo by dulling the nerve messages from the inner ear.

In more severe cases labyrinthitis causes vomiting, which can occasionally be severe enough to need a drip.

Labyrinthitis can last a few days to a few weeks, but we can have milder symptoms for months.

In most cases it settles as the patient adapts – it’s almost like the inner ear has to reset itself.

Those struggling though can be sent to a dizziness clinic – which is like a physiotherapy course for your internal balancing system.