Brian Austin Green’s Vertigo: Why the Condition Is So Debilitating

The actor developed the condition after being involved in a head-on car collision in December. (Photo: AP)

Fans of Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green were shocked when the longtime couple announced in mid-August that they’re divorcing. But some surprising health information has also surfaced out of news reports of the divorce: Green suffers from vertigo.

According to TMZ, Green has had difficulty working since developing the condition in December, after he and Fox were involved in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. Green’s vertigo is reportedly so bad that he has trouble getting out of bed.

Vertigo is the feeling that you’re spinning or that everything is spinning around you, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. There are varying degrees of vertigo, and the condition is common, Stephen William Parker, MD, a neurologist in Massachusetts General Hospital’s Department of Neurology, tells Yahoo Health.

People who suffer from vertigo may get “terrible episodes where they can’t function for a number of hours,” Parker says, while others may simply feel momentarily dizzy from changing positions.

Unfortunately, the debilitating forms of vertigo, which Green reportedly suffers from, are “moderately common,” Parker says.

The condition can be crippling because it messes with your brain’s ability to function, Amir Kheradmand, MD, an assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, tells Yahoo Health.

He likens the brain to a computer. It gets sensory input from a variety of sources and puts that information together to create a comfortable, consistent perception of orientation within your environment. If anything is wrong with this processing system and your brain can’t put this sensory information together fast enough, there is a malfunction. As a result, you can feel dizzy.

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Vertigo can be caused by a number of things, Kheradmand says, and it can start anywhere from your ear up to the cortex in the brain that processes several different senses.

One of the most common reasons for vertigo is when calcium crystals break free from your ear and float into the fluid-filled canals in your inner ear, Parker explains, which is called benign positional vertigo. The sensation of the fluid in those tubes helps tell your brain the position of your body and helps you keep your balance. If one of the crystals gets into your inner ear fluid, it can create a false sense of movement, making you feel dizzy.

But head trauma like Green experienced can also be a major cause for vertigo, says Kheradmand.

Luckily, it’s possible for people to recover from vertigo. Treatments range from physical therapy to medication, and some people who suffer from benign positional vertigo can get better in a matter of minutes with help from a physical therapist, Parker says.

But for others — especially those who develop vertigo from a head trauma like Green — the recovery isn’t immediate. “The brain is in shock and has to learn to adapt to get back to the previous normal state,” says Kheradmand. “It will take time.”

While most people do recover from vertigo, Parker says others simply learn to live with it: “They may have to work around it.”

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