One of the most common questions I get from people trying to treat their BPPV is “Where do those crystals come from?” In addition, they usually ask “Are the crystals normal?”

To be clear, the little crystals (or rocks, depending on who you talk to) are called otoconia, and when they float into your “semicircular canals” they cause vertigo.

We call this type of vertigo BPPV, which stands for Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. Our goal with the treatment of BPPV is to get those little crystals OUT of the semicircular canals and back where they came from (the “utricle”).

In this video, I’ll explain where those little crystals come from, and I’ll address the question about whether or not they’re “normal”.

If you’re suffering from vertigo, dizziness and lightheadedness, your first step in eliminating these annoying symptoms is to figure out the cause/diagnosis.

Two of the most common causes of vertigo and dizziness are Meniere’s Disease and BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo). In this video, I’ll break down how to tell the difference between these two causes.

Here’s a quick rundown of the main points: