Do you suffer from dizziness?
Vertigo affects nearly 90 million Americans every year, and can be a symptom of inner ear disturbances or other conditions. Characterized by periods of dizziness, vertigo and imbalance can be an alarming experience that will require help from a medical specialist.
Symptoms of Vertigo
- A sensation that everything is spinning
- Dizziness
- Loss of balance
- Nausea
- Vomiting
Vertigo Testing
Your doctor may test your balance, eye motion, and head movements. In some cases, blood tests and brain imaging may also be necessary for diagnostic and treatment purposes.
Vertigo Treatment Options
Vestibular Rehabilitation
This physical habituation therapy is intended for patients who experience movement-induced vertigo. Through targeted training, vestibular rehabilitation helps strengthen your balance and stabilize your gaze.
Medicine
Depending on the cause of your vertigo, steroids, antibiotics, water pills, dizzy pills or anti-nausea medicine might be prescribed.
Canalith Repositioning Maneuvers
This non-invasive treatment involves a serious of specific head movements performed by your doctor to reposition the calcium deposits (otoconia) in your inner ear in an effort to relieve your vertigo.
Surgery
There are a variety of surgeries and procedures to help relieve severe vertigo. These include intra-tympanic steroid injections, chemical ablation, placement of ear tubes, endolymphatic sac decompression, labyrinthectomy etc. These surgical options are reserved for patients that have failed more conservative treatments.
Vertigo FAQs
Vertigo is where the person senses that he/she is spinning or the world around them is spinning. Dizziness is an umbrella term which can mean vertigo, lightheadedness, an off-balance feeling etc.
The most common cause of inner ear vertigo is a condition called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo or "loose crystals in the ear." Other inner ear causes of vertigo include: Menieres disease, vestibular neuritis, a benign tumor on the nerve of hearing called an Acoustic Neuroma, and some other rare causes.
This is usually due to a common type of vertigo called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo or "loose crystals" This is a benign form of vertigo and can typically be corrected by repositioning the loose crystal with some maneuvers done in the office. This type of vertigo can be brought on by head trauma, but a lot of patients get this kind of vertigo for unknown reasons. This kind of vertigo is more common in women.
The treatment depends on the cause of the vertigo. Treatment can include: medications such as steroids or water pills, low salt diet, surgery, tube placement, steroid injections into the ear, balance rehab or re-positioning the crystals with certain movements.
Still Have Questions?
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