Balance and Vertigo

Ear Nose | Otorhinolaryngology | Balance and Vertigo (Symptom)


Description

Vertigo is a balance disorder characterized by a disturbance that causes feelings like unsteadiness, giddiness, wooziness, sensation of movement, spinning, or floating, and loss of balance to a person.

Vertigo is a serious disease as it increases the risk factor for some of the serious disorders such as strokes and tumors. There are different types of vertigo such as: peripheral vertigo, objective vertigo and central vertigo, hence, the treatment of the vertigo is a necessity as it may lead to severe imbalance problems. Vertigo, a feeling of spinning movement and sometimes accompanied by nausea and vomiting, occurs when any part of the system breaks down. However, people tend not to use that word to describe their symptoms but instead use the word dizziness or lightheadedness. It is up to the health care practitioner to understand the person's symptoms and define vertigo as the cause of their situation.

Causes

While there are many causes of vertigo, the major distinction is between central causes of vertigo and peripheral causes. Central causes occur because of an abnormality in the cerebellum of the brain. Causes of dizziness related to the ear are often characterized by vertigo (spinning) and nausea.

Some of the most common causes of vertigo are listed below: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, labyrinthitis may follow a viral infection which causes inflammation within the middle ear, Meniere's disease, Acoustic neuroma, Inner ear trauma, Vestibular migraines.

Diagnosis and Treatment

The initial step in helping a person with vertigo is to take the history of the patient and understand the spinning symptoms that may be associated with other symptoms.

The nature of the treatment often depends on the cause of the vertigo. Vertigo caused by BPPV or labyrinthitis can be effectively treated.

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