Vertigo Patient
Vertigo Patient
Vertigo, or the sensations of spinning and dizziness, can limit a person’s activities and make them feel sick. While medication is available to treat vertigo, it is not always necessary, especially when natural treatments can work just as well without side effects.
Vertigo is a feeling of dizziness and spinning, occurring with or without any movement. It is caused when the brain feels the body is off-balance even though it is not.
When feeling dizzy, a person should sit down immediately to reduce the chances of getting hurt if they fall.
Usually, vertigo is a symptom of an underlying medical condition or several different conditions. Sometimes, vertigo will only occur once, but for other people, it will reoccur until the underlying cause is determined.
Fast facts on vertigo:
- Symptoms can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours and may come and go.
- Treatment for vertigo will depend on the cause.
- Medication can relieve symptoms of dizziness, nausea, and motion sickness.
Symptoms:
In addition to causing a person feelings of being unbalanced or spinning, vertigo can lead to the following symptoms:
- nausea or vomiting
- abnormal eye movements
- headaches
- sweating
- ear ringing
- hearing loss
- double vision
- lack of coordination
- arm or leg weakness
What are the causes?
- Cold Viruses: The common cold can cause ear inflammation. This type of vertigo usually resolves within a few days but can reoccur.
- A head or neck injury: Vertigo is a common symptom that can follow a head or neck injury. Vertigo related to a neck or head injury tends to resolve but can be debilitating and ongoing.
- Stroke: According to the American Stroke Association, someone experiencing a stroke may have vertigo, including symptoms of dizziness and severe imbalance. A stroke will cause dizziness and imbalance rather than just one.
- Vestibular neuritis or VN: VN is a condition affecting the vestibulocochlear nerve in the inner ear. This nerve is responsible for balance and head-positioning signals received in the brain. When the nerve is inflamed, the brain misinterprets balance and head positioning.
- Meniere’s disease: Meniere’s is a condition that affects hearing in one ear. It causes symptoms of vertigo, tinnitus or ringing in the ears, hearing loss, and a feeling of “fullness” in the ear. Some people with Meniere’s disease have severe vertigo, causing balance loss and falls.
Treatment
Most of the time, vertigo resolves without treatment, as the brain can compensate for changes to the inner ear to restore someone’s balance.
Medications, such as steroids, can reduce inner ear inflammation, and water pills can reduce fluid buildup.
For people who have recurrent episodes of vertigo, a physical therapy called vestibular rehabilitation can help. Vestibular rehabilitation encourages the central nervous system to compensate for inner ear problems.