Vertigo/Dizziness
Vertigo is a symptom of illusory movement. Almost everyone has experienced vertigo as the transient spinning dizziness immediately after turning around rapidly several times. Vertigo can also be a sense of swaying or tilting. Some perceive self-motion whereas others perceive motion of the environment.
Vertigo is a symptom, not a diagnosis. It arises because of asymmetry in the vestibular system due to damage to or dysfunction of the labyrinth, vestibular nerve, or central vestibular structures in the brainstem.
Vertigo is a troubling problem for many clinicians because it is symptomatic of a large range of diagnoses from benign to immediately life threatening. However, in most cases, the clinical history, especially the tempo of the symptoms, with examination findings that distinguish between central and peripheral etiologies identify those patients that require urgent diagnostic evaluation.
Vertigo is only one type of dizziness. Other disorders that present with dizziness include presyncopal faintness, disequilibrium, and nonspecific or ill-defined light-headedness. The initial approach to the patient who complains of dizziness is to localize the cause of the symptom into one of these broad categories.
Dizziness is diagnosed mainly on history and physical but is also diagnosed with the use of equipment that specifically tests the inner ear and neural pathways through which sound is processed in the brain. This testing is conducted by trained audiologists here at the AEC. It is important to avoid medications and substances that either stimulate the central nervous system (like caffeine) or inhibit the central nervous system (like benadryl.) Other important procedures used to help in the diagnosis of vertigo include MRI, CT and MRA scans.
Vertigo is a symptom, not a diagnosis. It arises because of asymmetry in the vestibular system due to damage to or dysfunction of the labyrinth, vestibular nerve, or central vestibular structures in the brainstem.
Vertigo is a troubling problem for many clinicians because it is symptomatic of a large range of diagnoses from benign to immediately life threatening. However, in most cases, the clinical history, especially the tempo of the symptoms, with examination findings that distinguish between central and peripheral etiologies identify those patients that require urgent diagnostic evaluation.
Vertigo is only one type of dizziness. Other disorders that present with dizziness include presyncopal faintness, disequilibrium, and nonspecific or ill-defined light-headedness. The initial approach to the patient who complains of dizziness is to localize the cause of the symptom into one of these broad categories.
Dizziness is diagnosed mainly on history and physical but is also diagnosed with the use of equipment that specifically tests the inner ear and neural pathways through which sound is processed in the brain. This testing is conducted by trained audiologists here at the AEC. It is important to avoid medications and substances that either stimulate the central nervous system (like caffeine) or inhibit the central nervous system (like benadryl.) Other important procedures used to help in the diagnosis of vertigo include MRI, CT and MRA scans.