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What is Vertigo? |
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Symptoms
Vertigo is the abrupt feeling of unsteadiness or disorientation, episodes when a person senses that the surroundings appear to be moving. This is characterized by short periods of slight to extreme dizziness, often occurring with sudden shifts in the positioning of the head: moving the head towards a certain direction, lying down from a standing or seated position, and turning over in a supine position or sitting up from it. The patient may also feel light-headed, nauseaous, and unsteady, and his vision may be blurred with the sudden sensations. These usually occur in transience, with each episode lasting for about a minute. The activities which initiate the condition usually differ between persons, but all are usually brought upon by sudden movements of the head’s position. In some cases, the condition which causes vertigo can occur in both ears.
Causes
Within the ear is a small organ known as the vestibular labyrinth. This has semicircular canals which house fluids, as well as very fine sensors which respond to head rotations. There are also structures within the ear which respond to the movement and position of the head, called otolith organs, and these contain crystals which afford the body with sensitivity to movement. These crystals dislodge for various reasons, causing them to move into any of the semicircular canals (particularly when the patient is in a supine position). The aberration makes the semicircular canal hypersensitive to shifts in head positions, something which it shouldn’t normally react to, causing the symptoms associated with vertigo. Vertigo often occurs to people in the senior ages, but it can also be obtained after incurring head trauma or an injury to the inner ear.
Diagnosis
The doctor will conduct numerous physical tests which involves positioning the head at different angles. This is done to determine symptoms which associate sudden head or eye movements with brief dizziness, involuntary movements of the eyes (such as side movements), the patient’s capability of controlling eye movements, or dizziness which occurs in a supine position and with the head tipped towards an elevated edge. If a diagnosis is elusive, additional procedures may be performed. An electronystagmography or a videonystagmography detects aberrations in eye movement, the former conducted with electrodes and the latter with cameras. Either can determine if the vertigo is caused by an illness of the inner ear by evaluating eye movements while the head assumes various positions. An MRI scan may also be employed to determine if malignancies or lesions are the cause.
Treatment Info
The treatment is efficiently treated through canalith repositioning procedure, one which involves a series of basic and slow head movements or positions. The purpose of this is to shift the dislodged crystals into a vestibule, a sac-like opening which contains an otolith organ; in here, the crystals don’t cause movement sensitivity, and are eventually reabsorbed. Every position is assumed for half a minute following the cessation of any abnormal eye movement. If this technique won’t suffice, a bone plug may be surgically inserted to obstruct the area of the ear which causes the dizzy spells.
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