Dizziness (vertigo) is described by patients as a sensation of movement of the environment or their own body or head, an illusion of instability, imbalance, uncertainty of posture, a sensation of staggering, which may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, anxiety, dazedness or darkness before the eyes.
Symptoms and course dizziness
Dizziness can occur with damage to the balance system itself, but can also accompany other diseases. Based on the cause, they have been divided into organic and functional vertigo. The cause of the former can be inflammatory, neoplastic, toxic lesions or injuries to the inner ear or vestibular nerve.
This group also includes diseases of the nervous system - stroke of the trunk and cerebellum, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy or neuroinfections. Dizziness also accompanies diseases of the organ of vision (glaucoma, covert strabismus, oculomotor nerve palsy). It should be noted that patients with hypertension, atherosclerosis or cardiac arrhythmias will also complain of this condition.
Elderly people are most likely to suffer from so-called benign positional vertigo due to atherosclerosis, which occurs with rapid head movements, changes in body position, bending, bending of the head or getting out of bed quickly.
Dizziness can also be a symptom of systemic conditions such as anaemia, too low glucose levels or electrolyte disturbances.
Increasingly, especially in women, dizziness is occurring against a background of psycho-emotional disorders such as depression or neurosis, as well as accompanying migraine and motion sickness. In these cases, we speak of functional vertigo
When to go to the doctor and treat dizziness
If the dizziness recurs or is accompanied by additional symptoms (nausea, vomiting, etc.), contact your doctor. In order to clarify the cause, in addition to a thorough history, the patient should certainly be consulted by a neurologist and an otolaryngologist.
Treatment dizziness
Please note that the treatment of vertigo is both symptomatic and causal. Over-the-counter antidizziness agents, antiemetics or tranquillisers can be used on a temporary basis.
Tackling the cause of the symptoms requires the use of medication depending on the disease entity diagnosed by the doctor (e.g. antibiotics in the case of inflammation).
Mild positional vertigo requires avoidance of situations that provoke it, control of posture as well as generally improving physical exercises.
