Understanding Vertigo – Symptoms, Types, and Causes
Vertigo is more of a symptom of an underlying medical condition that causes dizziness and loss of balance. It makes you feel as if everything around you is spinning or you would feel like you are twirling. Vertigo is not exactly dizziness and they are two different things. Feeling dizziness is one of the many symptoms of vertigo. These symptoms may be severe at times and it will be so difficult for you to focus on daily activities or even the simplest of tasks like walking.
This symptom is caused by medical conditions that affect the inner ear mostly. Your inner ear is responsible for your understanding of balance and positional orientation therefore when there is a condition affecting your inner ear, you experience all sorts of symptoms such as vertigo, dizziness, loss of balance and or nausea.
Vertigo Symptoms
● Dizziness
● Problems with eyesight (focusing)
● Loss of hearing (in one ear or both ears)
● Loss of balance
● Ringing in the ears
● Nausea, vomiting, and sweating that may lead to dehydration
● Migraines
There are other conditions that cause the same type of vertigo symptoms like dizziness which could be frequently brought on by vascular issues.
Causes Of Vertigo
Causes of vertigo include problems with the inner ear or with the brain. The period of time that vertigo lasts depends on these causes but before learning more about the causes of vertigo, you need to know the types of vertigo to identify the causes for each type.
There are two types of vertigo:
1. Peripheral vertigo is caused by a part of the inner ear and sometimes also due to a nerve that is in between the brainstem and inner ear which is known as the vestibular nerve. Some of these conditions are Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), Meniere’s disease, and vestibular neuritis.
2. Central vertigo is caused by the brain. Mostly due to a problem at the brain stem or the cerebellum, the back part of the brain. These brain-related conditions include very rare types of strokes and seizures, multiple sclerosis, cancerous or noncancerous tumors, and migraines.
Recovering Procedure
In most cases, the patients recover without any long-term consequences but in some cases, you need to get treated to recover from it.
Consult A Doctor: The First Step In Recovery
When you first notice vertigo symptoms, it’s best that you consult a doctor to know what to do about it. Most of the time it will not be a diagnosis of the underlying medical condition that causes vertigo, your doctor would rather help you control the vertigo symptoms. According to your diagnosis, he/she could assist you to decide which therapies are most suited to relieve your symptoms. You can also contact healthcare professionals at Calgary Drug Mart to get advice and get your prescriptions for vertigo and you can also check in the services section for the medication review to have a better understanding of the medications given to you.
Treatments For Vertigo
● One of the common treatments for vertigo is physical therapy which would help you improve your balance and help you with the issues you have with your inner ear. People experiencing issues with their inner ear or having loss of balance would benefit a lot from vestibular rehabilitation, a kind of physical therapy. It teaches your brain how to deal with vertigo by using other senses, like eyesight. Vestibular rehabilitation is often carried out in an outpatient facility, it may also be carried out in a hospital or at your home.
● At a time when you are experiencing a vertigo episode, one of the wisest choices to make is to lie down in a quiet, dark room, keep your eyes closed and breathe slowly. This could lessen the dizziness and aid in getting rid of feelings of nausea. Stressful circumstances should also be avoided since they might exacerbate vertigo symptoms due to anxiety and rage. There are a few simple exercises used to treat vertigo symptoms which are Canalith Repositioning Maneuver, Gufoni Maneuver, Semont Maneuver, Zuma Maneuver, and Yoga. Usually, these kinds of exercises and other treatments for vertigo are very basic and consist of very simple physical exercises but it is always important that you perform them with a professional.
● Dehydration is also one of the causes of vertigo therefore being hydrated enough is very important as the loss of water in the body can cause you headaches and or dizziness and it could also worsen vertigo symptoms. You need to avoid any situations where your body would dehydrate and drink plenty of water to reduce the vertigo symptoms. This is one simple way of treating vertigo.
● After all, this, you can also let time decide on how you are going to get rid of vertigo symptoms because for some causes of vertigo, it is best to wait for symptoms to simply leave you by itself rather than reaching out to a healthcare professional.
The recovery time differs from person to person and the good thing is most of the underlying causes of vertigo are treatable and this would help to treat vertigo as well. If unable to diagnose the underlying causes of vertigo properly then you still can get your doctor or healthcare professional to help you control the vertigo symptoms and then you can get yourself into treatments for vertigo which are very simple physical therapies done with a professional.