You May Have Vertigo - 10 Signs &Symptoms
Moderate vertigo requires that you lie down and lie still (no head motion) to stop the feeling of movement. Nausea is present and you may vomit occasionally, but you are able to keep fluids down.
Severe vertigo occurs when the feeling of movement is continuous even when lying down. Nausea and vomiting are so severe that you will vomit most of the fluid you drink.
Peripheral vertigo is a term that collects together the inner ear causes.
The labyrinth of the inner ear has tiny organs that enable messages to be sent to the brain in response to gravity. By telling our brains when there is movement from the vertical position, we are able to keep our balance, maintain equilibrium.
Disturbance to this system therefore produces vertigo and can be created by inflammation among other causes. Viral infection is behind the inflammation seen in the following two conditions:
* Labyrinthitis - this is inflammation of the inner ear labyrinth and vestibular nerve (the nerve responsible for encoding the body's motion and position7)
* Vestibular neuronitis - this is thought to be due to inflammation of the vestibular nerve.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is thought to be caused by a disturbance in the otolith particles.
These are the crystals of calcium carbonate within inner ear fluid that pull on sensory hair cells during movement and so stimulate the vestibular nerve to send positional information to the brain.
Central vertigo is a term that collects together the central nervous system causes - involving a disturbance to one of the following two areas:
* The parts of the brain (brainstem and cerebellum) that deal with interaction between the senses of vision and balance, or
* Sensory messages to and from the thalamus part of the brain.
Migraine headache is the most common cause of central vertigo.
Uncommon causes are stroke and transient ischemic attack, cerebellar brain tumor, acoustic neuroma (a non-cancerous growth on the acoustic nerve in the brain) and multiple sclerosis.
Signs and symptoms
Rather than being a medical condition that shows signs and symptoms, vertigo is itself a single symptom.
Vertigo is simply a specific kind of dizziness, producing the sense that you, or your environment, is moving or spinning.
Depending on the cause, however, other symptoms can accompany vertigo, including hearing loss, tinnitus, nausea, vomiting or a feeling of fullness in the ear.
Tests and diagnosis
Dizziness specialists have found from research that the following question helps to distinguish vertigo from other types of dizziness:
"Did you just feel lightheaded or did you see the world spin around as though you had just got off a playground roundabout?"
Doctors will also ask about other possible symptoms, including hearing loss, tinnitus, nausea, vomiting or a feeling of fullness in the ear - these are separate symptoms from vertigo but can be helpful to narrowing down its cause.
Doctors will also explore:
* Medication use
* Family history of migraines or Meniere's disease
* Recent ear infection or head injury.
History-taking also seeks to specify how and when the vertigo happens:
* How and when it first happened
* How often and for how long it typically lasts
* Its severity and whether it affects activities (e.g. whether it is possible to walk during an episode)
* If there is a trigger for the vertigo or anything that makes it worse (e.g. head movement to a particular side)
* If anything improves the symptoms.
Physical examination might include looking into the ear, or one of the maneuver tests. Scans may also be arranged to explore what might be causing the vertigo, usually magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computerized tomography (CT).
See your DR and discuss all possibilities.