Vertigo and its effects
Dizzy & Vertigo Institute of Los Angeles is one of the most famous vertigo specialty treatment centers. Vertigo is a feeling of spinning your environment when it is not. It may make you feel unbalanced. Dizziness is also one of the effects of vertigo. You don’t have to worry about vertigo because it is not a disease. But it is important to visit a vertigo specialist because it can be a symptom of any other condition associated with your body.
There are mainly two different types of vertigo. One is peripheral vertigo and the other is central vertigo. Peripheral vertigo mainly happens when there is an issue with your ear balance and inner ear. But central vertigo happens when the is a problem with your brain. These problems include tumors, brain injury, brain infection, etc… So, make sure that you visit a vertigo specialist whenever you have vertigo within your body.
People often get confused over vertigo and dizziness. The main difference between the two is the symptom itself. Both of these issues are created because of the balance problem of your body. If you feel an overall unbalance within your body, it is dizziness. If you feel like your whole environment is spinning, when in actual situations it is not, it is vertigo. Even though vertigo attacks do not have any age bar, they usually happened to older people.
You don’t have to worry too much about vertigo attacks. It is because around 40% of the people in America experience vertigo attacks at least once in their lifetime. When compared to men, women have higher chances of experiencing vertigo attacks. To some women, vertigo attacks can happen as a side effect of pregnancy. So, it is crucial to visit a vertigo specialist when you have the slightest symptom. The experience of vertigo can last from a few seconds to several minutes.
People with a severe case of vertigo attack will experience it for several hours to several days. It can even last for days and months. If you have ever experienced motion sickness, then you can easily identify vertigo attacks. The symptoms of both these can be compared easily. whenever you try to change the position of your head, try to stand or walk, the situation may get worse if you are undergoing vertigo attacks. It is because vertigo attacks create an unbalanced body.
You don’t have to worry too much about the condition of vertigo. But you do have to take it seriously what caused this situation. If you are having reoccurring vertigo attacks, make sure to inform the nearby health center and seek help immediately. Even though vertigo attacks are not considered hereditary, they can happen due to genetic problems associated with the family bloodline. Recurring vertigo attacks can therefore be a problem associated with genetics.
Causes and triggering factors of vertigo attacks
Vertigo attacks can happen to you if you have the following conditions.
- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV): it mainly happens when there is a sudden change in the position of your head. People with this condition often experience vertigo attacks when they sit down or lay down. It also happens when the person is trying to turn over in the bed while trying to sleep.
- Meniere’s disease: this condition mainly happens when you have a problem with fluid accumulation in your ear. This condition may come along with ringing sensations in your ear, problems in hearing, or heaviness in your ears.
- Labyrinthitis: it is a condition where your inner ear gets infected. People having this condition may experience vision problems, hearing problems, headaches, etc…
- Vestibular neuritis: this condition occurs when there is an inflammation in the vestibular nerve. Even though this condition is similar to labyrinthitis, it will not affect your hearing.
- Cholesteatoma: it is a condition where there is skin growth in the inner ear because of repeated ear infections. This condition will lead to vertigo, hearing problems, and dizziness.
Vertigo attacks can happen due to various reasons such as stroke, head injuries, ear surgery, certain medications, etc… Nowadays, the number of people experiencing migraine is very high. Vertigo attacks can happen to people with migraine issues. For some people, vertigo is the main symptom of their migraine. People with migraine issues experience vertigo when they have headaches. But commonly, they undergo the attack during headache-free time.
Stress is a condition that causes problems within the inner portion of the ears. It means stress indirectly causes vertigo attacks. Around 5% of adults in America experience vertigo attacks due to stress and anxiety. Vertigo itself does not have any common symptoms. But when associated with other conditions, symptoms such as motion sickness, nausea, headaches, etc… can cause vertigo. The following are some of the tests that can diagnose vertigo.
- Fukuda-Unterberg’s test: in this test, you will be asked to close your eyes and walk forward for 30 seconds. If you have any issue with your inner ear labyrinth, then you will either start to rotate or lean to a side.
- Romberg’s test: in this test, you will be asked to close your eyes and stand straight in the attention position, while stretching both your arms to the sides. If you have any issue with your nervous system, you will feel an unbalance within your body.
- Head impulse test: in this test, you will be asked to focus on a stationary object. During this time, one of the assistants at the clinic will move your head to each of the sides. At this time, the clinician will check your eye and ear movements. This helps in analyzing the ear balance and the head motions.
- Vestibular test battery: in his test, you will be asked to wear goggles that are provided. Then you will be asked to focus on various points mentioned by the clinician. During this time, your eye movements and response are analyzed along with your head and body movement. A test will continue to note the same movements after pouring warm and cool water into the canal of your ears.