Vertigo is a dizziness that negatively affects a person's social life. This is why it is more commonly referred to as dizziness. However, not every dizziness is vertigo. There is no definitive treatment for this condition, a road map should be determined according to the condition of the person.
What is Vertigo?
Vertigo is a sensation that you or objects you see around you can feel. It can often cause nausea, vomiting and balance disorders. This disease usually causes dizziness. However, not all dizziness is vertigo. Among the symptoms of vertigo , especially acute ear infections, vertigo can occur with inflammation of the inner ear. The condition causing this disease is detected and treatment is started.
What are the Symptoms of Vertigo?
The reason why we perceive the illusion of movement, a movement that is not happening, as if it is happening, is that there is a mismatch in the information that is constantly sent from the vestibular system in both inner ears to our brain about our balance at that moment.
The most common causes of true vertigo are related to the inner ear where the vestibular system is located, for example BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo), Menier's Disease, Vestibular Neurinitis are among the most common diseases that cause vertigo. In addition, diseases affecting the brain stem where the center of the vestibular system is located are also among the causes of vertigo. During the course of acute and chronic otitis media, vertigo may occur as a result of the inner ear being affected by the inflammation, and effective intervention is required.
What are the Causes of Vertigo?
A feeling of emptiness in the head, staggering while walking, difficulty in standing can also be described as vertigo. However, true vertigo is usually rotational in nature. It occurs in the form of rotation of the environment or rotation of the person himself/herself.
Since it is a subjective feeling, the most important step in investigating the cause of the disease is to evaluate the patient's complaint and take a history in which the characteristics are noted. Here, the duration of the disease, whether it is related to the head position, other accompanying complaints, and whether there is loss of consciousness are questioned. The next step is a physical examination and ancillary diagnostic tests may be used. These include audiologic tests, videonystagmography, caloric tests and positional tests.
How is vertigo treated?
Vertigo is not a disease, it is a condition that can be a symptom of a disease. Therefore, the diagnosed disease should be treated. For example, the most common Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo is treated with maneuvers suitable for this part after determining which part of the inner ear causes vertigo in the first stage. In Vestibular Neurinitis, drug treatment is applied. If vertigo is caused by Menier's Disease, different treatment methods specific to this disease are applied.
If an acute otitis media is detected as the cause ofvertigo, the inflammatory accumulation in the middle ear should be drained with myringotomy procedure along with drug treatment. In case of a chronic otitis media, the infection settled in the ear bone should be cleaned with surgical intervention and the part of the inner ear affected by inflammation should be repaired.