subject: The Symptoms Of Vertigo [print this page] Symptoms of vertigo are one of the most common reasons for seeking medical attention and advice. Vertigo is said to be the illusion or hallucination of movement, usually a spinning or rotational feeling of either the environment or yourself. If you have every been on a merry go round ride or as a child spun around in circles a lot, then you would know what it is like to experience the feeling of vertigo. Together with this feeling of dizziness, you may also have experienced lightheadedness, unbalanced, a headache and nausea or sickness in your stomach. It is important to understand that dizziness or vertigo is not a disease but often a symptom. Symptoms of vertigo can be caused by a range of conditions from non-serious conditions to more serious conditions like vascular and neurological causes.
Vertigo or dizziness occurs when our equilibrium or balance is disrupted. We have semicircular canals in our inner ear that are responsible for our equilibrium. There is a fluid like substance in the semicircular canals,which contain tiny hairs. The tiny hairs act as receptors to detect our movement of our head which they then communicate to the brain. Now that you understand what controls your balance, we can discuss some conditions that can affect your balance. The most common forms of presenting vertigo are benign positional vertigo, labyrinthitis and Menieres disease.
Meniere's disease probably affects more people than we know about, due to the fact that many sufferers may not seek treatment for it. The theory behind the causative factor is an increase in the fluid of the semicircular canals inside the inner ear. The dizziness can be severe at times and last for hours or days. Associated with it can be ringing in the ears, fullness or pressure in the ears, nausea and vomiting. Unfortunately there is no cure for this disorder and it is usually treated with medication.
When a part of the semicircular canals called the labyrinth becomes inflamed it is termed labyrinthitis. This is usually caused by a virus of some type and will not respond to antibiotics. The inflammation will result in the fluid becoming thicker and therefore disrupts the signals of our balance. People will experience vertigo together with potential headaches and sickness in the stomach with a general feeling of being off balance. Vertigo of this cause is short in duration and usually occurs for seconds to minutes.
The most common cause of vertigo is benign positional vertigo or bppv. This is a condition that is directly related to movements of the head and results in a short episode of vertigo lasting only a few seconds. The cause of this type of vertigo are small debris in the inner ear that affect the hair receptors that detect our balance. Fortunately there are some safe solutions for this condition that do not involve drugs or surgery.
We often take our balance for granted until we have a problem with it. There can be many causes for symptoms of vertigo such as the three main ones detailed above. If you suspect you have benign positional vertigo then the good news is there is help available for you.
