Three key points on vertigo

Symptoms of vertigo

The crises of vertigo usually very cumbersome: the feeling that everything revolves, the general malaise caused, nausea and vomiting, excessive sweating and hearing symptoms that may accompany the episode as hearing loss or ringing in the ear, invalidates much patients.  

Symptoms that should alarm and cause the patient to go to the emergency room are loss of consciousness, severe headache, loss of strength or sensation in a limb or sudden loss of vision in one eye. It should also be considered if the patient has risk factors for stroke such as diabetes, hypertension, hiperecolesterolemia or taking drugs that affect blood clotting, as is more likely the cause of your vertigo is Central.

Diagnosis of vertigo

The patient interview with the specialist in Otolaryngology is very indicative to identify whether the problem resides in the inner ear or not. The otoneurological exploration, which is the set of tests to assess the patient's behavior with changes in position and passive movements of the head, provides very detailed information on the cause of the problem. Before a vertigo with hearing loss, a tonal audiometry as a diagnostic test is performed, and if the scan otoneurological oriented toward a possible brain problem, a request Cerebral Magnetic Resonance.  

Treatment for vertigo

• Acute attacks of vertigo are treated with drugs called sedative vestibular whose main objective remission of symptoms as soon as possible. Often the patient refers a sense of instability that must be treated with drugs that promote your brain will gradually readjusting the balance centers.
• In BPPV, the treatment does not include medication administration, but performing the Epley maneuver physiotherapy, which is done in the query itself.
• In some dizziness chronic behavior that tend to appear recurrently, such as Ménière or Vestibular Migraines they are carried out prophylactic treatments to distance in time vertigo crises.
• When vertigo is of cerebral origin (stroke or tumor), the next step is to stabilize the patient and referral to a neurologist or neurosurgeon.

• If the trigger is due to an ear infection as otitis, vestibular sedatives besides antibiotics in order to eradicate infection and prevent irreversible damage to the inner ear will be prescribed.

Edited by Roser Berner Ubasos.