Vertigo often mistaken for dizziness, is an unsettling feeling that the world is spinning around you. Although this argument seems pretty much the same as the dizziness from a night out after too many drinks – The difference is it starts in the ear node and if left untreated may lead to the progression of a chronic disease or even cause severe injury.

Have you ever suddenly felt like the world started spinning around you? Were you standing when suddenly the world started rotating? If this feeling started in your inner ear and kind of imitates the feeling of dizziness, you might be experiencing vertigo. If left untreated, vertigo may lead to the progression of a chronic disease or even cause severe injury.

For someone living with vertigo, the unpredictability of the spinning attack can be troublesome. Vertigo can hinder a person from doing even the easiest of activities – from going to the bathroom or picking a burrito for a snack.

A Vertigo attack often forces a person to lay down without looking at the ceiling or the floor in fear of in-coordination – lasting anywhere between several minutes to hours.

Though frustration lies in not knowing what triggers the spinning episodes, or for how long you could be living with this condition, understanding the ordeal may help you manage your vertigo more efficiently.

Here is everything you need to know about this balance-oriented condition that does not discriminate.

What is Vertigo?

Vertigo is the sensation of spinning where a room or environment appears to be in circular motions even despite a person being static.

Many people describe vertigo as a disease, but this stands to be corrected. Vertigo is a symptom and not a medical condition or a disease, and it often results from underlying balance problems. Vertigo surfaces when the eyes, sensory nerves, and particularly the inner ear is struck by an imbalance to the nervous system and may occur frequently or rarely for no apparent reason.

Vertigo causes motion attacks. Patients describe a Vertigo attack as a temporary surge in dizziness. The dizziness is characterized by an intense and hopeless spinning sensation – not the type felt from running in a circle after an energetic toddler.

Types of Vertigo

To treat the effects of this condition, your medical practitioner must determine the type of vertigo. Though this bothersome inner ear condition presents complexities that doctors are yet to understand, medical practitioners can only diagnose two types of vertigo.

The first is called Peripheral vertigo, which is a type of Vertigo in which imbalance problems begin at the periphery of the ear, where balance is controlled. The problem may also stem from the vestibular nerve, the nerve found between the inner ear and the brain stem. With Peripheral vertigo, neurological imbalances are rare, with the gait and coordination typically remaining intact.

The second type is central vertigo associated with a problem with the brain. The issue may involve the brain stem or the cerebellum, the back part of the brain. Central vertigo is a rare type of vertigo and is often caused by a stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, brain tumor, or infections. With Central Vertigo, a patient will experience frequent loss of coordination and gait instability.

Vertigo in pregnancy

A pregnant person is most likely susceptible to experience dizziness, morning sickness, and all the other joys (and I mean joys) that come with pregnancy rather than vertigo. A common cause of dizziness during pregnancy may be the baby putting pressure on the abdominal veins when the mother lies on her back. The good news though is that this is as far as the dizziness gets – sugar imbalances and hormonal reactions rather than anxiety-inducing spinning sensations.

Detailed overview of Symptoms

The symptoms of vertigo include a spinning sensation, problems with balance, and whirling. A person does not have to be engaging in physical activity (it gets a bit scary) as vertigo symptoms may surface even when a person is still. Once induced by a vertigo attack, movement of any part of the body like plunging on a couch can escalate the symptoms.
Patients often mention needing to lay flat on their head when engulfed by a vertigo attack.

Patients also often mention feeling nauseous, a loss of appetite, and vomiting due to a vertigo attack.

While patients often describe the spinning ordeal as dizziness, medical practitioners seek to establish if the patient is experiencing spinning sensation vertigo or dizziness like light-headedness or fainting. The patient may be asked to perform coordination tasks for diagnosis.

Women are prone to vertigo

According to the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, Vertigo appears to be more common in women than in men, with nearly 40 percent of U.S adults experience vertigo at least once in their lifetime. Vertigo is also likely to surface in adults in their 20’s, affecting all ages after that states the University of Iowa Hospital and clinics (although research also states that being over 50 should call for more concern). The upside to the unfavorable statistics is that Vertigo will most likely not occur in children, except in rare instances.

There is no prevention

Though activities that involve jerking motions like a vigorous head movement to your favorite song or unusual atmospheric pressure, the kind experienced when flying – there are no set reasons as to why vertigo may occur. There is no way to prevent vertigo.  Vertigo can happen to anyone at any time, therefore it is vital to steer clear from situations in which a fall can cause severe bodily harm – especially when you suspect you may have Vertigo. Avoid housework that may involve climbing a ladder.

A promising Treatment

If you have gone to a medical practitioner and got prescribed bed rest, medication, or an in-office treatment called the Epley maneuver, and the severe spinning motion has not gotten better, you are not the first to have experienced this.

According to experts, the reason might be that it is because the vertigo attack may be coming from the eyes or a reflex loop known as the vestibule ocular reflex, which many people report experiencing when exposed to visually challenging situations

Whether you are frustrated with not seeing much improvement to your condition or are looking to try out a new treatment, there is a way that you could skip going to the doctor, saving you hundreds of dollars.

Curious what it is?

Physical therapy. Physical therapy includes a series of exercises that strengthen the balance system of the body. When mastered, the exercises take just a few minutes to perform. The therapy takes different forms, with varying exercises that may be pre-planned by your therapist to target different types of imbalances. For example, exercises may vary between exercises to improve your balance, to help the brain correct differences between your inner ears, and to improve your ability to focus your eyes vision.

If you are suffering from vertigo, this video curated by experts, explains exercising techniques that can be implemented anywhere to reduce anxiety fuelling dizziness momentarily. Watch it here.