What is vertigo?
Vertigo is derived from a Latin word “Vertere” which means to turn.
Vertigo is the continuous feeling of disordered orientation of the body in space. In common language it is referred to as dizziness. However, vertigo is a special type of dizziness and will not cause any loss of consciousness. It can also be described as the sensation of rotation in the absence of actual rotation.
It is the feeling of the world spinning around you and can easily make you fall. But the unique feature of vertigo is that you are awake all the time and do not blackout. Vertigo basically results in imbalance and can result in an increased tendency to fall. Vertigo is usually precipitated or felt on sudden movement of the head, in people suffering from certain diseases. This feeling of dizziness can also cause nausea and vomiting.
What causes Vertigo?
Vertigo is a symptom that frequently points towards an ear problem, although other diseases unrelated to the ear can also cause it.
The causes of Vertigo are:
- External Ear: Wax impaction on ear drum.( This is the most important cause)
- Middle Ear: Eustachian Tube Block. ( This can happen in throat infections)
- Internal Ear: Acute Labrynthitis (Also called Inner Ear Dizziness), Meniere’s disease (Also called BPPV- Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo. Often associated with hearing loss and tinnitus i.e. ringing in the ears.)
In the above mentioned causes there is usually an associated loss of hearing sensation.
- Vestibular nerve causes: Vestibular Neuronitis. (This is the inflammation of a nerve)
- Cerebello-pontine angle causes: Acoustic Neuroma, Meningioma. (These are tumours in the brain. They also cause symptoms of raised intracranial pressure.)
- Brainstem causes: Vertebro-basilar insufficiency, Encephalitis.
- Temporal lobe causes: Trauma, Neoplasm
- Ocular causes: Ocular muscle paralysis, Motion sickness, standing at unaccustomed heights.
- Psychogenic causes: Anxiety, Neurosis, and Hysteria
If you are experiencing dizziness or vertigo, you could be suffering from any of the above conditions. Though some are easily curable, others are dreadful and need to be diagnosed at the earliest.
To know the exact cause of dizziness in your case, you can always ask a doctor about dizziness at Ask a Doctor.
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