Vestibular Disorders and Vertigo Need Specialised Treatment. Here’s Why

Dizziness is a loose term to describe the feeling of imbalance or disequilibrium. Vertigo is a type of dizziness that is much acute and distressing. Vertigo is essentially a spinning sensation of self or the surroundings. It is a sense of false motion that feels like swirling, swaying or tilting involuntarily. The post here hints about vertigo, its causes and associated symptoms arising out of a vestibular disorder. We understand by the post why a specialist in dizziness is required to treat such kind of disequilibrium. Vertigo, dizziness and other kinds of balance disorders are so common that 30% of the young and old adults experience dizziness at some point in their lives and around 3.5% of older adults suffer dizziness as a chronic ailment! Despite these numbers, many instances of disequilibrium go unnoticed or ignored being called just a slip. Ignoring the early signs of a balance disorder is not advisable. It is better to get immediate and adequate treatment to stop it becoming a chronic disorder.

Causes of vertigo or dizziness

Every individual feels disequilibrium differently. Some of the commonplace descriptions of dizziness are, lightheadedness, giddiness, floating sensation, feeling unsteady etc. Any or combination of these following issues causes Vertigo or dizziness. • Central nervous system issuesrn• Vestibular problemsrn• Pharmacological side-effects (Ototoxicity) • Circulatory system issuesrn• Psychological disorders Among all the above, vestibular complications are the very commonly seen cause of balance issues. Read here for more information on vertigo (chakkar aana in hindi), causes, symptoms and its treatment.

Vestibular disorders lead to balance disequilibrium

Vestibular system in the inner ear governs the body's balance mechanism. It works in concurrence with eyes and proprioceptors to provide information to the brain about the head and body's position in the space at a given time and helps balance the body. Few things can go wrong in the vestibular system, due to mechanical, traumatic (caused by accident or injury) or neurological concerns leading to inflammation, lesion, dislodgement of calcium particles, missing or damaged bony structure (labyrinth) in the inner ear etc. Most of the vestibular issues go undiagnosed. A specialised medical practitioner like a neurotologist or otolaryngologist can figure out the likely cause disequilibrium resulting from an inner ear balance system dysfunction. Often, people think vertigo is a disease. But, on the contrary, it is only a symptom of an underlying ailment. Vertigo experts suggest that dizziness or other balance disorders are not the manifestations of a single disease, but, a combination of multiple medical conditions cause imbalance. Not attending to the early symptoms lead to a chronic ailment. Secondly, balance issues cannot be treated by a single or standard line of treatment. As multiple ailments are contributing to the cause of vertigo, the course of treatment needs to be customised and dynamic.

The above reasons ascertain the need for specialist doctors to diagnose and treat vertigo.

Ophthalmologist, audiologists, general physicians, neurologists and psychiatrists need to work closely with neurotologists or otolaryngologists to conduct differential tests and rule out the possibilities and arrive at an accurate diagnosis. Only a holistic evaluation of dizziness can lead to the correct diagnosis and thereby enable the doctors to treat it with the suitable approach.

Associated symptoms of vertigo/dizziness

The balance disorder does not affect singularly as unsteadiness or spinning sensation. There are the host of other symptoms that are brought on by vertigo and can be as disturbing as vertigo itself. Some of them are listed here: • Nausearn• Vomitingrn• Fatiguern• Palpitationrn• Shiveringrn• Sweatingrn• Tinnitus

Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy

VRT provides steady relief from disequilibrium and restores balance. The therapy combines various physical workouts around improving vision stability, stimulating proprioceptive sensors, coordinate motor reactions, and retraining the brain to find alternate pathways to get signals about the position of the head when a vestibular system is unable to provide it with the correct information. NeuroEquilibrium is a speciality centre for vertigo treatment and balance restoration. It houses advanced diagnostic equipment and leverage cloud technology to arrive at a precise real-time diagnosis and tailor the treatment to suit patient's needs and conditions.