Do You Really Need to Get a Vertigo Treatment?
While vertigo often gets better without treatment, the symptoms may, sometimes, last longer than usual, in which case it is advisable to see your chiropractic neurologist for immediate vertigo treatment.
Vertigo can be sudden and may last anywhere from a few seconds to several hours and days. It can even be recurrent, such that it begins to impact your ability to perform daily tasks, making normal life very difficult for you.
What is Vertigo?
The sudden feeling of everything around you spinning, moving, or whirling is called vertigo. Vertigo is merely a symptom, rather than a medical condition and the feeling may be barely noticeable. Sometimes, it can be so serious that you may not be able to maintain your balance and go about your daily activities.
Vertigo can be sudden and recurrent. Many times, it lasts for just a few seconds, but in some cases, the feeling may persist for several hours and days. Some other symptoms that come along with vertigo include loss of balance, making it difficult to stand or walk, dizziness and nausea, and feeling or being sick. With proper vertigo treatment, these symptoms can be addressed.
What Triggers Vertigo?
Here are common conditions that can result in vertigo:
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV):
BPPV is the most common cause of vertigo, where certain head movements triggered vertigo
Meniere’s disease:
This disease causes fluid build-up inside your inner ear, leading to vertigo attacks.
Migraines:
During severe headaches, you may experience vertigo attacks.
Labyrinthitis:
This is an inner ear infection that triggers vertigo. Labyrinthitis occurs when the inner ear labyrinth becomes inflamed. This is often associated with headaches, ear pain, vision changes, tinnitus, or hearing loss.
Vestibular Neuritis:
This is an inflammation of the vestibular nerve, which also triggers vertigo.
Cholesteatoma:
This is a noncancerous skin growth in the middle ear, which can cause dizziness, vertigo, and hearing loss
Other conditions that might lead to you experiencing vertigo include
Stroke
Diabetes
Head injury
Shingles in or near the ear
Ear surgery or ear infection
Perilymphatic fistula
Hyperventilation
Low blood pressure (orthostatic hypotension)
Muscle weakness
Syphilis
Otosclerosis
Brain disease
Multiple sclerosis
When Should I Seek Help for Vertigo Treatment?
You see a chiropractic neurologist if you have experienced persistent symptoms of vertigo or it keeps recurring. Your chiropractic neurologist will ask you some questions and will carry out tests to understand how you feel and recommend an appropriate vertigo treatment. Note that vertigo is more than dizziness, even though that is enough reason to see your doctor.
Not sure what symptoms to watch out for? Here are common symptoms of vertigo:
Feeling like everything around you is spinning
Lack of balance and dizziness
Tilting and swaying
Feeling like you’re being pulled in one direction
Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headache, ringing in the ears or hearing loss
If you observe these symptoms or vertigo becomes severe and recurrent, then you know it’s time to see your healthcare provider. Vertigo symptoms could be caused by some underlying health condition.
What is Vertigo Treatment?
Vertigo treatment is used to address or correct the feeling and help you live a normal life. Vertigo treatment actually depends on what’s causing it. Although in many cases, vertigo goes away on its own without any treatment, treatment is often recommended if the situation is severe.
In cases where vertigo goes away without treatment, it is because your brain can adapt to the situations causing the symptoms, which include changes to your inner ear, and relies on other mechanisms to maintain balance.
What are the Available Vertigo Treatments?
Vestibular Rehabilitation Training: When the cause of your vertigo is an inner ear problem, Vestibular Rehabilitation Training or VRT is the recommended treatment technique. VRT is a type of physical therapy that helps to reduce your symptoms by strengthening the vestibular system. This allows other senses to adjust and compensate for consequent vertigo episodes.
Canalith Repositioning Maneuvers: This is a series of simple head movements that are used to treat benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). This therapy is typically recommended when certain head movements trigger the occurrence of vertigo.
The American Academy of Neurology recommends Canalith Repositioning Maneuvers for BPPV. Calcium deposits are moved out of the canal into the inner ear chamber where the body will absorb them. These movements have proven to be safe and quite effective.
Medication: Some medicines can help to relieve the symptoms you’re experiencing and make you feel better. Depending on the cause of vertigo, antibiotics, for instance, may be used for infections and steroids may be used for inflammation. Other drugs include prochlorperazine and some antihistamines and diuretics or water pills (for Meniere’s disease).
Surgery: Surgery is often the last option on the list for vertigo treatment. In a few cases where other treatment methods fail to improve the condition, surgery may be needed to treat vertigo.
What to Expect at Your Vertigo Treatment Appointment
First is a proper diagnosis by your chiropractic neurologist to assess how you’re feeling and what treatment option is best for you.
You should also be prepared to describe exactly how you feel and all the symptoms you’re observing to your healthcare provider.
Your chiropractic neurologist will also need to perform some vital tests during vertigo diagnosis. Some of the tests performed on patients before vertigo treatment are Fukuda-Unterberger’s test, Romberg’s test, Head impulse test, Vestibular test battery, and Eye Movement Test.
Are There Home Remedies for Vertigo?
Yes, there are some self-help remedies that you can perform to relieve your symptoms at home. Your chiropractic neurologist or healthcare provider will be the person to walk you through them.
You should lie still in a quiet, dark room to reduce the spinning feeling.
Use one or two pillows to keep your head raised while sleeping.
Avoid moving your head too quickly during daily activities.
Avoid bending down to pick up things. You can squat to lower yourself.
Do not get out of bed in a rush. Rise slowly and sit on the edge of your bed for a while before standing.
Use a walking stick to reduce the risk of falling.
Sit down immediately when you feel dizzy.
Do not panic because anxiety can make vertigo worse.
Avoid stretching your neck while reaching up.
Vertigo often comes suddenly and can be pretty scary. But they often go away as quickly as they come. When vertigo occurs too often or the symptoms persist for too long, there are also vertigo treatments that can help correct the situation so you can go back to normal daily activities.
Our experts at The Hartman Center can also help diagnose your symptoms properly and provide you with the assistance you need. The Hartman Center is a Functional Neurologist based in New Jersey and specializes in Brain Injury Treatment and helping you get your life back.