VertigoDizziness: everything seems to spin, we fear losing the ground under our feet. Vertigo is sometimes a very unpleasant feeling that is associated with strong insecurity. Fortunately, dizziness usually passes very quickly again.
Physicians call fescue vertigo. If a disturbance of the balance is pathological, dizziness may last longer or recur frequently and unexpectedly. This form of dizziness in particular is not without risk: the risk of being injured by a fall caused by dizziness increases, especially in old age. About 10 percent of all people experience dizziness so severely that they go to the doctor about it. As we age, the likelihood of vertigo attacks also increases.
Forms of vertigo
Medical professionals distinguish between different forms of vertigo:
– Spinning dizziness corresponds to the sensations from children's play. The world seems to spin around you. – Swaying vertigo is mainly characterized by the feeling of an unsteady stance or gait, similar to being on a heavily swaying ship. – People with elevator dizziness feel as if they are being pulled up or down in an elevator. Altitude vertigo sometimes occurs when looking down from a great height. Experienced like brief spinning or swaying vertigo. – Lightheadedness vertigo is a dizziness with a feeling of fainting. Affected persons often stagger and feel dizzy. – Positional vertigo is so called because the dizziness occurs after a change in position. Examples of this are getting up in the morning or rising from a low body position (such as from a squatting position or from sitting to standing).
Symptoms
The symptoms of vertigo are familiar to most people since childhood. Children love to spin in circles until they feel dizzy. They then stagger around with great pleasure. Willingly let themselves fall. This form of dizziness, which adults sometimes deliberately induce at carnivals, for example, usually passes quickly and does not leave any traces behind. In the case of disease-related vertigo, these are balance disturbances. Orientation problems are often more pronounced. In addition, the dizziness is sometimes accompanied by nausea, vomiting, sweating, or black-eyedness.
In diseases of the inner ear, dizziness is usually accompanied by ear pain, hearing disorders or ringing in the ears (tinnitus).
Causes
Various systems in the body transmit information to the brain to help people find their way around the room and maintain their balance. These include the eye, the organ of balance in the inner ear and sensory cells that register body posture. If one or more of these information systems are disturbed, we experience insecurity or dizziness because the brain cannot determine the body position with certainty.
These disorders of the vestibular system can have very different causes:
Investigation
The diagnosis of vertigo based on symptoms is self-explanatory. It is sometimes much more difficult to find out the causes of the vertigo. For this part of the diagnosis, your doctor may refer you to an ear, nose and throat specialist, internist, neurologist, ophthalmologist or psychiatrist (psychotherapist). In some cities, there are special dizziness outpatient clinics where these experts work together across disciplines.
Treatment
The basic aim of the medical treatment of vertigo is to cure the triggering disease. In case of low blood prere or high blood prere, for example, the blood prere is adjusted with medication.
Your doctor can prescribe various medications to counteract the symptoms of vertigo. Antiemitka such as dimenhydrinate, for example, help with dizziness and motion sickness with nausea and vomiting. For severe and persistent dizziness, antivertiginosa is the drug of choice. Such anti-dizziness agents include the calcium channel blocker flunarizine, the histamine agonist betahistine, and the herbal antivertiginosa ginkgo and ginger.
Self-help: dizziness diary
Effective self-help against dizziness requires that you know the causes of the dizziness. To find out, a dizziness diary can be of great use. In a dizziness diary you record when and under what circumstances you experience dizziness attacks. Take the dizziness diary with you to the medical examination.
The balance system can be trained. Think of tightrope walkers, for example, who practice until they can safely balance even at great heights. With special exercises, people suffering from vertigo can also strengthen their sense of balance. Corresponding courses are offered by physiotherapists, health centers or in dizziness ambulances. It is best to ask your attending physician or your health insurance company about offers in your area.
Further tips against dizziness
Ginger has been proven to prevent dizziness. In the pharmacy, for example, there are over-the-counter chewing gums or tablets with this herbal active ingredient.
During an attack of dizziness, a cold cloth on the forehead or neck often alleviates the discomfort. Conscious deep breathing into the abdomen also often dispels annoying dizziness. A briskly drunk glass of cold water can also end feelings of dizziness.
Homeopathy against dizziness
Many people rely on homeopathy for the treatment of dizziness. Depending on the type of vertigo and the patient, homeopathic remedies often used against vertigo:
– Belladonna – Calcium carbonicum – Conium maculatum – Graphites – Ignatia amara.
Prevention
There is no 100 percent prevention against occasional dizziness. This is also not necessary, because occasional dizziness usually passes quickly. Besides, dizziness has a purpose: it is to draw attention to the fact that something may be wrong.
As described above, you can train your sense of balance and avoid some harmless dizziness.
In general – and also with regard to dizziness – your health will benefit if you eat a fresh and varied diet, get regular exercise in the fresh air, avoid stress and largely abstain from alcohol or tobacco. Furthermore, alternating showers in the morning and regular visits to the sauna are helpful in preventing dizziness.