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Vertigo Symptoms and Treatment

Do you feel dizzy, a spinning feeling, off balance or about to pass out?

You may have vertigo. These feelings can come and go and may last for minutes, hours, or days. These problems can be due to problems involving the inner ear or brain which can be serious. You may also have feelings of nausea, headaches, sensitive to light and noise, vision problems, feel short of breath, feel worse when you move your head, change positions (stand up, roll over), cough, or sneeze.

If you see your physician, please provide complete details – when you started feeling these symptoms, how long these last, what you are doing when these symptoms start, and any other symptoms. This information can help point to the cause of vertigo.

The most common causes of vertigo include: Inner ear problems, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, Meniere Disease, vestibular neuritis, head injuries, migraines, and stroke.

If you have some of the above symptoms that come and go, please make an appointment with your doctor to perform testing to determine to see if you have vertigo.

In most people, vertigo is bothersome but it is not caused by a serious problem. Treatment for vertigo aims to treat the underlying cause (if the cause is known), relieve the bothersome symptoms, and help with recovery. This section will discuss treatment for symptoms and treatments to help with recovery.

Treatment for symptoms - Your physician may recommend a medication to relieve severe vertigo symptoms, like vomiting. However, medication can make you drowsy and not recommended to take before you work or drive.

You could also receive treatments with Physical Therapy:

Canalith repositioning - is a treatment that may be recommended for people with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). The treatment entails moving your head into certain positions, sometimes called the Epley maneuver. These movements encourage the calcium collection to move into a part of the ear where it will be reabsorbed.

Balance rehabilitation - Therapy can help people with vertigo that is caused by injury to the vestibular system (parts of the inner ear and nervous system) which controls balance.

This treatment works by helping your brain to adjust or compensate to changes in the vestibular system.

If you have trouble standing or walking because of vertigo, you are at risk for falling which can lead to more serious accidents.

We offer free screenings. Please call the office to schedule a 15 minute appointment to see if physical therapy can help you.