-What is Vertigo?
Vertigo; It literally means dizziness and is an illusion of movement.
When dizziness is mentioned, all kinds of problems in maintaining the patient's balance are understood. This
situation can range from being so severe that the patient falls to the bed and cannot even open his eyes, to only occasionally
a feeling of slipping. It may even appear as just a black eye.
-What kind of complaints are felt?
Complaints may vary depending on the cause of vertigo. Explanations such as "Everywhere is spinning, the ground is slipping under my feet, I'm slipping to one side, my head is getting empty, my eyes are getting dark" are often heard. When vertigo is very severe, patients may also experience symptoms such as jumping movements in the eyes, nausea and vomiting, and the inability to stand. Dizziness due to ear diseases may be accompanied by complaints such as tinnitus, hearing loss, feeling of pressure in the ear, nausea-
vomiting, and ear discharge. Dizziness due to neurological diseases may cause headache, numbness, paralysis, and abnormal eye movements. Other complaints that may be present with vertigo may vary widely. However, many patients have only dizziness
.
-What are the Causes of Vertigo?
Vertigo is divided into two as peripheral and central vertigo according to the structures from which it originates. Peripheral
p>The cause of vertigo is the inner ear and balance organs. If the cause of vertigo is the balance centers in the brain, this type of vertigo is called central vertigo. Central
vertigo is accompanied by some additional neurological findings such as speech disorders, double vision, and swallowing disorder
. Severe balance disorder is often present.
Vertigo may occur in the development of a tumor in the brainstem-cerebellum junction area.
Because there is a balance nerve in this region and it occurs as a result of the tumor pressing on this nerve.
It may occur.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease.
Heart diseases.
Severe anemia.
Metabolic disorders.
Deterioration and calcification in the neck bones can also cause vertigo by compressing the vessels that feed the brainstem and cerebellum
p>
The elderly and those with many diseases (especially diabetes)
Inner ear involvement after URTI (upper respiratory tract infections).
Spread of chronic middle ear infections to the inner ear ( labyrinthitis)
Meningitis or other febrile diseases affecting the inner ear.
Tumoral diseases in the inner ear or inner ear nerve.
Meniere's disease: It is a disorder related to the inner ear. The disease occurs with an increase in endolymphatic fluid in the inner ear (endolymphatic hydrops). It is a type of peripheral vertigo that lasts longer than a few minutes and shows severe dizziness, severe ringing in one or both ears, feeling of fullness in the ear, imbalance, nausea and vomiting.
Complaints of ringing in the ears may gradually progress to inability to hear properly. It occurs at regular intervals, and the patient may be normal in intermediate periods.
Vestibular Neuritis (Inflammation of the nerve that transmits signals related to balance in the inner ear to the brain);
It is one of the most common causes of vertigo. There may or may not be an upper respiratory tract infection some time before the disease. Complaints such as vertigo, imbalance and nausea and vomiting are not accompanied by signs and complaints related to hearing and brainstem. Complaints continue for about 1 week and end with decreasing severity. The complaints are very severe and prevent the patient from working
. Since moving causes dizziness, patients prefer to lie still.
In its treatment, medication use for 1-2 weeks is sufficient
. It is important for the patient to spend the following period without medication in order to ensure the brain's adaptation to vertigo. It is useful to start vestibular rehabilitation early.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV); These are dizziness attacks that usually last less than 1 minute and occur with a certain movement of the head or body (for example, when looking up).
Patients may complain of a slight imbalance in walking when there is no dizziness.
It is the most common cause of dizziness. The probability of occurrence in humans throughout life is 10%.
It may occur after trauma to the ear area. It is popularly known as calcification, stone formation or crystal formation in the inner ear. It is expressed in terms such as namasi. The most effective treatment
is to bring the crystals in the canal back to their original position with various maneuvers.
As can be understood from the above, the majority of the sources of the disease are disorders
related to the ear
p>
-How is Vertigo Treated?
The aim of the treatment when dizziness is severe is to eliminate dizziness,
to prevent nausea and vomiting. Since vomiting frequently accompanies the event in patients, the effectiveness of medications taken orally will be insufficient. For this reason, it is more appropriate for the patient to be hospitalized and treated with drugs administered intravenously. In the patient whose complaints have decreased, the medications should be discontinued as soon as possible and balance exercises should be started. Balance exercises
are very important for the development of compensation. In addition, stress is an important factor that triggers the disease.
- What is Vestibular Rehabilitation?
Vestibular rehabilitation involves getting the patient accustomed to dizziness with repetitive movements, causing dizziness.
It is done to reduce rotation. Depending on the cause, it is possible to reduce the patient's complaints and accelerate recovery with a rehabilitation program. Vestibular
The main components of rehabilitation are vestibulo-ocular exercises and special maneuvers
. These exercises and maneuvers are arranged and applied according to the individual at certain session intervals.
With vestibular rehabilitation, dizziness is reduced, the person feels safe, he/she does not have any problems in actively participating in daily life, falls and injuries are prevented, and anxiety, panic disorder and major problems are prevented by being isolated from the society.
It is aimed to get rid of additional psychological disorders such as depression. For these purposes, in cooperation with ENT
Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation departments, a rehabilitation program suitable for the patient is prepared, certain recommendations are made, and drug use is discontinued as soon as possible. It is aimed to take its place in social life.
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