1. Does every dizziness mean vertigo?
Vertigo; It comes from the Latin verb "to turn" and is called dizziness that occurs due to the problem in the balance system. Vertigo is a disorder that causes the feeling that surrounding objects are moving and the world is rotating.
Dizziness, which affects millions of people of all ages, is an important symptom that negatively affects human life. There are dozens of diseases that cause dizziness and originate from the nervous system, especially the inner ear. Vertigo is a symptom but not a disease, and it is extremely important to understand the underlying disease correctly and treat it appropriately in its treatment.
Dizziness is described very differently by patients. While the feeling of the environment spinning around the person is perceived as real dizziness, descriptions such as feeling of light-headedness, the feeling of the ground shifting under the feet, and the feeling of walking on air are common. In fact, each of these means something to us. The symptom that cannot be clearly defined in Turkish but is described as "dizziness" in English can meet these needs. Dizziness may occasionally be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, sweating, tinnitus, hearing loss, feeling of fullness in the ear, visual impairment, weakness, loss of strength and numbness. All these symptoms can cause major problems that can turn the patient's life upside down.
The loss of visual clarity is a very important finding here. Eyes are the mirror of the balance system. Balance disorders are always diagnosed by analyzing eye movements. Especially in diseases originating from the inner ear and its extensions, the person's clear vision is impaired. A person with inner ear balance disease cannot read a newspaper while walking on the road.
2. What are the symptoms and risk factors of vertigo? What are the foods and behaviors that trigger vertigo?
Sudden blood pressure changes, apart from inner ear and nerve diseases, can be effective in causing vertigo (dizziness) symptoms. The patient with dizziness usually firstly experiences the panic of "Is there something wrong with my brain?" The balance problems that occur as a result of diseases that cause dizziness are greater. It is a problem.
Vertigo is of two types: peripheral and central. Peripheral vertigo, as the name suggests, is dizziness caused by inner ear diseases. There are many diseases of the inner ear that cause dizziness. The most common of these is positional. In other words, dizziness is triggered by head position. This situation is also known as "crystal movement" among the public. Patients say that this dizziness can wake them up at night. Momentary rotations lasting 5-10 seconds may occur. Patients state that certain positions especially increase dizziness. Very slight head movements; Actions such as looking up and down, bending over, turning left or right in bed may cause short-term dizziness.
Vertigo may also be accompanied by tinnitus and nausea.
>
Vertigo can also be a sign of nerve diseases, and may also be accompanied by difficulty speaking, headache, and loss of consciousness. Especially when the person loses contact with his/her environment during dizziness, it first makes one think of brainstem vascular diseases.
In Meniere's disease, dizziness does not last a short time. Meniere's disease; It is caused by the increase in pressure of the fluid called endolymph in the balance channels of the ear. A very severe vertigo is seen in Meniere's disease. Vertigo occurs in attacks. In patients, dizziness is accompanied by complaints of nausea and vomiting. Hearing loss and tinnitus are important symptoms of the disease.
Although dizziness is not directly related to the foods consumed, some diseases that cause dizziness (for example, Meniere's), salt, cola, etc. It can be affected by substances such as drinks and coffee, and the dizziness it creates can be triggered. Likewise, consumer substances such as coffee and wine become triggers for dizziness associated with migraine disease. You should drink plenty of water to maintain water and salt balance. It is important to stay away from drinks such as tea and coffee. Such drinks can cause an increase in fluid in the inner ear.
3. Can it be seen at all ages, which age group does it particularly affect?
Vertigo can occur at any age. While even young children cannot express the feeling of dizziness, this is evidenced by their feet tripping over each other while walking and frequently falling. Migraine-type factors frequently manifest themselves in childhood dizziness. Motion sickness is a very important parameter. Adult dizziness is attributed to different causes according to age ranges. While causes such as positional, migraine type, psychogenic and Meniere's are frequently seen in middle ages; In older ages, positional and inner ear brainstem blood supply problems may cause these symptoms. . When the frequency of occurrence in male and female patients is examined, it has been determined that it is more common in women. This is mostly related to dizziness caused by migraine.
4. Which professions are unsafe for vertigo patients to do?
People with vertigo problems should not do jobs that require careful attention or dangerous work. People with severe dizziness and balance disorders have their driver's licenses confiscated in western society. There are similar articles in our laws and regulations.
5. Is it confused with other diseases? What is the level of knowledge and awareness in society?
Circulatory disorders are among the common causes of dizziness. If your brain doesn't get enough blood, you start to feel dizzy. Almost everyone has felt it several times when they suddenly stand up while lying down, but some people complain of dizziness due to frequent or chronic reasons. Dizziness may occur in people whose blood pressure is unstable. Sometimes there may be some disturbances in circulation due to stress, anger or tension. Malnutrition of the inner ear also causes similar symptoms. The inner ear is very sensitive to changes in blood circulation. Therefore, all of the poor blood circulation conditions mentioned for the brain also apply to the inner ear.
After a fracture in the skull that also damages the inner ear, nausea and hearing loss accompanied by extremely restrictive vertigo loss develops. Dizziness is a thing hungry lasts weeks. During this period, the normal side gradually takes over the functions of the opposite side. These patients develop balance problems that last for months. Treatment of balance problems is different from dizziness. It takes a long time and requires patience.
Viruses, such as those that cause colds, can affect the inner ear and its nerve connections with the brain. While this causes severe dizziness, hearing is generally not affected since only the balance nerve is affected.
On the other hand, infections affecting the inner ear that occur as a result of bacteria directly affecting the inner ear (diseases transmitted from the middle ear are generally freezing) It causes deterioration of both balance and hearing functions. The severity of dizziness and recovery time are the same as in fractures.
In some cases, hypersensitivity may develop in the person's own tissue. In such a case, the body alienates its own tissue and tries to remove it. This group of diseases is called “autoimmune”. The cellular reactions that occur in such a situation disrupt the functioning of that organ and bankrupt it. Serious and long-lasting dizziness and balance problems occur.
Diseases that affect the nervous system, such as Multiple Sclerosis, syphilis, and tumor, also cause imbalance.
Drugs used in the treatment of some diseases may have toxic effects on the inner ear and disrupt the balance system. This situation creates extremely dangerous consequences. Because the balance system that is disrupted in this way enters an irreversible process. If there is an alternative, the given medication should be discontinued immediately and alternatives should be started.
We see that many people are able to discontinue the treatment they receive because the dizziness decreases situationally or disappears for a short time. It is only possible for you to live a comfortable life with vertigo if you do not neglect your treatment and remove the factors that trigger vertigo from your life.
6. How is it treated? Will it cure completely? Is there a risk of recurrence?
In order to control the diseases that cause dizziness, the correct diagnosis must first be made. Drug treatment, various introductions These diseases can be controlled with surgical methods (including surgery) and exercises. If the problem is imbalance, many different treatment methods come into play. It is the process of re-teaching the brain the process of staying in balance through certain balance exercises, the main of which is vestibular rehabilitation. This requires special infrastructure and expertise. In cases where this treatment is not sufficient, balance implants are placed in the inner ear, just like the bionic ear applied to hearing impaired people.
The main purpose of the treatment is to find the disease that causes vertigo and control this disease. The most common type of dizziness is positional vertigo. This condition, popularly known as the movement of crystals, is treated with maneuvers.
Dizziness due to migraine is among the most common. This group of patients is treated just like migraine.
The treatment of Meniere's disease is primarily with medication. In cases where medication is not sufficient, drug injections into the ear and surgeries are performed.
Antidepressant medications are preferred in psychogenic vertigo, which is also frequently encountered. Vestibular rehabilitation also has a place in this group of patients.
In fact, fear of heights, vehicle and sea sickness are also related to inner ear balance system disorders. In this group of patients, medications only provide temporary solutions. Recently, virtual reality models have made significant progress in the permanent treatment of this group of patients.
Sometimes brainstem and inner ear tumors can be the cause of dizziness. In this case, surgeries come to the fore. Recently, radiation treatments known as “gamma knife” can also be applied for this group of tumors.
7. Did pandemic stress trigger vertigo?
We can say that the stress and anxiety caused by Covid-19 triggered vertigo and increased its incidence. We observe that increased working hours, insomnia, intense anxiety and stress due to the pandemic cause a significant increase in vertigo cases.
8. What causes vertigo? What are the psychological effects of the decrease in quality of life?
Vertigo is a symptom
Read: 0
