A Guide to Vertigo

Your inner ears and their communication with your brain play a crucial role in your brain understanding your body's position, orientation, and movement. If something is wrong with your inner ears, nerves, or brain, it could cause a condition known as vertigo. Vertigo typically causes symptoms like motion sickness, dizziness, and nausea. If you have these symptoms, a visit to an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor should be one of your first steps in dealing with vertigo. Read on to learn more about vertigo, symptoms, and treatments.

What Exactly is Vertigo?

Vertigo is essentially a medical issue that causes your brain to incorrectly determine your body's motions and position. Symptoms can happen all of sudden, without warning, and go disappear suddenly as well. Vertigo symptoms often appear after head movements or after you've been lying down.

What are the Symptoms of Vertigo?

Symptoms of vertigo commonly include the following:

  • Feeling of dizziness
  • Motion sickness
  • Nausea
  • Headaches
  • Feeling of pressure in your ears
  • Exhaustion, both physically or emotionally
  • Anxiety or panic attacks
  • Changes to your hearing abilities
  • Ringing noise in your ears (tinnitus)

What Causes Vertigo?

About 90 percent of vertigo cases are caused by a problem within your inner ear, and are referred to as peripheral vertigo. Peripheral vertigo can be caused by calcium formations that have built up within your ear canals, inflammation, or a disease known as Meniere's disease.

The other 10 percent of vertigo cases are caused by a problem within the brain, and are referred to as central vertigo. Central vertigo can be caused by medical conditions such as a stroke, headaches, brain tumors, or multiple sclerosis.

Can Vertigo be Treated or Cured?

There are treatments for vertigo, however, the exact treatment method for vertigo will depend on the underlying cause. Your ENT doctor will normally perform an examination, a series of head and body movement tests, and possibly a CT scan or MRI to diagnose the underlying cause of your vertigo.

Treatment for your specific vertigo may include your ENT doctor performing multiple guided movements to dislodge the calcium formations within your inner ear. It can also simply include bedrest or medications such as antihistamines, antiemetics, or benzodiazepines. Surgery may also be necessary to drain fluid from the inner ear that is causing an infection or surgery to remove a tumor.

What Should you do if you have Symptoms of Vertigo?

If you think you might have symptoms of vertigo, then it's recommended you reach out to an ENT doctor. As experts in the ear, your ENT can help you to diagnose your vertigo and get you the treatment and relief that you need.


All information provided on this website is for information purposes only. Please see a healthcare professional for medical advice. If you are seeking this information in an emergency situation, please call 911 and seek emergency help.

All materials copyright © 2024 VoxMD.com, All Rights Reserved.