Vertigo - what causes and cures it? what is vertigo? why would one suffer from it, and how can it be managed?

Vertigo : Vertigo is a word that is often confused. Many people use it interchangeably with "dizziness" so it is important to know what you mean. Sometimes people mean getting light-headed, like when you stand up too fast and feel faint. Other times people mean they have trouble keeping their balance because their coordination is disrupted. Both of those examples are not vertigo. True vertigo is the sensation that your body is spinning. Anyone can give themselves vertigo by spinning around very fast and then stopping, like on a playground toy. Under normal circumstances, the "balance" signal comes from the semicircular canals, through the vestibular nerve, and into the brainstem and cerebellum. It is your body's way of knowing if you are spinning so you can compensate. Some people get vertigo for no apparent reason. This happens when some part of that circuit is disrupted. One type that is quite common is for tiny crystals in your semicircular canals to float around and trick the nerves. This is called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, and the spinning feeling lasts a few moments, usually provoked by turning over in the bed or something like that. It can be fixed by doing the dix-hallpike maneuver, which is really just a fancy way of rolling around to put the crystals back in place. Other types of vertigo arise from anything that is affecting that circuit: canals, nerve, brainstem, cerebellum. This can be an infection, inflammation, a stroke, a tumor...Many things. The trick is determining whether it is something bad or just a nuisance. For people that have had vertigo for years, it's usually just a nuisance and nothing to worry about. But if it is a new symptom, you should see a doctor to make sure it's nothing to worry about.

Sense of Motion: True vertigo is the sensation that the surrounding environment is moving or spinning. There are numerous causes of vertigo ranging from mechanical causes like trauma, to issues with the balance parts if the brain like the cerebellum, to problems with the balance organs if the inner ear, to finally problems with the eight cranial nerve (vestibular n). See an ENT doctor or neurologist for an eval.