Najeeb A. Al-Ani, MD, EBE-ORL, DOHNS, F.UPMC, JMC Associate Consultant, Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery International Medical Center, Jeddah Most of us take our sense of balance for granted; in fact dizziness and vertigo are among the most common symptoms causing people to seek medical help. The major difference between faint and vertigo is that in case of faint the people lose consciousness and strength while vertigo is a kind of dizziness that makes people feel like everything is spinning around or moving when there is no actual movement. Many people may have vertigo while standing, walking or lying down, and they usually feel lightheaded at the same time. However, Repeated vertigo attacks could possibly be a sign of various medical conditions that are not always easy to diagnose. Vertigo happens when tiny calcium particles clump up in canals of the inner ear causing disruptions in the inner ear signals sent to the brain about head and body movements. This case is called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), and it is treated by performing an office based exercises that enable doctors to send back the particles to its original place where they won't cause dizziness. It can occur for no known reason and may be associated with age or head trauma Another disease causing inner ear dizziness called Meniere's disease, and it is caused by disruption in the inner ear fluids which are responsible for body balance and also symptoms such as tinnitus (buzzing in the ears), fullness in the ear, severe dizziness attacks accompanied with nausea and vomiting. These conditions can be treated by changing the diet and medications whether it is taken by mouth or injected inside the middle ear cavity. There are many other reasons causing dizziness and vertigo such as migraine, neck disorders and orthostatic hypotension and for sure old people and their tendency and high risk to fall, all dizziness caused by the previous mentioned causes are treated by fixing the original problems and sometime vestibular rehabilitation. In a general sense, vertigo can be cured by treating the symptoms. But, if it prevents people from their daily activities or it caused chest pain, breathing difficulty then going to the emergency room is necessary. Surgery is only recommended when medication fails to treat.
