Vertigo symptoms can be intense, causing you to feel dizzy or lightheaded. They may last for hours or days before clearing up.
The best way to treat vertigo is to find out the cause of it. This helps your doctor decide the best treatment.
Inner ear problems are the most common cause of vertigo, although it can be caused by an injury or infection. A GP can check your balance and if you have an ear problem, they might recommend a specialist ENT (ear, nose and throat) consultant.
You might also need tests to help your GP diagnose what’s wrong with you. These could be as simple as getting you to sit down and stand up quickly to see how your balance is affected or they might include more specialised tests such as a head CT or MRI scan.
Some people with vertigo have other symptoms as well, such as a fear of heights and nausea. You might want to ask your GP about these, as well as about any other medical conditions that you have, so they can make sure nothing is wrong and treat it as appropriate.
There are a number of different treatments for vertigo, including medication, special exercises and surgery. You can talk to your GP about which ones are right for you, but they all usually work by helping you learn how to use your other senses.
Finding out what’s causing your vertigo is the first step to treating it, so your GP will run a series of tests to rule out other potential causes. This includes a heart, neurological, head/neck and ear exam. Blood tests and an ECG are also sometimes required, but these are rarely needed unless the GP suspects that something else is causing your vertigo, such as a stroke or multiple sclerosis.
Your GP may prescribe medication, like diuretics, to stop you feeling dehydrated and can also give you special exercises to help you improve your balance. They may teach you to do a set of movements, called the Epley manoeuvre, or the Brandt-Daroff exercises. These can be done at home, or you may need a therapist to do them with you.
You might get a referral to a specialist if your vertigo symptoms are severe or they happen regularly. This is likely to be an ENT specialist who will do some tests to identify what’s causing your vertigo and recommend the best treatment for you.
The most common form of vertigo is peripheral or positional vertigo, which happens when small crystals float in the fluid inside your ear. These crystals are part of your inner ear’s balance system.
Some people with peripheral vertigo have a condition called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). This is caused by small crystals that clump together and then fall into the fluid in your ear, which can cause a short episode of spinning. BPPV is most common in older people, and it can be treated with a simple procedure called the Epley manoeuvre, which can help to prevent recurrences.
