What Is Vertigo?

Vertigo is a sudden headache accompanied by a sense of dizziness and whirling, resulting in the loss of balance and difficulty to stand up. Commonly it comes along with nausea, vomiting, and sweating. Sometimes it may be associated with nystagmus. These disorders might occur temporarily, but can also persist for hours, even days. People suffering from vertigo sometimes feel better after a lie-down. However, the pain can still continue even though they make no movement.

Most cases of vertigo are caused by the problems in the inner ear, yet it might occur from the disorders in the central brain and the ocular balance system. A complicated network between different body parts is required to acquire balance. The brain, as the central controller, must constantly transmit the information to the both eyes, muscles, nerves, and inner ears. The body parts coordinate each other so that someone can stand up straight and move steadily.

Commonly, vertigo is a symptom caused by the disorders in the balance mechanism in the inner ears, rather than a disease. It can even happen to healthy people when they are having a sea trip (seasick), getting on a carousel, or watching fast-moving film scenes, but it is normal and only lasts for a short period of time.

Another kind of vertigo occurs from specific changes in the position of the head. This one is called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), a sudden disorder that lasts in less than a minute. It is commonly triggered by quick head movements like those happening when waking up, turning the head at the moment of shaking, lying down, getting up from or rolling about on the bed, or looking back. This one is classified into severe vertigo, yet it is not dangerous and will commonly disappear within weeks or months. It is not accompanied by hearing disorders or ringing in ears.

What are the causes?

- Vestibular vertigo, also called spinning vertigo, true vertigo, or peripheral vertigo, accompanied by peripheral and central vestibular dysfunctions.

This is the most common vertigo, which is triggered by the disorders in the balance mechanism in the inner ears as the result of the following diseases: labyrinthitis (the inner ear infection), vestibular neuronitis, BPPV, and Meniere.

- Non-vestibular vertigo (non-spinning vertigo),

also called central vertigo, with visual and proprioceptive dysfunctions. The potential cause is the disorder in the cerebellum, which is located under the cerebrum, the so-called brain stem (the lower part of the brain connected to the spinal cord). Other causes are migraine, multiple sclerosis, stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), the use of certain drugs, and brain tumors, both the one in the cerebellum and the benign tumor in the auditory nerve. The symptom of the central vertigo is not as severe as the peripheral vertigo, yet more dangerous for the causes might originate from the brain, such as blood vessel disorder (stroke), tumor, and brain infection.