Treatment for Dizziness and BPPV
Table of Contents
Dizziness is common in patients visiting internal medicine departments, accounting for up to 5% of primary care clinic visits. However, diagnostic difficulties can arise because patients use the terms "dizziness" and "vertigo" to describe a wide range of sensations.
Incheon Dizziness/Vertigo
Since "dizziness" is a vague term, when a patient complains of dizziness, the priority should be to listen to a more detailed description of their symptoms. The first thing to distinguish when someone reports dizziness is whether their vision blacks out or if the world is spinning.
Patients may complain of dizziness and difficulty maintaining balance when sitting up, standing, or moving, or a sensation that the sky or ground is moving while walking. Other symptoms include dizziness even when staying still, feeling lightheaded as if about to faint, postural instability, feeling dizzy as if about to fall while walking, or fear described using the term "anxiety."
As dizziness is reported in various forms, we recommend a more thorough examination of its presentation. Dizziness can also be an early symptom of a stroke, so it is necessary to primarily rule out the possibility of a stroke, especially when it appears suddenly. A cautious approach is particularly important in elderly patients who experience sudden-onset dizziness, as it may suggest the possibility of a stroke.
The Most Common Type of Dizziness: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)
The most commonly observed type of dizziness is peripheral vertigo triggered by changes in body position, known as Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). A significant number of cases involve experiencing BPPV. While symptoms often show improvement initially with canalith repositioning maneuvers, recurrence is not uncommon, so caution is advised.
Dix-Hallpike is a highly useful method for both diagnosing and treating BPPV.
In cases where symptoms do not improve well even with canalith repositioning maneuvers, or in various patterns of chronic dizziness such as Meniere's syndrome or vestibular neuritis (which are not BPPV), you can receive help from various traditional Korean medicine treatments.
Conclusion
Today, we briefly summarized BPPV and dizziness.