However, more serious bouts of dizziness may be the result or symptom of a balance disorder.īalance disorders refer to a range of conditions that cause symptoms of dizziness, including feeling like you’re floating, spinning or moving even while remaining still. Dizziness can occur as a result of normal daily activities, such as standing up too quickly. When people are dizzy, they may feel as if they’re spinning or floating. “But feeling dizzy isn’t a normal part of aging.Dizziness is a sensation of unsteadiness or spinning. “Sometimes, health care providers say, ‘You’re just getting older,’” said Courtney Hall, a researcher and physical therapist at James H. Frustrated specialists believe that tens of thousands of older adults endure its miseries without learning that there’s a safe, accepted, low-cost way to make the world stop twirling around them. Some medical professionals clearly don’t know about it - or even recognize B.P.P.V. The Epley itself has only been widely practiced for about 20 years. Foster’s initial trial with 68 patients using it at home showed that the half somersault was as effective as a self-administered Epley, but it’s still so new that studies replicating her results haven’t been published. Amberger found it online and reports that “it works stunningly well.”ĭr. Foster has developed an additional maneuver for home use, called t he half-somersault, that is done kneeling on the floor. “I was willing to try anything,” she said.ĭr. She drove 65 miles to a hospital that offered it. Larson was experiencing vertigo again and happened to read a newspaper article about the Epley maneuver. She had taken anti-nausea drugs for years after her first bout of B.P.P.V. “It was amazing,” said Ora Larson, 76, who lives in St. Usually, however, they’re startled to find that the spinning has stopped. The treatment can bring on vertigo in itself, and patients sometimes report feeling a bit off-balance for a day or two afterward. Practitioners sometimes must repeat the maneuver or use related ones. Gravity allows the inner ear crystals that have shifted to float back into place. The process is quick, generally taking less than five minutes. The Epley maneuver also involves turning your head in several positions while you’re sitting, then lying on your side. The therapist first confirms the benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (there are many other kinds) by turning your head from one side to another while looking for a characteristic eye movement called nystagmus. Foster, who has performed the maneuver thousands of times. “This is a simple mechanical disorder,” said Dr. What does stop it, an estimated 90 percent of the time, is canalith repositioning, also known as the Epley maneuver, after the Oregon ear surgeon who devised it in 1980. On average, patients with this disorder have already visited five other physicians before they arrive at Emory’s Dizziness and Balance Center, Dr. Some patients come in feeling so unsteady that they are holding onto walls and furniture, or even using a wheelchair. Susan Herdman, professor emerita of rehabilitation medicine at Emory University. If the vertigo persists, “it can be very debilitating,” said Dr. They were also more likely to have received a depression diagnosis. Though the vertigo itself isn’t dangerous, the Baylor study found that patients who had it were more likely to fall, which can cause serious injuries, and were less able to handle daily activities like bathing and dressing. Balance experts think it is even more widespread. Oghalai and his colleagues evaluated 100 patients who came to a geriatrics clinic at Baylor College of Medicine over two weeks, none of whom had previously reported dizziness, they found that 9 percent had undiagnosed B.P.P.V. That also makes it difficult to calculate how many people suffer from vertigo, since some never seek treatment or get a correct diagnosis if they do. Mercifully, the dizziness often resolves on its own within a few days or a couple of weeks. Carol Foster, an otolaryngologist who directs the Balance Laboratory at the University of Colorado Hospital. “Like an old Post-it note, after 60 or 70 years the stickiness wears off,” said Dr. This kind of vertigo occurs more frequently in older adults, apparently because the protein coating that holds the crystals in place weakens with age.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |