50% of all DIZZINESS IN OLDER PEOPLE
can be Cured with This Simple Treatment
What is BPPV?
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is dizziness generally thought to be due to debris which has collected within a part of the inner ear.
While it can occur in children, the older you are, the more likely your dizziness is due to BPPV.
Symptoms and Signs
Common symptoms include dizziness or vertigo, lightheadedness, imbalance, and nausea, which can get worse upon standing rather than lying down.The Vertigo is triggered when your head moves, eg: rolling over in bed, getting out of bed, or bending over to pick up something. You may have "bed spins" and prefer to sleep propped up in bed. You may feel dizzy and unsteady when you tip you head back to look up. The use of shampoo bowls in beauty parlors can bring on symptoms as can a yoga posture called the "down dog", or Pilates.
Acute vertigo can last anywhere from a few seconds to minutes. Episodes tend to peak in the morning and abate throughout the day. Nausea and vomiting may occur, but hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) do not.
Causes
The most common cause of BPPV in people under age 50 is head injury. It also has a strong association with migraines.
In older people, the most common causes are infection, or other disorder of the inner ear, or degenerated because of advanced age. Occasionally BPPV follows surgery, including dental work, where the cause is felt to be a combination of a prolonged period of supine positioning, or ear trauma when the surgery is to the inner ear. In half of all cases BPPV occurs for no known reason.
TREATMENT
Dizziness and Positional Vertigo are treatable with the non-invasive, non-drug procedure developed by Dr. John Epley.
Dr. Wintermute is an expert who can make the diagnosis based on her thorough consultation and examination.The Epley Maneuver is an effective cure for the type of dizziness and vertigo that are caused by particles trapped in the "balance tubes" of the inner ear. Treatment involves moving the head through a series of specific sequencial positions while observing the body's cues in a safe environment.
The treatment is very effective, with roughly an 80% cure rate, is usually performed in the doctor's office and takes about 15 minutes to complete.
After treatment, you should be prepared to follow your doctor's instructions, which are aimed at reducing the chance that debris might fall back into the sensitive back part of the ear.
There is about a 30% chance that BPPV can recur in the first year, so in some instances a second treatment may be necessary.
Why Should You See A Physician?
When performing the Epley maneuver, caution is advised should weakness, numbness, visual changes other than vertigo occur. Occasionally such symptoms are caused by compression of the vertebral arteries, and if one persists for a long time, a stroke could occur.
If the exercises are being performed without medical supervision,
we advise stopping the exercises and consulting a physician.
If You Can't Get to the Doctor Right Away:
- Certain modifications in your daily activities may be necessary to cope with your dizziness.
- Use two or more pillows at night.
- Avoid sleeping on the "bad" side.
- In the morning, get up slowly and sit on the edge of the bed for a minute.
- Avoid bending down to pick up things, and extending the head, such as to get something out of a cabinet.
- Be careful when at the dentist's office, the beauty parlor when lying back having ones hair washed, when participating in sports activities and when you are lying flat on your back.
- Motion sickness medications are sometimes helpful in controlling the nausea associated with BPPV but are otherwise rarely beneficial.
- Symptoms tend to wax and wane.
As BPPV can last for much longer than 2 months, it is better to treat it actively and be done with it rather than taking the wait/see approach.
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Vertigo Treatment, Epley Maneuver, Inner Ear Vertigo, Dizziness, Vitiligo, Tinnitus, Motion Sickness, Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, BPPV
