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Welcome to "Living Healthy Chicago".
I'm Jane Clauss.
We're starting today's show taking a closer look at vertigo.
It's a health challenge that can have a severe impact
on someone's day to day activities.
But the good news is there is help out there
when it comes to management and treatment.
So let's learn more.
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Here to educate us on vertigo is neurologist,
Dr. Ian Katznelson.
Now, Dr. Katznelson, thank you so much
for being here, first of all.
- Absolutely pleasure to be here.
- And if anyone has ever suffered from vertigo,
you know it's this crazy sensation
where the world feels like it's moving around you
when you're just standing sitting or lying still.
Doctor, what is happening with our brains?
- Vertigo isn't necessarily a brain problem.
It can be, but vertigo really is just a symptom
of spinning or motion, as you say, and it can come from
the inner ear as well as the brain.
Trying to distinguish between those
two possibilities is sort of a starting point
when we evaluate someone with vertigo.
- Is vertigo an illness that you've been diagnosed with
or is it a symptom of something else?
- Vertigo is really a symptom
and there are many other illnesses
or conditions that underlie that symptom.
If you had vertigo caused by a stroke,
then the vertigo be related to, for example,
a loss of blood supply to a certain part of the brain.
Some people can actually have vertigo with their migraines.
There's a condition that's called
benign positional vertigo, which is very common.
And it is a problem where the crystals
inside your semicircular canals,
which are part of the inner ear,
can come loose for really
just about any reason unpredictably.
And when needs crystals come loose,
they irritate little cells inside those canals
and the irritation of those cells is what leads
to this feeling of being off balance.
Another cause that's a little less common
is something that we call vestibular neuritis,
and is not greatly understood
but may represent a viral infection of the inner ear.
- If somebody is experiencing vertigo,
how do you figure out if it's related to the brain
or if it's related to the inner ear?
- The most seasoned clinician,
that can be extremely difficult.
Sometimes with a grain related vertigo,
the vertigo is perhaps less profound, less severe.
That's a generalization.
Certainly with brain problems,
you may see other symptoms that tell you
there's a problem in the brain.
So for example, speech problems,
vision problems, problems with the limbs.
- Is vertigo something that can happen
or higher risk of as we age?
- I would say so.
Just because many of the common causes of vertigo
do occur in that older population,
but it really can occur in anybody.
- If somebody is feeling dizzy,
what's the first thing they should do?
- The first thing they should really do
is reach out to their physician or other practitioner
and review those symptoms with them.
I would tell you that there are some definite warning signs
though that that might indicate an emergency condition
where you should really just dial nine one one.
And any time you have vertigo associated
with other neurological symptoms,
like changes in your speech or your vision,
changes in your strength or your sensation.
That's a definite indicator
that there might be an emergency.
- So can we be hopeful that there is treatment
and that vertigo is manageable?
- Absolutely.
I think with the proper diagnosis and evaluation,
that is true.
- Diagnosis is key.
Thank you, Dr. Katznelson, great information.
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