Vertigo is commonly called as giddiness. It is a whirling sensation where the person feels that either his surroundings are going round him or he himself is rotating. It is experienced by many people without any other symptoms associated with it.
But most of us are unaware about what are the causes of vertigo. Read on to get a better idea about this disease.Vertigo or giddiness is a disturbance of the sense of equilibrium and movements.
It varies from a sense of mild imbalance or dizziness to severe vertigo accompanied by nausea and vomiting. There is wide range of causes of vertigo which are as follows. Wax in the ear or a boil in the external ear can cause vertigo due to stimulation of auricular nerve. But these are rare causes.
Infection from the throat can reach the Eustachian tube and create negative pressure in the middle ear. This pressure is transmitted to the inner ear which can cause giddiness. The inner ear contains semicircular canals and the labyrinth. Any dysfunction in this apparatus is responsible for giddiness. Head injuries with fracture of bones near the ear involving the labyrinth can cause vertigo.
Any trauma to the ear while performing ear surgeries can cause giddiness. Very loud sound can result in acoustic trauma and can cause vertigo. Infection of the labyrinth known as labyrinthitis caused due to middle ear bacterial infection is also responsible for vertigo. More serious causes are thrombosis of the blood vessels supplying the inner ear, meniere’s disease, tumour such as acoustic neuroma. Drugs like streptomycin which are toxic to the ear can also cause vertigo.
Motion sickness with giddiness is due to a hypersensitive labyrinth. Cardiovascular diseases like hypertension with atherosclerotic changes reduce blood supply to the labyrinth and the brain leading to vertigo. Reduced blood pressure and decreased blood sugar levels are common causes of vertigo.
Metabolic disorders like diabetes and hypothyroidism can cause vertigo. Diabetes causes inflammation of the eighth nerve related to the ear resulting in vertigo. Low oxygen supply to labyrinth and brain due to reduced haemoglobin in anaemia can cause vertigo. Cervical spondylosis is another disease in which vertigo is common symptom. So do not neglect vertigo and get yourself examined by a physician.