Vertigo is a subjective sensory disorder in which patients feel rotation or shaking of themselves or their surroundings, often accompanied by objective balance disorders. It is characterized by no impairment of consciousness and is mainly caused by lesions of the vagus, vestibular nerve, brainstem and cerebellum, but also by other systems or systemic diseases.
I. Mechanism
There are various mechanisms of occurrence, and I will list the most common ones below.
1. Meniere’s syndrome: Due to the dysregulation of lymphatic metabolism in the inner ear, excessive lymphatic secretion or absorption disorders, causing water retention in the labyrinth of the inner ear, lymphatic expansion in the inner ear, and elevated pressure, thus causing hypoxia and degeneration of its endings. However, the underlying cause is not yet clear.
2. Labyrinthitis: It is often caused by lesions in the middle ear that trigger the destruction of the bony wall of the labyrinth, and a few are caused by inflammation through bloodstream or lymphatic diffusion.
3. Drug toxicity: Long-term or overdose of a certain drug, one of the side effects of which is damage to the inner ear or vestibule.
4. Motion sickness: The so-called motion sickness, seasickness, etc., which is also caused by mechanical stimulation of the inner ear vestibule or cochlear dysfunction.
5. Insufficient blood supply to the vertebral basilar artery.
Classification
Specifically, vertigo can be divided into two categories.
1. Peripheral vertigo (otologic vertigo)
That is, the five major types of diseases described in the pathogenesis.
2. Central vertigo (cerebral vertigo)
①Intracranial vascular lesions: hypertensive encephalopathy due to poor control of long-term hypertension, cerebral hemorrhage, old cerebral infarction, cerebral atherosclerosis, etc.
(2) Intracranial occupying lesions: auditory neuroma, cerebellar tumor, etc.
③Intracranial infectious diseases: arachnoiditis, etc.
④Intracranial demyelinating diseases and degenerative diseases: multiple sclerosis, medullary cavernous disease, etc.
Other causes of vertigo: cardiovascular diseases: hypotension, hypertension, atrioventricular block, etc.; toxic: acute febrile diseases, uremia, severe liver disease, diabetes, etc.; ophthalmogenic: refractive error, ocular muscle paralysis, etc.; after head and cervical spine trauma.
Treatment
At present, the treatment of such diseases is only symptomatic. The key to treatment lies in timely and accurate grasp of the root cause of the disease, which is commonly referred to as the root cause of the disease. Each of these diseases has its own characteristics at the time of onset.
Diagnosis At present, many patients ask me about the treatment of vertigo. It is recommended that patients should give a complete medical history, not only about vertigo but also about other medical history: such as the presence of diabetes, head and neck trauma, hypertension, etc.; because the diagnosis of physicians is often made only after a comprehensive and detailed grasp of the patient’s condition. In addition, patients who have undergone some auxiliary tests should upload the information of your test results.
IV. Outlook
In conclusion, the causes of vertigo are many and complicated; however, we believe that these diseases will be overcome by our joint efforts.