Recognizing Common Symptoms of Otolithiasis

Dizziness and headache are common clinical symptoms. Some of the diseases that cause dizziness and headache cannot be cured, while there is a special group of patients with dizziness for whom the disease that causes the onset of symptoms can be cured. This disease is often mistaken by patients and even some clinicians as cervical spondylosis, air-conditioning disease, Meniere’s disease, cerebral insufficiency of blood supply, etc., but in fact this is a special disease called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), commonly known as otolithiasis, the incidence of which accounts for 17-52.5% of the diseases that cause vertigo, and is more common in females, with the main clinical manifestations of recurrent transient episodes of vertigo associated with a change in the position of the head, accompanied by characteristic nystagmus. The main clinical manifestations are recurrent episodes of transient vertigo, associated with changes in head position, accompanied by characteristic nystagmus. In addition to transient vertigo, BPPV attacks may be accompanied by a feeling of vacillation, tilting, falling, spinning, tilting or swaying of the visual field, and may be accompanied by cold sweats, panic, nausea, vomiting and other undesirable experiences. The human inner ear consists of the hearing organ and the semicircular canals, which control the sensation of variable-speed movement in humans. In the event of head trauma, previous Meniere’s disease, vestibular neuronitis, history of osteoporosis, oral calcium tablets, or even for unknown reasons, tiny stones can develop in the semicircular canals. These otoliths can become dislodged and roll around in the semicircular canals as the position of the person’s body or head changes, triggering a feeling of vertigo either immediately or for an extreme period of time. When the position stops changing, the otoliths are fixed and the vertigo disappears for a short period of time; it reappears when the movement is resumed. Therefore, vertigo attacks in patients with BPPV are characterized by 5 main features: episodic, transient, shifting position, latency and fatigue. BPPV can be cured. Patients suspected of having BPPV need to be seen by a doctor, who will give them a special provocation test according to their condition. Based on the special nystagmus that occurs when the patient is in different positions, the doctor will determine which semicircular canals are producing the otoliths that are dislodged from the otoliths and rolled out. Based on this judgment, the patient is then given special maneuvers to turn the body and head, which ultimately return the otolith to its original position and embedding, significantly improving the symptomatic episodes. However, on the other hand, manipulative repositioning treatment can lead to a certain recurrence rate in patients with BPPV, as the otoliths will dislodge and roll again. Over 1 year of treatment, 7 to 23% of patients will recur, 50% will recur in the long term, and the remaining 50% will be cured for life. Thankfully, patients who relapse are still able to significantly improve their symptomatic episodes when treated again with manipulative repositioning.