Dizziness

Epidemiology: There is no racial predilection exists for the causes of dizziness. Men and women are affected differently by different causes of CNS vertigo. Vestibular migraine, for example, shows a predilection for women. Younger population groups are more commonly affected by migraine headaches and multiple sclerosis (MS). Cerebellar tumors affect a bimodal population of children and adults. CPA tumors typically affect people in the fifth to eighth decades of life.

Symptoms: Symptoms usually vary from person to person. A false sense of motion or spinning, Light-headedness or feeling faint, Unsteadiness or a loss of balance, A feeling of floating, wooziness or heavy-headedness are the most common symptoms seen.

Pathophysiology: Vertigo commonly called dizziness is a symptom of illusory movement. Usually everyone will be experiencing vertigo as the transient spinning dizziness immediately after turning around rapidly several times. Vertigo can also be a sense of swaying or tilting. Some perceive self-motion whereas others perceive motion of the environment. Vertigo is a symptom, not a diagnosis. It arises because of asymmetry in the vestibular system due to damage to or dysfunction of the labyrinth, vestibular nerve, or central vestibular structures in the brainstem. The end organs of the vestibular system, the semi-circular canals and the otolith organs, sense angular and linear motion, respectively. As a result, a patient's description of a spinning sensation is likely to indicate an abnormality of the semi-circular canals or the central nervous system structures that process signals from the semi-circular canals. Similarly, an illusory sensation of floating or tilting may indicate an otolith system disorder.