Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is the most common type of vertigo, especially in the elderly, and it is characterized by the onset of dizziness at times such as getting out of bed, turning over in sleep or looking up quickly, for example.
In vertigo, small calcium crystals that are present inside the inner ear are dispersed, floating, and are positioned in the wrong place, causing this feeling that the world is rotating, causing imbalance. But the use of a special maneuver may be enough to permanently cure dizziness, by repositioning these crystals in their correct place, eliminating vertigo permanently.
How to Recognize Symptoms
The symptoms are rotational vertigo, which is the dizziness and sensation of everything being rotating around you, when performing fast movements such as:
- Getting out of bed in the morning; Laying and turning in bed while sleeping; Turn your head back, extending your neck to look up, and then look down; Standing, rotating dizziness can arise with sudden movements, which can even cause a fall.
The feeling of dizziness is usually quick and lasts less than 1 minute, but in some cases it can persist for several episodes over weeks or months, impairing the day-to-day and making daily tasks more difficult.
Some people can identify which way the rotation of the head is capable of triggering dizziness, but the diagnosis is made by the general practitioner, geriatrician or neurologist when performing maneuvers in the office that cause dizziness, not requiring specific exams.
What is the treatment to cure
The treatment must be indicated by the doctor and usually includes physiotherapy, where specific maneuvers are performed to reposition the calcium crystals inside the inner ear.
The maneuver to be performed depends on the side on which the inner ear is affected and whether the crystals are positioned in the anterior, lateral or posterior semicircular canal. In 80% of the time the crystals are in the posterior semicircular canal, and Epley's maneuver, which consists of extending the head backwards, followed by lateralization and rotation of the head, may be enough to stop vertigo immediately. Check the step by step of this maneuver here.
The maneuver is performed only once, but sometimes it is necessary to repeat the treatment with that same maneuver 1 week or after 15 days. But performing this maneuver only once has almost a 90% chance of curing this type of vertigo.
Medications are not always necessary, but the doctor may indicate labyrinthine sedatives, and very rarely surgery may be indicated, when there is no improvement in symptoms with maneuvers, exercises or medication, but this is risky because it can damage the ear.
Watch the following video and see exercises that can help:
