| Show Inner ear disease is a common health common health T- T I I Kathryn S. S Smith Editor Feature LOSE your eyes and imagine imagine imagine im im- im- im C CLOSE agine if you will that you are asleep The alarm starts blaring at you you sit up to turn it down Suddenly you become dizzy nauseous and your vision starts to blur body goes limp you haphazardly collapse back into your pillow the room starts to spin and your ears start ringing When you finally feel you want to make the walk down the hall hail to the bathroom you stagger bumping off the walls Your eye hand and foot coordination tion feel out of sync When this happened to tome tome tome me three months ago I felt as asif asif asif if I were drunk However I have not had alcohol for quite a long time so I knew that was not the case At first firstI I thought I had an unusual flu Two days later the doctor diagnosed my problem as ver ver- Doctor Docto Bruce H. H Dobkin M. M MD M.D. I states state I The dis disorder often begins in the system within the bone behind behind behind be be- hind the ear drum Next to the cochlea the organ for hearing are the labyrinths three fI fluid filled circular canals that act at like gyroscopes along three different planes or three dimensions of space The gyroscopes help the brain Dobkin said Vertigo is one of the most common common cornmon com corn mon complaints brought to family physicians neurologists and ear- ear nose-and nose throat specialists keep you balanced Nerve receptors in the membranes of these canals are bathed in fluid that surges through the canals whenever dips lip tilts a accelerates ceier i or s stops ops sh short rt Messages go to the twelve m muscles of the eyes to th the vom vomiting ting center to fo the cerebellum which coordinates t tes s information ne need needed for balance and down and down t the e sp spinal nal cord ord to the nerVes nerves that control our muscles When one of ot your inner ears ear's gyroscopes becomes imbalanced imbalanced imbalanced im- im balanced your equilibrium becomes virtually nonexistent non exis tent There are many possible causes of v vertigo viral vertigo viral or bacterial infection in the ear an injury to the labyrinths or areas linked to them common common cornmon com corn mon cold head and neck injury injury injury in in- jury high low blood sugar diabetes multiple multiple multi multi- pie sclerosis alcohol high doses of aspirin and certain antibiotics heavy lifting straining nose blowing or tumors According to Phyllis Bernstein approximately 11 percent of the patients I- I W I roq nos nosed hosed d'- d' with Vertigo ertic h have havel veS ve'S tumors Fortunately the he tumors tumors' are r not usually m malignant malig malig- nant b but if Jf they are are left leff J un un- Vertigo can last only a few days or can recur over a period of years treated hearing loss life threatening nervous central system disorders and ev eventually eventually even even- h- h death may occur Dobkin said Vertigo is isone isone isone one of the toe most common complaints brought to family physicians neurologists and ear nose ear nos e and t throat h ro a t specialists Vertigo is among the most frequent causes loss of-loss of loss of balance among the aged ged People over 65 and and women of all ages are most often af al L Ii Kaufman Arenberg ol of the Swedish Medical Center in Englewood Colorado U J f r I tidied fy 8 written by Vincent van Gog Gogh i J between 1884 and 1890 an anti and I Fhe artist w was not t i mad n n nor nr r i suffering from roll j epilepsy as pres presumed before r but suffered from he hearing hering ring i strange sounds and had violent attacks of vertigo which lasted for days It was not uncommon for people living in the period vari gh did to cut off one of their their ears I to stop the ringing Arenberg states Ive seen seen thousands of patients in the pas past 25 years who described their symptoms the same way van Gogh did Ve Vertigo can last for only a few Jew days or can recur over oyer a period of years Usually J people ople who ho s suffer ff fP dizzy Y spells s I. I seek sek ek help hep froth from l physician So Sp if your world devolving and you ou haven't haveri f been drinking ri the n night before maybe you iau are ae a 7 e suffering from vertigo I 1 |
