Vertigo Can Be Treated at Home

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Vertigo Can Be Treated at Home

ST. PAUL, Minn. – People with vertigo can get relief by doing maneuvers

at home, according to a study published in the July 13 issue of

Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study involved people with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, an

inner ear problem that causes a feeling of spinning or whirling when you

move your head into certain positions. The vertigo usually lasts less

than a minute. It can be mild or severe enough to cause nausea. It

affects an estimated 64 people in every 100,000.

This type of vertigo is believed to be caused by loose particles

floating in the inner ear canal, which maintains the body’s equilibrium.

Certain head and body movements can

clear the particles from the ear canal. In general, the maneuvers are

performed by a doctor or therapist.

“For most people, one treatment is all it takes to stop the vertigo,”

said study author Radtke, MD, a neurologist with Charité Campus

Virchow Clinic in Berlin, Germany. “But some people need repeated

treatments before it resolves completely. For these people, it would be

beneficial to have the option to treat themselves at home.”

The study involved 70 people who had experienced vertigo for an average

of eight weeks. The study tested two different maneuvers. Both of the

maneuvers involve head and

body movements performed while sitting on a bed. Half of the people

performed one maneuver and half performed the other. They received

instructions for the maneuver and performed it once with the doctor.

Then they performed the exercise three times a day at home until the

vertigo had stopped for at least 24 hours.

After one week, 95 percent of those who performed the maneuver called

the modified Epley’s procedure had no more symptoms. Of those performing

the modified Semont maneuver, 58 percent had no more symptoms.

The researchers recommend the modified Epley’s procedure for people who

do not get relief after a first treatment by a doctor or therapist or

for people whose vertigo recurs frequently.

“People who are experiencing vertigo for the first time should still go

see their doctor to make sure the vertigo doesn’t have another cause,

such as a disease or the side effect from a medication,” said

neurologist ph M. Furman, MD, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh

School of Medicine in Pittsburgh, Pa., who wrote an editorial

accompanying the study. “But home treatment will be especially valuable

for people who have frequent recurrences of benign vertigo, which can

happen to about 50 percent of people over a four- or five-year period.”

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is most common in people over the

age of 50, and it occurs in women twice as often as in men. The average

age of these study participants was 60, and 60 of the 70 participants

were women.