Vertigo & Balance Clinic

Explained in simple words

1The Vertigo Clinic is a special clinic only for people who feel giddy, dizzy or unsteady.

2Vertigo means a feeling that you or the room around you is spinning, even though nothing is actually moving.

3Some people feel the world turning. Some feel they are being pulled to one side. Some simply feel unsteady while walking.

4Giddiness is not one disease. It is a symptom, and it can come from more than a dozen different causes.

5Most causes are in the inner ear. Some are in the nerves or the brain. Some come from blood pressure, sugar, anaemia or the neck.

6Because the causes are so different, the treatment is also completely different for each one.

7This is why so many patients wander from doctor to doctor for years, taking tablets that only suppress the giddiness for a while.

8The purpose of a dedicated vertigo clinic is to find the exact cause, instead of treating the symptom blindly.

9At the clinic, the doctor first listens carefully to your story — when it started, how long each attack lasts, and what brings it on.

10That history alone gives a very large part of the answer, so please describe your problem in your own words without hurrying.

11Then a physical examination is done, including examination of the ears, the eyes, and your balance while standing and walking.

12After that, computerised tests are done as needed — VNG, ENG, SVV, Caloric, vHIT, CCG, DVA and hearing tests.

13These tests are painless. There is no injection, no cutting and no radiation in any of them.

14They tell us exactly which ear is affected, which part of the balance organ is weak, and how badly.

15Our clinic uses the ICS Impulse system from Denmark, which was among the first three such installations in India.

16Once the cause is known, treatment is planned specifically for that cause.

17For the commonest cause, BPPV, treatment is a simple head manoeuvre done in the clinic, and most patients are cured within one or two sittings.

18For other causes, treatment may be medicines, or balance exercises called vestibular rehabilitation, or treatment of the underlying disease.

19A team of ENT surgeons, qualified audiologists and physiotherapists works together for evaluation and rehabilitation.

20Vertigo is frightening, and many patients stop going out, stop working, and even stop climbing stairs because of fear of falling.

21With a correct diagnosis, the large majority of patients recover well and go back to a normal life.

22Elderly patients especially benefit, because untreated giddiness leads to falls, fractures and loss of independence.

23If you have been giddy for a long time without a clear answer, it is worth getting properly tested once.

24Please bring your old reports, scans and the medicines you are taking when you come.