By WKRG Staff
Published: Mon, May 07, 2007 - 7:05 am
Chris Rowski's dizzy spells started with a bout of vertigo from an inner ear infection. She explains how it felt. "I had a lot of visual oscillations, things appeared to be in constant motion, so reading was very difficult, being online was very difficult."
When treatment for the ear infection didn't stop the sensation, doctors didn't know why. Rowski says it was very frustrating."I mean my anxiety definitely was building because I was just frightened as to what they were going to find." Turns out her anxiety was part of the problem.
Michael Ruckenstein is a neurotologist. "What seems to be happening is the vertigo, because it's a very scary symptom, it provokes fright in patients, can trigger an ongoing anxiety reaction that perpetuates symptoms that are akin to, but not exactly like the original symptom of vertigo."
Researchers at the
Dr. Jeffrey Stabb is a psychiatrist.Stabb explains, "There was a big overlap with neurological and psychiatric problems. The psychiatric component being fears about being dizzy."
The key to treatment is to separate what triggered the dizziness in the first place from the current symptoms. "If what the patient has now is the chronic dizziness," says Stabb. " It doesn't make any sense to treat what they had four years ago, which may have been an ear infection."
Researchers say a closer look at a patient's medical history will often nail down the diagnosis.
Out of 345 participants in the study, researchers were able to make 345 diagnoses. They also found that the underlying problems were treatable.
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