First Aid - Benign Positional Vertigo Treatment

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Thursday, 07 February 2008

Please call 911 immediately if you are having chest pain, difficulty breathing, severe bleeding, sudden weakness or numbness, or if you think you have a medical emergency.

Benign Positional Vertigo Treatment

Self-Care at Home

Lie down and rest. Take precautions to prevent falls.
Do not drive, work at heights, or operate dangerous machinery in case you get an attack of vertigo.
Avoid sudden head movements and body position changes, especially looking up.
You may try some home therapy exercises that are meant to disperse the inner ear particles that are causing the trouble or desensitize the inner ear nerves that are being stimulated.
The following are called the positional exercises of Brandt and Daroff. You will feel vertigo while doing these, but with each repetition, the severity and duration should decrease.
- Sit on the edge of the bed near the middle, with legs hanging down.
- Turn head 45° to right side.
- Quickly lie down on left side, with head still turned, and touch the bed with portion of the head behind the ear.
- Maintain this position and every subsequent position for about 30 seconds.
- Sit up again.
- Quickly lie down to right side after turning head 45° toward the left side.
- Sit up again.
- Do 6-10 repetitions, 3 times per day.

Medical Treatment

Some doctors know how to perform certain maneuvers of your head and torso that often relieve or cure the problem without medication.

These maneuvers are called canalith repositioning procedures, or "the Epley maneuver," and require special knowledge and skill.
Their goal is to move the loose particles out of the semicircular canals of the inner ear to where they will no longer cause trouble.
After they are performed, you may need to keep your head upright for 24 hours.
This may require that you wear a soft neck collar for support and sleep sitting up in a chair for a night.

VitaDocs Medical Reference from eMedicineHealth

This information is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor.