Do You Have a Type A Personality? Vertigo Is More Likely to Visit You!

If you have been much more tense and stressed lately, your dizziness has started to increase; if during dizziness you feel the ground beneath your feet shifting and that you are turning upside down; and if it is also accompanied by nausea and vomiting, pay attention: you may have vertigo…

Specialist Dr. Gülümser Kızıltaş Tokmak, who points out that vertigo is actually the general term for dizziness, said: ‘Dizziness may be caused by brain-related and non-brain-related causes. Brain-related dizziness is usually caused by masses, vascular occlusions, or bleeding occurring in the connections of the cerebellum and brainstem. It usually starts more insidiously. It is more often accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and neurological findings such as imbalance, speech disturbance, or weakness in the arms and legs may accompany it. Dizziness we call non-brain-related, on the other hand, is more often caused by the ear or by metabolic causes. Vertigo is more often seen in individuals with cardiovascular risk factors, in those with characteristics we describe as Type A personality—meticulous, quick to become irritated, never leaving their own work to others, not postponing, hasty, sensitive—and after trauma. In addition, it may be seen as an occupational disease in people whose work requires them to be constantly on the move. When making a diagnosis of vertigo, what is important is determining whether the vertigo is caused by brain or non-brain sources. If we think it is brain-related on neurological examination, we use imaging methods such as tomography and cranial MRI. Especially in people above a certain age who carry cardiovascular disease risk factors, it may be useful to perform Doppler of the carotid and vertebral arteries, known as neck vessel ultrasound, and to measure the flow in the vessels going to the brain. However, if vertigo is due to non-brain causes, an ear, nose and throat examination and checking the blood count are useful. Tests such as B 12, complete blood count, iron and blood sugar may lead us to the result. If vertigo is brain-related, it is treated according to whether it is a tumor, vascular occlusion or brain hemorrhage located in the brain. In vascular occlusion, blood thinners; in brain hemorrhage, anti-edema treatments; and for masses, especially surgical operation, or chemotherapy and radiotherapy may be performed.’