A New Way to Diagnose Vertigo at Home

30 percent of people suffer from vertigo at some point in their lives but getting it diagnosed can be a real hassle.

The problem is that it’s such a specialized field, so when you arrive at the ER they might not have a practitioner and the diagnostic instruments available to help you.

But they really should, because stroke is one of the potential causes of vertigo, and if stroke is the underlying problem then a quick diagnosis can be crucial to minimizing its impact.

Well, help may finally be at hand, because researchers from the University of Sydney have just designed video goggles that can help with the diagnosis of vertigo. Details of their tests appear in a new article in the journal Neurology.

They recruited 113 people who had already had the cause of their vertigo diagnosed using traditional in-clinic diagnostic procedures. They were then taught how to use the goggles to record their eye movements during vertigo episodes.

The scientists hoped to use the recordings to diagnose the cause of vertigo.

43 of the volunteers suffered from Meniere’s disease, an inner ear disorder that causes dizziness, tinnitus, a feeling of fullness, pain, and sometimes hearing loss.

The goggles did help the researchers to diagnose this disease accurately, which is great news because this normally requires things like scans that can only be done in a clinical setting.

40 of the 43 subjects with Meniere’s disease showed specific eye movements that helped them make the right diagnosis in up to 95 percent of cases, and people without it could be correctly ruled out in 95 percent of cases.

67 of the subjects suffered from vestibular migraine, a condition that causes vertigo but doesn’t always include headaches. Their eye movements varied more than the people with Meniere’s disease, so it was harder to diagnose using the goggles. Still, some movements were clearly related to vestibular migraine, so diagnosis was possible.

Seven of the subjects suffered from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), a condition where your head movements trigger your vertigo attacks.

Scientists identified one eye movement that told them with 100 percent accuracy which people had BPPV and with 77 percent accuracy which ones did not.

This is great news, because it could mean that even when neurologists and otolaryngologists aren’t available in an emergency room, video footage from the goggles could be sent to remote specialists so they can make a diagnosis.

Another great thing about these goggles is they’re portable. Vertigo sufferers don’t often have attacks in clinics. They’re more likely to have them when they’re just going about their day, so having the goggles means they can record their attacks when they do occur.

But why not just skip the diagnosis and cure your vertigo right away? Simpler said than done, right? Not really if you use the easy technique explained here…