Vertigo in simple language means giddiness. It is a hallucination of movement due to disturbance of the sense of equilibrium. Patient feels that his surroundings are going around him or that he himself is rotating spinning. It may be accompanied with nausea, vomiting, sweating and diarrhea. It mainly occurs due to inner ear pathology. Causes of vertigo include peripheral causes such as Meniere’s disease, Benign paroxysmal position vertigo (BPPV), vestibular neuronitis, labrynthitis, vestibulotoxic drugs, head trauma, acoustic neuroma. Central causes for vertigo include vertebrobasillar insufficiency, post. Inf. cerebellar artery syndrome, basilar migraine, cerebellar disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cervical vertigo. Patient presents with giddiness. Routine investigations done include tuning fork tests, pure tone, audiogram, impedence audiometry, BERA, Xray cervical spine, blood tests, ECG. Patient needs to be reassured that his symptoms will decrease, treatment for the cause is necessary. Labyrinthine sedatives are given. There is minimal role of surgery except for acoustic neuroma cases
