This monograph is a concise, simplified narrative which would help the physician confidently manage the patient with dizziness. A knowledgeable physician should be able to diagnose the cause of dizziness in more than 80% of patients and manage without recourse to extensive and expensive investigations by eliciting a good history and clinical examination. This monograph is not exhaustive and does not purport to be a textbook covering all aspects but nevertheless should be an useful guide towards efficient management of the dizzy patient. ...
ÔøΩ Dizziness is a common symptom for which a physician needs to provide appropriate treatment after understanding the symptoms and the underlying cause. ÔøΩ The term ""dizziness"" includes many descriptions which a patient experiences. The commonly understood meaning is vertigo or a spinning sensation. However, there are other descriptions given, like a sensation of being pushed, a sensation of imbalance, and even a feel of weakness, each of which has a different cause and needs to be treated accordingly. ÔøΩ Hence, a knowledge of the various causes of dizziness is required to formulate the management. ÔøΩ This monograph consists of two parts. The first part deals with the clinical approach to the symptom and details the history to be collected that would help in classifying dizziness into syndromes such as episodic, acute, and chronic based on the occurrence of symptoms in episodes, or acutely, or persistently. ÔøΩ This classification helps narrow the differential diagnosis of the various causes. ÔøΩ The second part of this monograph discusses the various disorders causing dizziness and details their management.