Which medication helps with vertigo?

Acute vertigo is very threatening for those affected and often goes hand in hand with anxiety, stress reactions and nausea all the way to vomiting. However, it may take some time until the causes are found and ideally eliminated. Time in which an effective treatment with specialized medication can help relieve symptoms and avoid chronicity.

The cause of vertigo can be very different, but the symptom itself always arises in the head. Effective drugs therefore have a damping effect on the brain and thus suppress vertigo. At the same time, this cushioning always causes some dizziness and can lead to different degrees of fatigue. But this in turn leads to an increased risk of falling, which you want to avoid in any case.

True tranquilizers, as they have often been in the past and of which benzodiazepines (e.g., valium) are the best known, are therefore obsolete today. Instead, in acute dizziness Dimenhydrinat, an antihistamine that works against travel sickness and is freely available in the pharmacy. However, since dimenhydrinate, as a high-dose single substance, is still relatively tired, a combination preparation of lower-dose dimenhydrinate and cinnarizine is the drug of first choice, especially for longer therapies. It suppresses the vertigo without making you tired or increasing the risk of falling. The preparation is prescription.

In Méniér’s disease, Betahistine stabilizes the inner ear and has been shown to prevent vertigo. In contrast, it is not as effective as the above-mentioned combined preparation of dimenhydrinate and cinnarizine. Betahistine must be taken regularly as a preventive drug and is subject to prescription.

Some prescription free natural remedies can reduce vertigo in individual cases. Especially in older patients who are already taking many medications, or a non-organic dizziness they are therefore a good alternative.

Author: Dr. med. Uso Walter (Specialist for Otorhinolaryngology)

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When medication causes vertigo and dizziness

Anyone who has ever drunk a glass of wine knows that dizziness can be caused not only by disease, but also by chemical substances, such as medications. But not only alcohol can cause dizziness and balance disorders. Many medications have an effect on the brain or the cardiovascular system and can trigger more or less severe dizziness and vertigo. It is worthwhile, then, to take a look at the drug list for chronic dizziness symptoms. This is particularly the case in elderly patients, who are weakened by pre-existing conditions and often take a whole list of different medications.

But what does “can cause dizziness” actually mean? If you read through the leaflet or searches on Google, you quickly get the impression that actually every drug available can cause dizziness. But it is not that bad after all: Above all, two large groups of medicines should be mentioned here: First the central acting (meaning acting on the brain) sedatives and anti-depressants and secondly many antihypertensive agents.

In the first group, it is primarily strong tranquilizers and sleep aids that affect the brain in a similar way to alcohol and disturb the balance regulation. Here is the danger of falling particularly large, so that patients with pre-existing dizziness should strictly avoid such drugs. But also antidepressants, whose use in recent years due to the increasing number of mental illness is constantly increasing, can cause diffuse dizziness.

In the antihypertensive agents especially beta-blockers and dehydrating agents (diuretics) can cause dizziness. This is caused by a reduced blood flow to the brain and usually manifests itself as feelings of insecurity, “becoming black in front of the eyes” and a slight wobble.

Much less common are dizziness complaints due to a medical damage to the organ of equilibrium in the inner ear. But here too certain antibiotics (gentamycin) or chemotherapeutic agents can damage the sensitive sensory cells and thus lead to balance disorders.

Author: Dr. med. Uso Walter (ENT Specialist)

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