Otoneurology

How is treatment done by an otoneurologist?

After the otoneurologist accurately determines your disease, he will select treatment. It may turn out that special exercises that you can do at home while lying in bed are suitable for you - your doctor will teach you how to do them correctly.

In some cases, changing your diet helps: the doctor will tell you which foods should be excluded in order to avoid new attacks of the disease. If the illness is serious, medications may be needed. And if conventional treatment does not help, the doctor may suggest surgery.

How to deal with dizziness

If you're suffering from dizziness, you're not alone: it's the second most common complaint, after headaches, that people go to the doctor with. Most often, dizziness is caused by problems with the vestibular system - our internal balance. In most cases (more than 60%), the cause lies in the inner ear, and such dizziness is not dangerous.

Our center specializes in identifying and treating diseases that affect both the inner ear and the central parts of our auditory and vestibular systems. Doctors have modern equipment at their disposal:

• Videonystagmography and videooculography systems that allow observation of eye movements
• Equipment for vestibular testing
• Balance test chair
• Platform for testing hearing and balance
• Device for diagnostics using MRI and CT images
• Ultrasound of head and neck vessels
• Study of electrical activity of the brain
• Hearing tests and more

If you have complaints about dizziness of any nature: a feeling that the world around you or your body is spinning, problems with stability and orientation in space, tinnitus, hearing impairment - make an appointment with an otoneurologist in Moscow.

At the K+31 clinic, pediatric and adult otoneurologists are available for a fee, but at reasonable prices. Addresses in Moscow and the current cost of admission are posted on the website.

How to treat dizziness

When a person experiences acute dizziness for the first time in his life, he is urgently hospitalized. First, doctors relieve acute symptoms, and then help the patient recover through physical rehabilitation and balance training.

To quickly stop an attack, it is important:

• Give the patient complete rest, as any movement can aggravate the situation
• Use anti-vomiting medications and special drugs that reduce the activity of balancing neurons. For example, dimenhydrinate, which suppresses the vestibular structures of the brain, can help with dizziness and nausea. Metoclopramide or tranquilizers such as diazepam are also sometimes used. But they should not be taken for more than three days so as not to affect recovery

Physical rehabilitation includes vestibular exercises, which are especially effective for problems with the inner ear. This includes exercises for the eyes, head and walking training. It should be started as soon as possible after an acute attack in order to speed up the return to normal life. The duration of such gymnastics depends on the individual case.

Special platforms with feedback systems help make gymnastics even more effective, stimulating different senses and training the ability to maintain balance.

Medical treatment uses drugs that can help restore balance more quickly, such as betahistine or piracetam.

If you have been diagnosed with benign positional vertigo, the main thing in treatment is special exercises and maneuvers. Depending on where the otoliths are located, doctors use different maneuvers. They help to quickly relieve dizziness, sometimes even during a doctor’s appointment. If it does not go away, patients are advised to perform gymnastics at home until the symptoms disappear completely.

For vestibular neuronitis, a course of glucocorticoids is added to antiemetics and antihistamines. And with Meniere's disease, it is important not only to stop dizziness, but also to prevent hearing loss. Here, in addition to diet and vestibular depressants, betahistine is used for a long time. If medications do not help, then surgery is possible.

Results of treatment by an otoneurologist

In most cases, it is possible to improve the patient's quality of life (for example, reduce subjective tinnitus, relieve dizziness in BPPV), and in some patients, achieve recovery (complete hearing restoration in acute sensorineural hearing loss). Depending on the disease, the doctor will offer drug treatment (for example, in acute sensorineural hearing loss, Meniere's disease), surgical treatment (in otosclerosis, chronic purulent otitis media) or various rehabilitation options (hearing aids - in chronic sensorineural hearing loss, vestibular maneuvers in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo).