title: The dizzy, the giddy and the vertiginous.
abstract: For optimal examination of the giddy patient the case history is the best basis. The description of what the patient feels is not as important as has been stated rather often. The words dizzy, giddy and vertiginous from a patient do not really mean different things - they only mean: I feel unbalanced or disequilibrated. In the anamnesis it is much more important to find out firstly whether the disturbances are: (1) paroxysmal; (2) one acute attack; (3) chronic, (4) positional (positioning), and secondly whether the giddy feeling is accompanied by other disturbances (deafness, headache, pains, palsies, etc.). Some tables are presented that give a survey of the combination of some of these data and that facilitate the further examination towards the goal of the right diagnosis.
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004244:Dizziness / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007759:Labyrinth Diseases / Q000150:complications; D008575:Meniere Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D004856:Postural Balance; D014717:Vertigo / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology