Vertigo

Patients with this condition most often describe a fleeting feeling of instability or faintness, with light-headedness and loss of balance, sometimes accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and headache. Dizzy spells are a very frequent symptom, and are the third most common reason people go to the doctor, after fever and pain. Although these symptoms can be frightening and unpleasant, they are almost always harmless. In most cases, in fact, the cause is never found, and any tests carried out show normal results. The only exception is cervical osteoarthritis, but although this often appears on X-rays, it is rarely responsible for the dizzy symptoms.

Maintaining our balance is no simple matter, as we constantly readjust our body's position in space through a delicate system of receptors located in the inner ear. If certain pathological conditions are responsible, these mechanisms can fail or become scrambled, like radar, thus causing a sensation of dizziness.

General advice

If you are feeling dizzy:

• Do not get behind the wheel of your car
• Get some rest by lying down in a quiet place, away from bright light
• Stay away from high or windy areas, stay on your usual diet, and avoid stimulants

Osteopathy and chiropractic

Small muscles in the neck can sometimes block and pinch certain networks of nerves. The most common symptom produced is pain, but various nerve troubles can also result, including dizziness and sometimes tinnitus. Once a medical examination has localized the source of the muscle spasm, manipulation of the spine eliminates the troublesome symptoms almost immediately.

Some cases of dizziness, which only appear in a reclining position when the subject turns his or her head, are caused by the displacement of sensory cells in the inner ear. The diagnosis is confirmed by a test that goes by the barbaric name of an electronystagmo­gram. The treatment is a simple matter in comparison, involving a specific mobilizing adjustment that rapidly improves the debilitating clinical symptoms, sometimes permanently.

Acupuncture and mesotherapy

These two therapies are both worth trying, as they soothe nerves, help relax muscle spasms, and relieve pain generally.

Treatment Schedule: Two or three sessions of acupuncture or mesotherapy, or a combination of the two, are often enough to bring the first signs of improvement, or even a cure.

I have placed mesotherapy among the non-medicinal therapies, as it uses only tiny injectable doses of traditional medicines or homeopathic blends, and it strikes me as being similar to acupuncture, both in its areas of application and in its results.

Homeopathy

Conium and Phosphorus

- Four 5c tablets of one or both of these remedies to be sucked slowly between meals, two or three times a day

Conium maculatum

- Vegetable origin: the giant hemlock plant
- The homeopathic remedy for dizzy spells with visual disturbance
- A specific indication: the condition is made worse by sexual continence

Phosphorus

- Mineral origin: white phosphorus
- The homeopathic remedy for dizziness following loss of blood
- A specific indication: the condition is made worse by storms

• You could also try Lehning@ Conium Complex 36, whose ingredients include Conium 4x and Arsenicum album 4x:
  - Sold in 30ml bottles of oral drops
  - Fifteen drops to be taken in a little water, three times a day
• For dizziness caused by circulatory problems in the elderly, you could try Vertigoheel@ (Heel), which contains Cocculus D4, Conium D3, Ambra D6 and Petroleum D8:
  - Available in drop bottles containing 30 and 100ml and tablets (packs of 50 and 250)
  -In general, 10 drops or 3 tablets to be dissolved under the tongue 3 times daily. In sporadic dizziness and nausea, initially 10 drops or 1 tablet every 15 minutes
• It is also vital that you combine these treatments with a constitutional remedy, to be chosen after consultation with a professional homeopath. Some likely choices are Aurum, Phosphorus, or Sulfur

Aurum metallicum

- Mineral origin: the metal gold
- The homeopathic remedy for vascular congestion in the head
- The symptoms appear most readily among the elderly and those prone to depression

Oligotherapy

Manganese and cobalt

Trace elements are usually found in a varied and high-quality diet. In cases of deficiency, which is unlikely with these two minerals, they can be given as medicinal supplements.

• Manganese-cobalt treatment: this combination is available in various brands and forms, such as Organic Minerals (Colloidals) which contains 70+ trace minerals:
  - Available in 946ml bottles
  - Take 1-3 caps just before breakfast and/or evening meal
  - Children 1 teaspoon daily for each 20lbs of body weight

Or Maximol (Ionized colloidals):

- Available in 500ml bottles
- Take 1/2 capful once or twice daily on an empty stomach

Herbal remedies

Garlic, ginkgo biloba, and melilot for their effects on circulation.

Angelica, hawthorn, and black horehound for their soothing action.

These two groups of plants can be taken singly or in combination.

Possible Prescription: Ask your herbalist to prepare a 60ml bottle of mother tincture of ginkgo. Take 30 drops in a little water, twice a day.

• You could also ask your herbalist to make up 30 capsules of a blend of dried extracts of angelica, hawthorn, and melilot, 100mg of each plant for each NO.2 capsule (the size of the capsule that the herbalist would use for the ingredients). Take one capsule two or three times a day for about ten days

Ginkgo biloba

This ornamental tree from China and Japan is venerated for its legendary and mythical associations. It is one of the oldest and hardiest trees on the planet, as it survived both the last ice age and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It has also sometimes been dubbed the 'tree of forty gold crowns', because of its high price in times gone by, and because its yellow or green fan-shaped leaves fall to the ground in a golden carpet.

• You could ask your herbalist for a 60ml bottle of hawthorn or melilot in a whole fresh-plant suspension (this formulation's cold stabilization process restores the full natural therapeutic effect of the plant). Take half a teaspoonful in a little water twice a day

Hawthorn

This is the plant for the heart: it promotes heart function, regulates its rhythm, re-establishes normal blood pressure, and even helps blood circulation to the brain.

Melilot

This plant is capable of producing some of the most wide-ranging benefits to the circulation. It is effective in treating both haemorrhoids and varicose veins, and also helps reduce the risk of phlebitis, thanks to its anti-coagulant properties.

• You could also try Pure-Gar (Lamberts); each capsule contains 500mg of garlic powder:
  - Available in containers of 90 capsules
  - 1 to 3 capsules daily

Garlic

This the oldest and most remarkable of the medicinal herbs, and was used by the labourers who built the pyramids. For several centuries it was considered a cure-all, powerful enough to prevent and cure the plague, as well as to keep vampires away. It has potent infection­fighting properties, as well as bringing marked benefits to the circulation. There is no doubt that it should be part of the diet of every heart patient. It has only one drawback, its devastating effects on the breath.