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Neurology
Stroke: The Warning Signs and Why Every Minute Counts
Face drooping, arm weakness, speech trouble — any one of them, appearing suddenly, is a stroke until proven otherwise. Call 1122 and note the time.
28 Aug 202611 min read
Vertigo
Pronounced VUR-tih-goh
Vertigo is the false sensation that you or your surroundings are spinning or moving. It is a specific symptom of the balance system, not a general word for dizziness or light-headedness.
In ENT
The distinction matters clinically. Vertigo is rotational — the room turns, or the person feels themselves turning — and points toward the inner ear or the balance pathways in the brain. Light-headedness, the feeling of being about to faint, points instead toward blood pressure, heart rhythm or . Unsteadiness on the feet without either sensation suggests something else again.
The common causes, and what separates them
| Pattern | Suggests |
|---|---|
| Brief seconds-long spins triggered by turning in bed or looking up | BPPV — displaced crystals in the inner ear |
| Hours of severe spinning with hearing loss and ringing | Ménière's disease |
| Days of constant vertigo after a viral illness | Vestibular neuritis |
| Vertigo with headache, light sensitivity, past migraines | Vestibular |
BPPV, the commonest cause, is diagnosed by a positional test and often treated in a single consultation with a sequence of head movements that reposition the displaced crystals — one of the few conditions where the treatment is mechanical and immediate.
Where this comes up
Related terms
- StrokeCerebrovascular accident, CVAA stroke is a sudden loss of blood supply to part of the brain, either from a blocked artery or a bleed. It is an emergency — treatment works only within a few hours of the first symptom.
- MigraineMigraine headacheMigraine is a neurological condition causing attacks of headache that are typically one-sided and throbbing, often with nausea and a strong dislike of light and sound. It is not simply a severe headache — the attack has a recognisable pattern.
- TachycardiaFast heart rateTachycardia means a resting heart rate above 100 beats per minute in an adult. It is often a normal response to something else, and occasionally a rhythm problem in its own right.
- SymptomA symptom is something a patient notices and reports — pain, nausea, tiredness. It differs from a sign, which is something a doctor can observe or measure.
- AnaemiaAnemia, Low haemoglobinAnaemia means the blood carries less haemoglobin than it should, so less oxygen reaches the tissues. It usually shows itself as tiredness, breathlessness on exertion and pallor, and in Pakistan the commonest cause by a wide margin is a shortage of iron.