After these few months, I sent a query to a broad number of
people, asking if anyone had experienced this vertigo. It was my intention to
assess the incidence of vertigo from that sampling of readers. To do that, I
asked you not to describe patients but yourselves. I found an incidence of 48
people who personally experienced vertigo out of every 1,000 people who viewed/opened
the email. In other words, the reported incidence of vertigo reached nearly 5%,
which is a much higher incidence than typically expected. This number could
well have been higher if we consider that some individuals who had vertigo and who
viewed the notice opted not to reply. This large population inquiry was proof
for me that we are in sort of epidemic related to acute vertigo, though it is
odd that no one is speaking of it. Any number over 1% is an unusually high
number, and should be noted.
People asked me what I was doing about it on the treatment side. I wanted to add that the most common treatment was Cocculus indicus, with its attendant symptoms, which while are commonly and easily described in the materia medica, are often confused with other remedies. Dizziness as if drunk, episodic vertigo where one has to hold on to something, a recurring light-headedness that does not evolve all the way to vertigo at other times, internal trembling, weakness, worse from exertion, are all the more common symptoms here.
Good luck, and thank you for sending me your personal
medical experiences.
Write to us if you would like to share more broadly about recent
vertigo cases of your patients this time around. Thank you for your interest and
willingness to share you and your patients’ experiences.
Sincerely,
Paul Herscu ND, MPH
