Exams and Tests to Diagnose Dizziness
Exams and Tests to Diagnose Dizziness
Last Editorial Review: 6/3/2008
Author: John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP
Editor: Melissa Conrad Stoppler, MD
Previous contributing authors and editors: Author: William Larry Haith, DO, FAAEM, Consulting Staff, Department of Emergency Medicine, Southern Maine Medical Center.
Editors: Scott H Plantz, MD, FAAEM, Research Director, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD, Senior Pharmacy Editor, eMedicine; James S Cohen, MD, Consulting Staff, James Cohen, PC.
Rapid evaluation and treatment may be necessary if doctors suspect a serious cause of dizziness.
* Doctors will ask detailed questions to define the type of dizzy feeling.
o Your description of the dizzy feeling may be the most important detail.
o Your history may be the only clue, because often your evaluation takes place after the dizzy symptoms have gone.
o Other symptoms may give evidence of possible causes.
* You will be given a detailed physical exam to further define likely causes.
* Tests you undergo will be based on the diseases suggested by your history and results of your physical exam.
o Doctors may include tests for less likely but dangerous illnesses or diseases.
o In the Emergency Department, you may be placed on a heart monitor, electrocardiogram (ECG) may be performed, and blood studies may be carried out if suggested by the history of the dizziness or the physical exam.
o Sometimes, specialized tests such as a CT scan or cardiac stress test may be scheduled. Rarely, you may have to have surgery to treat internal bleeding or hemorrhage if this is found to be the reason for your symptoms.
* You may be hospitalized or sent to a specialist depending on the possible causes.
* Doctors may find no specific cause, but instead exclude serious diseases.
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