Giddiness

Giddiness, Vertigo, a feeling of instability, or of uncertainty as to the position of the body in relation to surrounding objects. Giddiness is sometimes associated with faintness, vomiting, and shortness of breath. It may be due to organic disease of the brain and especially of the cerebellum; to alteration in the quantity or quality of the blood-supply to the brain, as after loss of blood, in auusmia, in heart-disease, and the like; it occurs in megrim, epilepsy, and hysteria, and in association with disease of the stomach; giddiness also occurs as a result of disease of the larynx, "laryngeal vertigo," and as a symptom of certain affections of the ocular muscles. The form of giddiness due to disease of the, semicircular canals, "auditory vertigo," will be dealt with under the heading Meniere's Disease. A peculiar form of giddiness is sometimes brought on when the patient enters a large open space; to this form the term "Agoraphobia "is applied.