About Dizziness

Dizziness Outpatient Clinic

Schedule	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
Dizziness (AM only）	◯	◯	◯	△	◯	◯
Dr. Irino	※ Thursday : Substitute doctor

※ Closed : Sunday and National Holidays

List of Dizziness Examination Procedures and Tests

Consultation: 1) Medical Interview (about vertigo / condition of whole body)
2) with Specialists of Internal Medicine, Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology (ENT)
Ear: Equilibrium function test / audiometry test (hearing) / inner-ear function test
Brain: Brain MR / Electroencephalography (EEG)
Eye: Examination by a Ophthalmology doctor
Neck: Check for neck lesions (simple X ray / MR)
Others: Blood Test / electrocardiogram / autonomic nerve function test / psychological test

1. The examination protocol may be changed depending on symptoms or test results.
2. Since many of the vertigo tests are physiological function tests, the patient needs some rest after undergoing the test. To prevent the decrease of accuracy of test due to fatigue of the patient, 2 – 3 visits are required.

“Memai”, the oldest disease name in Japan, and thought to be a brain disease.

Dizziness is a very old disease which has been known since the Era of Greek. Also in Japan, a disease called “memai” was described in the oldest Japanese literature, Man'yōshū. It is probably the oldest disease name in Japan. This disorder was thought to be a brain disease until the middle of the 19th century. However, in 1861, the French otolaryngologist Prosper Meniere published a research paper in which he mentioned the postmortem examination of a girl with vertigo who died of pneumonia that there was hemorrhagic lesion inside her ear.

Since the publication of his paper, subsequent researchers named the disease with inner ear disorder “Meniere’s disease” which became the pronoun for vertigo.

Since then, it has become a common practice that dizziness patients are treated by otolaryngologists. However, as civilization progressed, other types of dizziness and vertigo, which cause cannot be explained as the inner ear problems, have been recognized. From this point, some researchers call vertigo “civilization disease”.

Symptoms of dizziness include not only the sensation of room spinning or head spinning, but also unsteadiness or a loss of balance, lightheadedness, a feeling of floating, wooziness, the earthquake-like sensation, the sensation of body being pulled back, and not being able to walk straight.

This disease or symptom term “memai” is too broad and seems somewhat inappropriate, however, it has been so generalized and it is still treated as “memai” today.

Structure of Dizziness

In the US, these symptoms are called “equilibrium dysfunction (balance disorder)”. The part of body causing equilibrium dysfunction should not be limited to ears, but overall brain function, the transmission of information from the eye to the brain, the abnormality of deep sensitivity of the hands and feet, and also nerve disorders centering on the neck, all intricately affect each other to cause dizziness.

We think dizziness should not be considered as a single organ disorder, and this point must be understood clearly to understand the structure of dizziness. In addition, dizziness is accompanied by indefinite complaints. These conditions (listed below) are also important factors of dizziness.

dizziness / lightheadedness / swelling / sweating / oversensitivity to cold / watery eyes / dry eyes / eyestrain / hot flashes / glow / numbness in hands and feet / thirst in mouth / constipation / fatigue / languor / depression / insomnia / irritation / anxiety / palpitation / shortness of breath / trembling hands / poor health condition / heaviness in legs / ringing in the ears / difficulty in hearing / headache / stiffness in shoulders / stiffness in neck / backache / loss of appetite / nausea / frequent urination / bloodshot eyes / blurred vision / loose stool / stiffness of hands / leg cramps / lower back pain / forgetfulness