Dizziness

Diagnosis involves the steps your healthcare professional takes to find the cause of your dizziness or vertigo. You may need imaging tests such as an MRI or a CT scan right away if your healthcare professional thinks you might be having or may have had a stroke. You also may need one of these imaging tests if you are older or had a blow to the head.

Your healthcare professional asks you about your symptoms and the medicines you take. Then you’ll likely have a physical exam. During this exam, your healthcare professional checks how you walk and maintain your balance. The major nerves of your central nervous system also are checked to make sure they’re working.

You also may need a hearing test and balance tests, including:

• Eye movement testing. Your healthcare professional may watch the path of your eyes when you track a moving object. And you may be given an eye motion test in which water or air is placed in your ear canal.
• Head movement testing. If your vertigo may be caused by benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), your healthcare professional may do a simple head movement test. It’s called the Dix-Hallpike maneuver, and it can confirm that you have BPPV.
• Posturography. This test tells your healthcare professional which parts of the balance system you rely on the most and which parts may be giving you problems. You stand barefoot on a platform and try to keep your balance under various conditions.
• Rotary chair testing. During this test you sit in a computer-controlled chair that moves very slowly in a full circle. At faster speeds, it moves back and forth in a very small arc.

You also may be given blood tests to check for infection. You may need other tests to check your heart and blood vessel health too.