What Do You Mean When You Say Dizzy? Part IV
Precipitating, Exacerbating, or Relieving Factors (Triggers)
Symptoms that are brought on or increased by a change in head position, or with eyes closed, suggest peripheral disease. Symptoms noticed only while standing, but never when sitting or lying, suggest vascular or orthopedic disease. Symptoms that are constant and are unaffected by position change are suggestive of central or psychiatric pathology.
To aid in differential diagnosis in a patient complaining of vertigo or dizziness, I developed a brief guideline based on typical duration (timing) and precipitating, exacerbating factors (triggers) for the most common causes of these complaints.
