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Neurosurgery  (Expert Forum)
 | 
cervicogenic vertigo
Answered by
Nassim Abi Chahine, MD - General Neurosurgery
Beirut - Lebanon
Welcome to the International Neurosurgery forum. This forum is moderated by Dr. Abi Chahine who is affiliated with St. George Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon

cervicogenic vertigo

by pam1962, Oct 23, 2009 06:59AM
Tags: Doctor
Dear Doctor
I had disc replacement at C5/C6 and nerve decompression on the left side in December last year since then I have had problems.
I have felt unsteady which comes in waves.
I also have pain and numbness in my hands especially first thing in the morning. I have had an M.R.I. on the brain with no result and a scan to the neck to check blood supply which is also o.k.
I am having physiotherapy and was told I have a problem on the right side of the neck further up from my operation.
I am also being told that the vertigo is due to inner ear problems not the neck although my ears are fine and have been tested. There is no evidence for this.
Is it possible it could be cervicogenic vertigo.?
This is not recognised in the U.K.
Thank you so much

by Nassim Abi Chahine, MD, Oct 25, 2009 03:53AM
Cervical MRI will exclude a CSF leak.
otherwise that also could be post traumatic PTSD after surgery
Member Comments (3)

by pam1962, Oct 25, 2009 05:50AM
To: Nassim Abi Chahine, MD
Thank you for your comments. In Britain they put any sort of vertigo down to inner ear problems , so I am not getting much help in other directions. Can you tell me a little more about the post traumatic stress , how could this give me vertigo and what sort of treatment  may help. I am getting a lot of pain in my neck still and as soon as the physiotherapist started touching my neck I felt sick and dizzy.
Thankyou so much for giving me your time.

by Nassim Abi Chahine, MD, Nov 11, 2009 09:11PM
Best surgeons are everywhere particularly in Britain, but maybe you asked the wrong specialty.. anyway please find out many information about PTSD on the web and pay attention on that in may be due sometime to a relatively low grade trauma exactly like a schedueled surgery, thats because it is "individual dependant", depending on the patient's threshold and resistance.
my advice to you is to take two types of medication now:
1- a muscle relaxant continuousely for a period of 3-4 weeks
2- an antidepressant acting on pain and subsequently reliefing muscle spasm like "Venlafaxine" (medication category SNRI).. fo a period of 3-4 months.

thank you again
D r Nassim
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