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HealthInfo Canterbury

Treating vertigo

Woman resting in darkened roomThe treatment for vertigo depends on the cause and severity of your symptoms.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)

This type of vertigo is usually caused by small fragments of calcium deposits in your inner ear. It happens when you suddenly change the position of your head – when you tip your head up or down, lie down, or turn over or sit up in bed. It can increase your risk of falls. The vertigo tends to last for a minute or less and goes away if you keep your head still.

BPPV often clears up without treatment after several weeks or months.

To help ease the symptoms, try simple things like:

Labyrinthitis and vestibular neuronitis

With labyrinthitis and vestibular neuronitis, your inner ear gets inflamed. The inflammation is usually caused by a viral infection.

The symptoms often get better without treatment over several weeks.

Ménière's disease

This is a disorder of the inner ear where you get the feeling of vertigo, ringing in the ear and hearing loss. The vertigo lasts from one to 24 hours. Although there is no cure for Ménière's disease there are things you can do to help relieve your symptoms.

You can try things like:

On the next page: Exercises for vertigo

Content shared between HealthInfo Canterbury, KidsHealth and Health Navigator NZ as part of a National Health Content Hub collaborative. Page created May 2020.

Page reference: 707743

Review key: HIVER-17706