Vertigo (giddiness or loss of balance) may occur with the disorder known as Labyrinthitis. This is thought to be a viral infection. Crops of cases tend to occur at the same time. The attacks are short-lived from a few days to one or two weeks and they pass off completely with no permanent ill effects.

These attacks may be mild, and giddiness only occurs with movement of the head. Nausea and vomiting may be associated with the giddiness and these attacks may come spontaneously even at rest.

The doctor needs to examine the patient to exclude some more serious cause of these symptoms such as vascular accident (stroke) or a tumor.

No treatment in mild cases of labyrinthitis is required, but drugs will reduce the giddiness and the nausea and are used if the symptoms are severe.

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Operation has a bad reputation among the public and, at times, the profession. There is no doubt that the right operation by the right surgeon on the right patient for the right condition, brings a satisfactory result to all concerned. Perhaps the bad results are due to one of those four conditions being wrong.

Acupuncture is currently being hailed as the treatment for everything from dandruff to corns.

I think there is valid evidence to show it may be of benefit in reducing chronic pain and, therefore, help those who remain in pain despite many different treatments. Its place in the management of the acute stages of back condition has yet to be shown.

The best advice I can give you if you have, or in the future get, a bad back, is to go to a doctor you know and trust and be guided by his advice.

It is this pressure on nerves where they originate and leave the spinal canal which causes the severe pain called sciatica running down the back of the thigh and the outer leg.

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