Peripheral vs Central Vertigo

Lately I've been suffering from a mad case of vertigo. I ended up going to the ER to get it checked out, it was getting that bad. The ER doc tested me to determine if I had peripheral vertigo, or central vertigo. The difference being:

Central Vertigo refers to vertigo caused by issues in the central nervous system, typically from the brain stem or cerebellum. It usually has other neurological issues aside from the dizziness, such as slurred speech, double vision, difficulty performing basic functions (touch my finger, touch your nose. Follow my finger as I rotate it around the room. etc). Central vertigo is a serious issue and can indicate other scary things happening in your body, like bleeding in the brain, lesions (read: lyme disease, MS, etc), and more.

Peripheral vertigo refers to the dizziness/nausea etc caused by issues typically occuring in the inner ear or vestibular systems. Typically it occurs when there is inflammation in these areas due to a viral or other infections. Treatment suggested for my peripheral vertigo was to take antihistamines, and then steroid medication when the antihistamines proved ineffective.

This is the very, very, very basic definition of these areas. I'm sure there's more information with regards to this, but I have a tendency to avoid googling diseases as there is so much chaff out there and not enough wheat. (WebMD, I'm looking at you, as you tend to diagnose everybody with a deathly illness no matter what symptoms they type into you!)

Anyway. Yeah. Vertigo! Tons of fun. Basically mine is at the point where even when I am lying still, it feels like I am spinning or the room is moving. God forbid I have to turn over, because then it feels like I've been whipped around quickly in circles, no matter how slow my movement. It is incredibly disorienting and not pleasant at all. The medication is only somewhat effective, in that it allows me to move around (albeit much more slowly than I am accustomed to moving) and get things done. Exhausting though. Prognosis is 1 to several weeks. I'm to see my GP if the issue persists further.

Didn't mean for this particular entry to be anecdotal, but it was new information for me anyway, and thus I wanted to share. Next on the agenda: Human Origins and Evolution.