What causes acute onset of vertigo with nausea and vomiting?

Posted on Tue, 18 Mar 2014

Question: Can you tell me about the following scenario: a 30 year old married woman with 2 children has acute onset of vertigo, nausea and vomiting over several hours. She struggles to focus properly and feels terrible. The children were mildly ill with headaches and were generally off colour for a few days about 10 days previously but are now okay I would appreciate your assistance. are there differential diagnoses that I would need to be looking for?

Answered by Dr. Vivek Chail (3 hours later)

Brief Answer: Please find detailed answer below Detailed Answer: Hi, Thanks for writing in to us. I have read through your query in detail. With symptoms of nausea, vomiting and vertigo which are acute in onset, it would be important to consider viral illnesses in the differential diagnosis. It can be a severe attack of flu or one of the viruses having affinity for the head region including the respiratory passages. Keeping in mind that the children in the house also had illness ten days back, severe flu attack is the first possibility. The vomiting might have occurred because of dehydration and less fluids intake. However a complete clinical examination is important and other investigations like blood tests might be needed if there is persistent illness with worsening of symptoms. Hope your query is answered. Do write back if you have any doubts. Regards, Dr.Vivek

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar