CALGARY- Nova Lee Turner thought she was coming down with the flu when she started feeling dizzy last December.
“It got gradually worse to the point where I couldn’t get out of bed because the room was always spinning. As soon as I would close my eyes and just move my eye balls I was vomiting,” Turner remembers. She got so sick her husband finally called an ambulance, and after several days in hospital she was diagnosed with Vestibular Neuritis.
“Basically what it means is there’s a damage in the ear to the nerve and it sets the balance to the equilibrium totally off.”
Dizziness and Vertigo impacts up to 30 per cent of the population. In most cases the symptoms don’t require further treatment but some patients do require specialized care.
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Until recently, Calgary patients could wait several months to see a specialist but in January a new clinic opened its doors. Informally known as the ‘Dizzy Clinic’, The Neurovestibular Program at the South Health Campus has been seeing 35 patients a week.
The program features some of the latest diagnostic and rehabilitative technology. Three specialized physicians, a technician and two physiotherapists all practice out of the clinic, meaning patients can be tested, diagnosed and treated all at one stop.
“Previously the clinic just consisted of the physicians assessing the patients and there was no physiotherapy attached to the clinic,” says Dr. Bill Fletcher, a neuro-opthalmologist who co-directs the new program. “When patients can see an interdisciplinary team it helps them get back on their feet faster.”
The new clinic feature a specialized chair for rotational testing. Patients sit in the chair that rotates in darkness while eye movement s is recorded. Physicians can also use Videoonystagmophgapy (VNG) which records eye movement using goggle-mounted video cameras.
According to Dr. Fletcher, the new equipment has been a big help.
“That’s helping us a lot clinically we can see much more with the goggles.”
Currently non-urgent patients can wait up to a month for appointments, which are only available by referral.
For Turner, the “dizzy clinic” has made a big difference and today she’s feeling much better.
“I’ve heard of other people who have had something similar and they’ve take a lot longer, even years to feel better. Three and a half months and I’m now back at work!”
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