I know what a terrible feeling it is to suffer an attack of vertigo, having had to endure the same thing myself last year!
Vertigo isn't a diagnosis but actually just a word used to describe a symptom of feeling as if the whole room and the objects inside it are spinning or moving round and round. It can certainly make you feel like vomiting! The fact that your vertigo becomes worse when you change position, suggests that it is more likely to be due to an inner ear problem, which we call "peripheral" in the ENT world, instead of "central" which refers more to abnormalities involving the brain.
We diagnose vertigo very much based on taking a careful detailed history from you, focusing on the duration, nature, frequency and severity of each episode, as well as asking you if there have been any other associated symptoms like hearing loss, headaches, vision problems or tinnitus (a buzzing noise in your ear). We would also try to find out if there have been any events which might have triggered the vertigo. For example, some of my patients have had a flare up of their vertigo after going on a rollercoaster ride, doing yoga or after a head injury accident.
You would then be carefully examined to make sure that your eyes, ears, nerve function, balance and walking pattern are normal. This is important as it would help us to decide if you may need an MRI scan of your brain and inner ear to rule out more worrying conditions such as rare strokes which can sometimes affect just the brainstem-inner ear junction and present in a similar manner here.
I will reassure you though that by far, the most common condition to cause vertigo is called Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo (BPPV) which is due to tiny calcium crystals which have become loosened inside your inner ear. When you turn your head or change position, these crystals start to swirl round and round, giving rise to the spinning sensation of vertigo. Although BPPV is easy enough to treat with a special exercise we do in my clinic, it is very important that you get the correct diagnosis to confirm that it really is BPPV and to make sure that the correct ear is treated. What does not quite fit here is the fact that you also have headaches, a slightly more worrying symptom, that would indicate more of a need to arrange a scan for you.
Having spent part of my fellowship year in Toronto looking after many complex dizzy patients at a busy university clinic which took in patients whose own doctors found it difficult to help them, I am sure we can help you too but I certainly hope you're feeling much better by now!
