🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Vestibular Disorders course.
What Vestibular Disorders Are
Inner ear or brain balance system disorders. Many types.
Learn ItTreatment Stack
Vestibular rehab + sometimes meds for vertigo, migraine, Meniere.
Learn ItRed Flags
Stroke-mimic vertigo · fall with head injury · new neurological signs.
Learn ItCommon Triggers
Head position changes, certain foods (Meniere), salt, caffeine, stress.
Learn ItCommon Types
BPPV (positional), Meniere, vestibular migraine, neuritis, PPPD.
Learn ItMed Use
Antihistamines, anti-nausea, migraine meds. Many situational.
Live ItVestibular Rehab
PT specialized in balance. Brain compensates with practice.
Live ItExercise + Movement
Counter-intuitive: movement helps. Avoidance worsens.
Live ItDiet (Meniere)
Low salt, low caffeine, low alcohol for Meniere patients.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring vertigo diary, trigger log, fall record.
Live ItYour Care Team
ENT, neurology, vestibular PT, audiology, sometimes psychiatry.
Live ItTracking
Vertigo apps, symptom diaries, hearing apps.
Live ItInsurance + Cost
PT often covered. Some testing requires specialty referral.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Patients often misdiagnosed for years. Your story shortcuts theirs.
Share ItAdvocate
Vestibular Disorders Association — awareness and research.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Genetic causes of Meniere, novel migraine prevention, balance prosthetics.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
Vestibular symptoms are mostly chronic. The ladder catches falls and stroke-mimics.
Handle at home
- Manageable baseline symptoms
- Following vestibular therapy
- Triggers identified and avoided when possible
Log it. Therapy works — brain learns to compensate.
Call the office / message the portal
- Worsening dizziness for >24 hr
- Running low on meds
- New hearing change
- New medication may be causing or worsening
Same day. Hearing change with dizziness can mean Meniere flare or other.
Urgent / Acute care
- Severe vertigo preventing function
- Fall without major injury
- Persistent vomiting from vertigo
- New tinnitus pattern
Urgent care. Workup for type/cause.
ER NOW / call 911
- Sudden severe dizziness with stroke signs (FAST)
- Fall with head injury
- Severe vertigo + new weakness, vision change, double vision, severe headache
- Loss of consciousness
Call 911. Stroke can mimic vestibular vertigo — the neurological exam matters.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Vertigo episodes for a week, a 7 worst, triggered by rolling over in bed, lasts about 60 seconds, Epley maneuver helps a little, and I had a cold 10 days ago.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Vestibular Disorders:
- “What kind of vestibular disorder do I have — BPPV, Meniere, vestibular migraine, neuritis, PPPD?”
- “Am I in vestibular rehabilitation — or should I be?”
- “What’s our plan for distinguishing my usual symptoms from stroke?”
- “Are there triggers I should track and avoid?”
- “Fall prevention — what tools and home modifications do I need?”