My son (now age 16) has suffered from episodic vertigo, nausea and vomiting from an early age.

Anne

This discussion was created from comments split from: Hi I'm Vicki. I worked as paediatric audiologist with children with complex needs. Ask away!.

Anne

My son (now age 16) has suffered from episodic vertigo, nausea and vomiting from an early age. After undergoing various investigations/tests our ENT Consultant has informed me that there would appear to be a problem in the saccule of the vestibular system. The ENT Consultant is recommending rehabilitation for my son. At present our local hospital (OCT Department) have told me that they are not trained in this particular area and that my son will need a specialist physiotherapist who is trained to deal with my son's particular problem. I should be very grateful for any advice on this problem and wonder if you know of any specialist vestibular therapists out there who may be able to help.

VickiKirwin

Hi Anne

Specialist vestibular (balance) services for children are rare in this country. I'm not aware of a list of specialist physiotherapists that I can give you but there are a few audiology services that have a specialist children's service which would include physiotherapists or specially trained audiological scientists: St Georges, London; Sheffield Children's Hospital; Nuffield Centre at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, Kings Cross, London.

Your current audiology/ENT team should be able to make the referral for you or alternatively you can ask your GP to refer for you. Use the Dr Foster website http://www.drfosterhealth.co.uk/consultant-guide/ to look for an audiovestibular physician (a doctor who specialises in hearing and balance disorders but does not do surgery) click on ‘consultant guide', select body area ‘ears', select condition or procedure ‘any ear disorder', speciality ‘audiological medicine' and enter your postcode. A list of doctors will come up with the closest to your home first . If you click on each doctor you can read their listed areas of expertise and/or special interests and choose one that works in one of the above services.

Vicki