What is vertigo?

Vertigo is not a condition as such, but a symptom of other conditions that affect areas involved in regulating balance and space awareness in the inner ear (peripheral vertigo) or in specific parts of the brain (central vertigo).^[1] People affected often describe it as a spinning sensation of various intensities, which can start suddenly and last a few seconds, days, or longer. The term vertigo is often misused to describe the fear of heights, but the fear of heights, which is known as “acrophobia”, is actually unrelated to vertigo.