Alan Desmond

Alan Desmond, AuD, is the director of the Balance Disorders Program at Wake Forest Baptist Health Center, and holds an adjunct assistant professor faculty position at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. He has written several books and book chapters on balance disorders and vestibular function. He is the co-author of the Clinical Practice Guideline for Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). In 2015, he was the recipient of the President's Award from the American Academy of Audiology.

Beauty Queens and Audiologists

Is a Beauty Queen Smarter than an Audiologist? online pharmacy buy seroquel no prescription A few years ago, a poor young lady competing in the 2007 Miss USA Teen Pageant had a classic brain freeze moment. When asked why she thought one of five Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a map, she responded: “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are

Lightning Strike and Dizziness

Interesting Case Last week, I saw a very pleasant, intelligent young man referred to me for chronic imbalance and falling. He was a healthy, active man until a mobile home he was working on was struck by lightning several years ago. In addition to numerous other issues, he complained of bothersome bilateral tinnitus, but no appreciable hearing loss. The tinnitus

Best of Dizziness Depot: Role of Audiometry in Vestibular Testing

“Why are you doing a hearing test? My hearing is just fine.” I’ve heard this frequently enough over the years that I know to take a minute to explain to every vestibular patient, before we get started, why we require an audiogram. I keep it pretty straightforward and simple: “We do a quick hearing test on every patient complaining of

Best of Dizziness Depot: Blood Pressure and Dizziness

Many patients complain of dizziness or light headedness on rising from the sitting or supine position. Postural dizziness has been loosely correlated with postural or orthostatic hypotension (OH). The American Academy of Neurology (1996) has issued a consensus statement defining orthostatic hypotension which can be found here in a later post. There is some inconsistency in both education and practice

Red Wine and Fall Risk

My worlds are colliding. By day, I am a nebbish vestibular specialist doing my darndest to figure out why people are falling over, or spinning around, or getting faint when they stand up. By night, I am an untrained, but passionate amateur aspiring wannabe sommelier and chef, pairing a Brunello with a Bolognese, or a Temperanillo with a Tagliatelle. Different

Hearing Loss and Fall Risk: More Questions than Answers

Last week I posted a short blurb about a recent Johns Hopkins study linking hearing loss and fall risk. The study claims that people with even mild hearing loss have a three times greater risk of falling, and that the risk increases as the hearing loss increases. Well, I operate a practice called Blue Ridge Hearing and Balance Clinic, and

Hearing Loss and Fall Risk

Researchers at John’s Hopkins have recently published a study that links hearing loss to increased risk of falling. This information needs to be viewed from multiple perspectives. First, it adds to the list of consequential or associated issues that patients with hearing loss may suffer. Second, despite several different “risk factor” lists from several different specialty societies, this is the

Treatments for Meniere’s disease: Fact, Fiction, or Biological Plausibility, Part X

Gentamicin Risks This is the final installment in this series, and I intentionally finish with Intra-Tympanic Gentamicin (ITG) because it appears to be the most effective technique in managing the frequency and severity of episodic vertigo caused by Meniere’s disease. More recently, some physicians are using very low doses of ITG, and report fewer side effects. In short, the

Treatments for Meniere’s disease: Fact, Fiction or Biological Plausibility-Part IX

Gentamicin Intra-Tympanic Gentamicin (ITG) is considered an “ablative” procedure. While most of the treatments discussed in the earlier blogs in this series are intended to “repair” or regulate the fluid dynamics of the diseased labyrinth, ITG does not have the same goal. When the diagnosis is certain, the diseased ear has been identified, and the patient has not responded

Meniere’s disease: Fact, Fiction or Biological Plausibility, Part VIII

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