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.

Featured image for “Mal de Debarquement -Update”

Mal de Debarquement -Update

This post will be an update of two previous posts regarding Mal de Debarquement syndrome (MDD). This is prompted by a recent visit from a patient that had already been diagnosed with MDD, but came to us wanting to know the latest information regarding treatment. We see only a few patients a year meeting the diagnostic criteria for MDD, so

Featured image for “Vestibular Evaluation: comprehensive vs. incomplete?”

Vestibular Evaluation: comprehensive vs. incomplete?

Brady Workman is back this week with another blog post. This weeks post will focus on comprehensive vestibular assessment and what that entails. Recently, I had the opportunity to observe with staff members in the Balance Clinic at the Vanderbilt University Bill Wilkerson Center. Vanderbilt University is a prestigious university with an exemplary Balance Clinic, known worldwide as a leader

Featured image for “Olympic Skaters and Dizziness”

Olympic Skaters and Dizziness

Although I struggle to understand or be entertained by many of the events in the Winter Olympics, I can appreciate the dedication and athleticism required to compete in some of them. I grew up in New England where I developed a strong aversion to anything snow related, and only appreciate ice when it is floating in a glass. This post

Featured image for “Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs): what does the evidence show?”

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs): what does the evidence show?

Editor’s Note: Brady Workman is back this week with a follow up to a post from several months ago VEMPs: what are they good for? This week’s post will instead focus on what the scientific evidence shows VEMPs are good for. The vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) is a relatively new means of vestibular assessment, which only received FDA approval

Featured image for “Otolith Crisis of Tumarkin: A Rare and Frightening Presentation of Meniere’s Disease”

Otolith Crisis of Tumarkin: A Rare and Frightening Presentation of Meniere’s Disease

In the past decade, we have had our share of events that have been labeled a crisis. We had the housing crisis, then the stock market crisis. Today, we are going to talk about a different kind of crisis. Originally described in 1932, the otolith crisis of Tumarkin (also described as a “Drop Attack“) is a rare but frightening presentation

Featured image for “Skull Vibration Induced Nystagmus Test: shaking up vestibular assessment?”

Skull Vibration Induced Nystagmus Test: shaking up vestibular assessment?

Brady Workman is back this week with an article about vibration induced nystagmus, and how they can be helpful in vestibular function testing: In the area of vestibular assessment, our test findings can sometimes be a bit unclear, often leaving us with as many questions as answers. This is especially true in cases where patients’ vestibular function

Featured image for “My Favorite Post – Meclizine (Updated)”

My Favorite Post – Meclizine (Updated)

This is a mildly updated version of my most read post regarding the use of meclizine. It is only mildly updated because there is still very little new information available. Most patients complaining of dizziness or vertigo have been prescribed meclizine at some point. For a medication that is so widely used, there is very little solid information, creating potential

Featured image for “Cervical Vertigo – Diagnosis, Possible Causes and Treatment”

Cervical Vertigo – Diagnosis, Possible Causes and Treatment

Dr. Brady Workman is back this week with a post inspired by a patient we saw in the clinic last week. Dizziness and vertigo are common symptoms of patients within primary care clinics, with dizziness accounting for 2.5% and vertigo for around 1% of all patient visits. The majority of these symptoms are related to vestibular system dysfunction; however, other

Featured image for “Trials and Tribulations of Vestibular Pioneers”

Trials and Tribulations of Vestibular Pioneers

Paving the way isn’t always easy. Today’s post started as a Thanksgiving-themed “Thank you” note to some of our vestibular pioneers, but as I researched the backgrounds of these pioneers, I was struck by some of the trials, tribulations, and misadventures some of them encountered. Let’s start with Robert Barany. He won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in

Featured image for “Living with Chronic Vestibular Dysfunction”

Living with Chronic Vestibular Dysfunction

I am about seven weeks out from an acute vestibular neuritis. From a clinician’s point of view, this is a textbook case of acute vestibular syndrome that I have seen hundreds of times. This time, as the patient, my experience has been predictable in some ways, and hard to explain in other ways. The first thing we do when we