The type of vertigo you are suffering from give your doctors in important hint where to look for the causes. Therefore the first important question is: "Is your vertigo directional?" Types of vertigo to which patients attribute a direction often have a concrete cause, e.g. damage to the balance organ in the inner ear (peripheral and vestibular disorder).
Directional types of vertigo
Rotational vertigo often comes with a spinning sensation, like the room is turning or tilting - similar to riding a merry-go-round. Such vertigo occurs e.g. with Menière's disease, with benign positional vertigo (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo [BPPV]) or failure of the vestibular system (neuropathia vestibularis).
Postural vertigo manifests itself in an uncertain, shaky gait; you feel as if the room around you is staggering or you are – not unlike being on a boat on a stormy sea. This vertigo is typical of e.g. somatoform vertigo – for psychogenic or stress-induced vertigo.
Floating sensation (vertigo) on the other hand makes you feel like riding an elevator that starts moving: The bottom of the elevator cabin seems to either lift or drop and can give you a feeling of up and down dizziness. Floating sensation (vertigo) can also be indicative of somatoform causes.
In contrast to directional forms of vertigo, non-directional vertigo or lightheadedness makes those affected feel wobbly on their legs; they feel "woozy" or have visual problems (seeing double or black spots before their eyes). Many patients report "cotton in their head". Non-directional vertigo can point toward cardiovascular or metabolic diseases but also visual disorders as a possible cause.
Apart from types of vertigo whose symptoms are indicative of certain disorders, there are also types of vertigo with causes that are either diverse or inconclusive. This is why the term multifactorial vertigo is used to encompass all these different types, i.e. vertigo that is influenced by several factors.
Schneider B et al. (2005): Treatment of vertigo with a homeopathic complex remedy compared with usual treatments: a metaanalysis of clinical trials. Arzneim-Forsch/Drug Res 55(1):23-29