I had my appointment with the neurotologist today, and much to my surprise, neither of the doctors in neurotology had ever heard of the BrainPort, nor did they know what it did. If this is the latest advance in vestibular treatments, how come neither of these doctors has even heard of it?

This would me to one of two conclusions: either the BrainPort is not as great as its makers would have us believe, or both of these doctors aren’t keeping up on their reading about advances in treatments. But how am I, the patient, supposed to determine which is the case?

I’ve been using the BrainPort for about two weeks, and I haven’t really noticed any difference at all in my symptoms — does that mean the BrainPort doesn’t work?

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It’s now been almost 2 weeks that I’ve been using the BrainPort, and I haven’t really noticed any difference so far. I’ve been sticking with the 20 minutes twice a day as prescribed by the physiotherapist, and have only missed the second session on a few days.

I certainly don’t feel any different after doing the BrainPort exercises (except for being a bit sleepy from keeping my eyes closed for 20 minutes), and I haven’t really noticed any improvement in my symptoms over the past few weeks.

Since I have a hard time keeping my eyes closed for 20 minutes (I get really bored), I’ve figured out that an episode of Seinfeld is about twenty minutes long without ads, the intro and closing credits (I’ve got them on DVD). So I listen to the episodes while I stand there with my eyes closed (I only turn the sound on, not the picture, so I’m not tempted to open my eyes to watch the show).

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I got the BrainPort today, and I’m going to be trying it out for a month. Basically the BrainPort is a plastic box, just a bit bigger than the size of my hand, that has a cord attached to it on one end, which goes around your neck (leaving the BrainPort to hang and rest on your chest).

It has a long, flexible plastic protrubance on the other end with a square, gold-coloured set of electrodes at the end, which rest on your tongue. The front of the box has a button and a dial on it, which turn the device on and off, as well as regulate the level of electricity that flows from the electrodes to your tongue.

I’ve been instructed to use the BrainPort for 20 minutes twice a day, which I have to do in a ‘challenging balance position’ — which for me is standing heel to toe (like a tight-rope walker). It’s really hard on the legs and feet though, because you spend the 20 minutes swaying back and forth trying to keep your balance.

When using the BrainPort, it gives your tongue a little shock (nothing serious, it’s certainly not painful in any way) when you go off-centre. It’s supposed to somehow condition your tongue to understanding where your head is at in space. I’m going to try it out for the whole month, and I’ll report back on how it goes as the month progresses. I hope it works.

I went back to see the vestibular rehabilitation therapist, and they said there’s not really much noticeable improvement — so now we’re going to try to complete overload the vestibular system and see if it causes it to improve.

I’m still supposed to do the exercsises with the business card and moving my head horizontally back and forth, but now I’m also supposed to move my hand horiztonally back and forth in the opposite direction. It tends to make me feel a bit nasty.

I’ve also got to do what is essentially tight-rope walking with my eyes closed — just without the tight-rope (I do it across the floor in my apartment). I have a really hard time staying in a straight line, which the therapist says is normal with bilateral damage.

The last thing I have to do is stand on one foot while brushing my teeth (both in the morning and at night), which I also find tough. I’m hoping that between all these different exercises, we’ll start to some improvement. If not, then it’s going to be the BrainPort route for sure.