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?

When I got the device, I wondered how there would be any way to tell whether the BrainPort was actually causing improvements, or if it was just standing there for 20 minutes with your eyes closed (which you’re supposed to do in a ‘challenging’ position, thereby sort of acting as a vestibular rehabilitation exercise).

Not to mention that the BrainPort device itself costs $10 000 — and that it’s not covered by insurance. I’m going to see if I can dig up a bit of research on the device (hopefully something that hasn’t been done by the company — I’ll post anything that I find).

On another note, the doctor suggested I try out a diuretic medication for 3 months, in order to eleminate the possibility of my condition actually being vestibular Meniere’s disease. While I’m doubtful that that’s what it is (and I think he’s doubtful as well), I’ll give it a shot.

I’m also going to have the VEMP testing done, just to see if there’s anything that comes out of it. I expected a bit more pushback from the doctor over getting this test done, but he seemed fine with it. I’m not sure when exactly they’re going to get back to me, but hopefully it’ll be soon — I’d always rather know the results as soon as I can.