So I just came back from the vestibular rehabilitation therapist, and we went over my first exercises today. Some of them made me feel pretty dizzy and nauseous, but she says that that’s a good thing.

So I basically have 3 exercises that I have to do 3 times per day. She said we’d move on to some more challenging exercises once these become easier.

The first exercise is to stand heel-to-toe in a doorway with my eyes closed (it’s harder than it sounds, but maybe just for me). I guess this is to retrain my brain to rely more on my feet for balance than just using my vestibular system.

The second is to look at a business card from arm’s length away while shaking my head faster and faster. This one made me particularly dizzy — but again, that’s supposedly a good sign for the potential for improvement.

The third thing I have to do is to put my head down between my legs in a sitting position, and then bring my head up really fast (I mentioned this one last, but I’m actually supposed to do it before I do the other exercises to overload my vestibular system).

I’m prepared to feel worse for a little while doing these exercises if it’s going to help my longer term recovery. And the therapist is so nice about everything, she really makes me feel hopeful.

Oh, and the last thing I had to do was to stand on a kind of foam mat and try to balance myself with my eyes closed. Again, really hard to do for me (especially when I had to do it standing on one foot!). I have another appointment next week, where she’ll assess how well I’ve been doing with the exercises.