After the first round of vestibular rehabilitation exercises that I got a little while ago, it was time for me to go back to the VRT clinic so they could check up on how the exercises were going. I saw a different therapist this time, who was just as friendly and helpful as my regular therapist.

I told her about some positional discomfort I have when lying down on my stomach, and she asked if we could try a few more tests with the goggles with the infrared camera. I never mind more tests, since I’m always hopeful it will provide more answers.

So we went through the head-shake tests again (where the therapist shakes your head and then asks you to look to the right and then to the left), and then I watched the videotaped results again.

Much to my surprise, the nystagmus (abnormal eye movements indicating a loss of vestibular function) was present on both sides — meaning that while my right ear is worse, my left ear’s vestibular system is likely also damaged.

While obviously this isn’t really great news, the therapist said it does explain quite a bit. Usually, the full-functioning ear will kind of ‘take over’ from the deficient ear, and then your balance ends up being pretty normal afterward.

But in my case, since the second ear is damaged as well, even the compensating ear is having trouble. So not only am I getting mixed signals from my eyes and damaged right ear — I’m also getting them from my damaged left ear (no wonder my brain is confused)!

The physiotherapist advised me to stop with the balance exercises for now, and just focus on the gaze stabilization exercises (shaking my head from left to right and trying to focus on a letter on a business card held at arm’s length in front of me).

She also let me know that the movement of my head was too extreme from side to side — that it’s better to use small head motions, as this gets your eyes to do the work, not your head.

She also gave me a new exercise — holding a pen in each hand, which I then have to focus on, then turn just my eyes to focus on the other pen, then follow with my head.

This new exercise (and doing the other exercise properly now) make me very dizzy. I really don’t like doing them, but I’m willing to try anything at this point. She said if they don’t work, that they have another machine that we can try, but that that therapy is quite expensive.

Well, now that I know I have a bilateral loss as opposed to a unilateral loss, I’m hoping that the therapy can be tailored further to help me out. As usual, I’ve got my fingers crossed.