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.
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.
I’ve often complained that I constantly feel like I’m falling or dropping when sitting still. It’s a terrible feeling, and it really drives me nuts. For me, the feeling comes and goes — it’s worse when I’m tired or hungry.
A case like Cheryl’s would normally be completely hopeless. But due to a specially-fitted construction hat that’s connected to her tongue (yes, you read that right, her tongue), she’s able to actually regain her sense of balance while wearing the hat.
I went to a physiotherapy clinic for an assessment with a physiotherapist that specializes in vestibular rehabilitation therapy, and I got some extremely good news. She thinks she can have my functioning almost back to normal in about 6 weeks!
The physiotherapist videotaped my eyes using some goggles (they resemble scuba goggles, and this is the third time I’ve had to wear them for this particular type of test). They’re very tight-fitting and a bit uncomfortable, and they make things very dark.
Apparently there are infrared cameras inside the goggles that record your eye movements; so after the physiotherapist shook my head back and forth with her hands, I had to look up and to the left, and then up and to the right.
Lately I’ve had a strange sensation in my right ear — it’s like it’s throbbing irregularly (kind of the like the feeling when you’re heart is beating really fast after a vigorous workout).
I’ve never had this sensation before, but it seems to show up mostly in the morning and before I go to bed. I’ve started using in-ear headphones more often lately, and I’m wondering if it has something to do with that.
My overall balance seems to have improved a bit though, right about the time the ear throbbing started. Could this be some kind of sign that something is going on in my ear? That the throbbing has somehow improved my balance?
I’m just wondering if anyone else has felt this kind of throbbing in their ear before. It’s a very unique sensation, and if you’ve had it, I’m sure you’ll know what I mean.
It’s been a beautiful weekend here, and I’ve been enjoying doing lots of things outdoors. I try to spend as much time as possible outside when the weather’s nice, and I’m kind of an outside person by nature.
Most of my time was spent at the beach this weekend, which is certainly one of my favourite places to be. Yet it actually made me notice something about my balance that has really never occurred to me before…
When lying on my stomach and with my head at a 45 degree angle, I often get ‘drop attacks’ or feelings of sudden imbalance. The same goes for when my head is tilted at a 45 degree angle the other way.
I took the long weekend off, which was nice, but today I’m having a particularly tough time with a particular sensation that I get (too often, unfortunately).
I’ve alternately heard them called “drop attacks”, “the startles”, “brain spasms” or a host of other names that I can’t really explain that well. It basically feels like the floor’s being pulled out from under you, and that you’re suddenly falling — and that you need to quickly regain your balance.
There’s occasionally the times where it manifests itself as a bit of a weird spacey feeling, which I had never gotten before the vestibular neuritis. The feeling is quite distracting, and it’s often difficult to concentrate (and it’s usually worse when I don’t get enough sleep or enough to eat).
Has anyone else experienced a similar sensation? I sometimes wonder if it’s psychological or physiological — is this my body actually experiencing something, or is my brain just suddenly freaked out about the potential dizziness it think it feels?
Well, it’s a long weekend here in Canada (a very long weekend for me, since July 1st is Canada Day, and I also took an extra day off on Monday). This usually means lots of travelling in the car, and for us dizziness sufferers, some uncomfortable times.
I thought I’d provide a quick list of things that seem to work well for me when I have to travel as far as keeping the dizziness at a minimum:
1. If at all possible, be the one driving. Strange as it may sound, I get much more dizzy when someone else is driving. I think it’s that I can’t anticipate the shifts in balance as quickly as when I have to pay attention to them.
2. Avoid caffeine and be wary of medications. Caffeine makes you jumpy and agitated, and is just going to make your dizziness worse. If you’re too tired and feel like you need caffeine to keep going, take a break instead (and a quick nap somewhere safe off the road if you can). Avoiding medications that make you drowsy is also an obvious one — being safe should be your first concern.
Fortunately, when the weather improves, it always seems to help with my symptoms of imbalance — I don’t know if this is psychosomatic or if there actually is some physiological cause for it, but it definitely seems to be the case.
I don’t know if this is the case for anyone else, but I find clear, sunny weather is when my symptoms abate the most — and overcast, rainy and even chilly weather is when my symptoms are the worst.
I realize that sunny and clear summer weather is bound to improve both your mood and your general outlook on life (at least it certainly does for me), and in my case, more daylight during the summer hours is helpful as well.
But is there an actual link between weather and balance symptoms? Does anyone know of a link, or at least share these types of symptoms that improve/worsen based on the weather?
I mentioned before that the meclizine was really helping things. It would seem however, that for some reason, it’s no longer really helping very much at all.
I’ve frequently been waking up with very dizzy, falling sensations. It’s especially bad in the morning when I wake up — and it’s starting to drive me a little nuts.
It’s tough to deal with, especially when I thought I had somewhat of a solution with the meclizine. I’m still taking it, and it seems to keep things from getting overwhelmingly dizzy, but it’s not doing nearly what it was before.
The comment about these being referred to as “drop attacks” is right on the money. That’s exactly like what they feel like — one minute I’m sitting or standing comfortably doing something, the next I feel like I’m tumbling through space.
