@joyces After writing my reply above, I went to my "balance folder" and found a whole collection of dialogue with you and others on this subject. When writing tonight I had a feeling that someofwhat I wrote was repetitive. Sorry! But now I want to comment on your talk about your "stubborn" husband (about helping himself with his health problems) and others comments about their "uncooperative" spouses and depression. I was once in a similar position with my husband who has since passed away. All of you burdened and frustrated caretakers should check out the Well Spouse organization. It is terrific, was a major support to me and has been very helpful to so many. All that's needed is googling it.

Reply to barbb about balance exercises: If you spend as little as 15 minutes a day for a month, you should see improvement. Then, the trick is not to get cocky and slack off a lot! It's soooo easy to enjoy better balance and think you've done quite enough, but you really need to work a little every day. Years ago, in my 40s, I spent 4 years in Meniere's hell...as many as three times a week I had crises that lasted 12-15 hours (unable to move from wherever I went down, vomiting, no fun whatsoever). I did continue to manage a small publishing company, and there were lots of fishing trips. I've had crises in planes, boats, lodges, restaurants, cars...you name it! I was constantly afraid of falling, afraid that everyone around me wanted to push me down. I knew that wasn't true, but that's how fearful I was. Having a conference in the area where we assembled pages was a trial, as I had unreal fears that everyone was just waiting to knock me down...even though I knew that wasn't true. Wading and hiking were true tests, and I was fearful every minute.

As soon as I got Meniere's under control with hormones, I started working on proprioception. Within a month I was far more confident of being able to move around. In two months, I was able to climb a ladder to clean gutters...and that made me able to wade much better for a couple of days. Anything that challenges your vestibular system will make you more stable for a short time. I was amazed to learn how many things there were to see when I didn't spend all my time along the river staring at the ground ahead of where I was hiking! Three months after starting daily work, I was playing coed basketball with my grown kids...and stole the ball from one of my son's friends, who was devastated. <g> I often took groups of young people (high school and college) on fish surveys and was amazed that they weren't able to keep up with me. The year before, I had struggled to keep up, and now I was far out in front!

This year, shortly after getting the Meniere's monster firmly locked up again, I installed temperature monitors in a wild little river. Just walking was a challenge, and wading was 100% fear. Two months later, after just three appts. with the VRT specialist, I hiked and waded the same stretch with confidence. I'm 78 now, and most people are amazed at all the things I do--and that's the way I want to keep it! Once a week I drive over a hundred miles each way to load roughly 500 loaves of donated bread (about 800 pounds, lifted two or three times), and the following day I unload and pack that into freezers, then pull bread from freezers and deliver it around town. All the lifting means that I'm keeping my bones extra strong. I did fall, badly, twice this past year after going bilateral, but I didn't break anything.

Time to check the tide tables to see when the next set of good tides for crabbing will be so that I can hook up the boat, toss in the pots, and bring some crabs home for dinner.