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Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others
Hearing Loss | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (1456)Comment receiving replies
@joyces Thank you Joyce for your reply. It's a real treat to get this history and so much more! One of the places for VRT you didn't mention is Rusk (NYC) where I have been. They were very helpful to me with my balance after a tumor was removed from my acoustic nerve, which, during surgery irritated my balance nerve and thus I had hardly any balance for a while. But since then I returned years later to shore up my not too great balance, and felt that the therapy accomplished little. (I would think it was VRT the 2nd time but don't know for sure.) At any rate, I was disappointed, feeling I saw no significant progress. Since then I have at different times done PT and had essentially the same feeling of disappointment despite the fact that many people said "do the exercises, it will help". Still, I could not see any sign of progress. And then on April 1st, walking in the park, I fell and fractured my arm. Since the fall my balance is bad enough that I almost always use a cane and am thinking about getting a walker (which no professional has suggested). And then....you come along with your gung ho message and make me pause! 🙂 I think to myself, is it really possible that exercises could significantly improve my balance?
I have taken note especially of the step exercise you mention. The steps available to me in my apt building are 7". Do you think that is low enough for me to practice? Courtesy of you I'll have to get serious about proprioception!
Thanks again for your rich supply of information!
Replies to "@joyces Thank you Joyce for your reply. It's a real treat to get this history and..."
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.
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@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.