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Many months of 24/7 vertigo...very debilitating
Brain & Nervous System | Last Active: Jul 8, 2023 | Replies (25)Comment receiving replies
I have severe balance problems as so many of us do. My "neurologist" said it was my imagination. I then fell badly and went to the ER. They could find nothing wrong with my vestibular apparatus. Then the audiologist sent me to a PhD vestibular expert. She put me in a totally black room where I had no visual support for up or down or any direction and it was totally silent except for the whir of her machines. She took a number of x-ray or MRI type recordings of the electrical (?) emanations (?) and they indicated I had a good deal of demyelination going on in my cerebellum and brain stem. She confirmed the ear was perfect wrto (with respect to) vestibular apparatus.
I would like to read what other people with severe balance problems have done wrto living with this problem. Simple things I used to do have become a subject to debate if I turn my head too fast....I am very careful when I drive about that!
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Tia Chi exercise helps me
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First, immediate imbalance/vertigo after turning your head quickly is BPPV--benign positional paroxysmal vertigo. Many older people have it as their vestibular systems don't work as well as they used to. The vertigo is very momentary (doesn't last more than seconds) and often happens when you turn over or start to get up from sleeping. Lots of us with other inner ear disease also are "treated" to BPPV, just to add to the fun.
Answer to imbalance/vertigo is to learn to use your third balance system, proprioception. When your inner ear isn't as effective as it used to be, you automatically begin to use vision (second balance system). That's bad, because every time you move your head you lose your position in space. Simply put, proprioception is leaning just the right amount into the wind when you're standing on a very windy exposed place. Your feet, ankles, knees, legs, hips are all very important to using proprioception. The simplest thing to do is to stand with your eyes closed, thinking about your feet, as long as you can without wobbling. Then, walk a short distance, eyes closed (in a safe place like a hallway). Start in sock feet and progress to wearing shoes, which makes the exercise more difficult. Do NOT use night lights: instead, walk in your house at night without any lights on (after checking for anything that could trip you, of course). Don't use a flashlight outside, but let your feet tell you about the surface underfoot. When you're walking a distance outside in the light, do NOT stare at the ground ahead: instead, look ahead 10-20 feet to check for obstacles, then let your feet lead you that distance while enjoying the things around you/above you. There are specific exercises, but that's the core of vestibular rehab (VRT). IF (big word, that!) you do VRT for 10-15 minutes every day, you will feel far more secure within a month, or less. The great thing about VRT is that you can do it as part of your daily life, at any time.
I have Meniere's, now bilateral (both ears), am 79, and still do very difficult instream data collection for our state fisheries agency, in a remote watershed by myself with no cell reception for about 20 miles. I've had nonfunctional inner ear balance systems for nearly 40 years. Every time I slack off on VRT, I quickly have less confidence moving around; the small effort is very worthwhile. Try it!