Dizziness and confusion

Been dealing with dizziness/brain fog since November 2021. Same-I’ve seen 2 neurologists, ENT, done physical therapy and have had tests that all came back “normal”.
I started acupuncture in April. Through diet and treatments, I have seen an improvement. I’m told it could take up to 5 months. I feel like I’m getting there finally. But it has taken so long!
Hope you find relief soon!

A VNG test with an audiologist has shown that I have vestibular nerve damage in one ear. This may have been caused by the covid virus. There’s no way to know for sure, but that’s what my ENT believes to be the case. I also had very difficult to treat benign positional vertigo, which is also a long covid symptom. The latter was cured with physical therapy and the former requires brain retraining through vestibular rehab since the damage is permanent.

Yes. For coming up on three years. We just had a bit of a breakthrough though. Get your lactic acid tested. Another woman with longcovid got hers tested and it was WAY out of range. She brought it back in range with the help of her doctor and was able to gain some function back.

So I got mine tested. I bought an at-home testing kit. It was WAY out of range!! Why has no doctor thought to test this before? Lactic acid builds up when your cells switch to anaerobic metabolism, which they might do if they were not receiving enough oxygen due to microclots or cardiovascular inflammation.
Here are some of the side effects of lactic acidosis (when your resting lactic acid is out of range):
1. Fatigue and weakness
2. Rapid breathing,
3. Rapid heart rate
4. Confusion, mental changes, dizziness
5. Abdominal pain
6. Nausea and vomiting

I have numbers 1-4 often. No other test has been able to find anything wrong. And I've had a LOT of testing done.
Give it a check. It could be the variable getting in the way of recovery.

Make sure you are fully hydrated, and mind your electrolytes. Often that helps with brain fog. I also take a sublingual B-12 in the morning.

Physical Therapy helped tremendously with my balance. I couldn't pass a road-side sobriety test stone sober! "Vestibular" balance is off when I can't walk toe-to-heal, loose balance when walking & turning my head like looking for something in the grocery isle or looking around the neighborhood while out for a walk. "Dizziness" when standing up from sitting/laying or feeling like the room is spinning is a whole different issue. Try to pin down which is your issue and talk with your Dr; "Orthostatic heart rate and blood pressure" readings look at changes from laying down, sitting up and then standing requires a different approach than physical therapy.

Thanks for your message. This is encouraging. I suffer from being a scientist I think. All these emails that have treatments other than those based on some kind of science are not ones I normally go for. But treatment by acupuncture are ones I am starting to consider. Is there a particular type of acupuncture you got? I live in a rural area and access to these treatments is not readily available. I would like to learn more about your experience.

What kind of doctors have you found most helpful? Do you live near a big city or clinic that takes you seriously? If so, can you tell me which one? I am willing to travel and stay for a period if I thought I could kick this thing. I am not able to pursue the things I love like traveling, travel photography, Milky Way photography because I can't walk well.

Thank you for re-energizing me.

I don’t believe it is a special type of acupuncture. I went in for an evaluation and told her my symptoms. From there she decided the types of herbs I needed to take and the diet I needed to follow. I started going twice a week. I am now down to once a month for acupuncture treatments. I am still following my diet and taking the herbs. Yesterday I received “CranioSacral Therapy” and it was very relaxing. Hoping this helps also. I also live in a rural area and have to travel 30 minutes one way to get there. It is so worth it!!

I am in Chicago; Northwestern and Shirley Ryan are well established

Yes…and same results.