balance problem

[Guest guest]

Something strange happen to my balance on Saturday,last, I tried to get out of

bed at 6 am, when both my legs just gave out. I know it was a nerve problem. I

just kept falling down and I almost couldn't get back up.

 

I made an appointment with the Neurologist it's in August. I did make an

appointment with my personal care physician just in case I need his advice, that

too is in August (2ND), much more earlier than the neurologist, he's on the

(21St).

I was told to get in the hospital right away, but I knew what they would do,

especially if I got there after five on a Friday. I told the nurse and she

agreed. The nurse at my Dr's office got a back up of information from the RN

there.

Now that its two days later, my back is out of whack. I guess I'm just too sore

from all the falling.

[Guest guest]

Oconnell wrote: Saturday,last, I tried to get out of bed at 6 am,

I am totally familiar with the balance problem. One morning in 2005, I woke up

and I could not walk, either. Balance is a very scary issue. And it is so

critical to everything that we do! For me, the only way my balance has been

restored is by mind over matter and that took months of therapy and focus.

I have had many bouts with dizziness in my life, one reason being my low blood

pressure. My blood pressure is about 80/50 and that is after physical

activity. It goes down from there. Also, when I stand up the stars fly and the

room spins, but this one no-balance morning, was just different.

But his particular morning, it was not dizziness, or vertigo, it was a strange

balance issue to where I was unable to walk. I went to the Emergency Room. The

doctor I saw was horrible. He was extremely rude, and asked me if I was a

heroin user. At the time, I had never taken any pain management medication in

my life. My pain started the same day that my balance episode occurred.

A few months later and all kinds of balance and vestibular testing, blood

testing, xrays, MRIs, and CT scans. They found that my left ear had somehow

lost 96% of it's function, which means it sends out bad messages about my body

position. Our bodies use our ears to balance.

Actually, we use three things to balance, our vestibular system or ears, our

visual system or eyes, and our proprioceptive system also known as our joints.

So, with the one ear working only 4% of the time, it was not allowing me to

walk, or stand, and was causing me difficulties with balance.

I won't get into the ear story here.

I ended up going to vestibular/balance therapy. I had to stand on one foot,

walk on pillows, walk in the dark, sit balanced on a balance ball with eyes,

closed, shake my head left/right until I was so dizzy I was nauseous, then bring

things back into focus, and many other literally sickening tests. The tests

made me so nauseous and I had bruises all over from trying to stay upright.

It took about 6 months before I could walk properly again. And, even these

days, if I am overly tired, or do not feel well, didn't get enough sleep, didn't

eat the proper foods and my hypoglycemia kicks in, or if there is anything

throwing me off like a loud sound or unexpected passer-by, absolutely anything

not allowing me to focus 150% on walking, I will still fall. When I'm under the

weather, I walk like a drunk person.

I literally carry a card signed by the chief of the Ear Nose & Throat department

at the hospital that says that I have vestibular issues, and my gait may appear

unstable. All so I do not get a ticket for public drunken-ness.

These days, one thing that's kind of interesting is that when I have my

focus-cap on, and I can attend my full focus on my walking and standing, my

balance is actually better than average. I can do things balance-wise that

perfectly healthy athletes cannot do. Why? Because I practiced for months! I

still practice a few times a week.

My favorite practice exerscise is using my theraband stability trainers. They

are soft, but not, and I have to stand on them with my eyes closed. They don't

really have substance, so I really have to pay attention to which end is up.

Since my vestibular system is the failed system, I had to train to use the other

two systems, the visual and the proprioceptive. And in the dark, or with my

eyes closed, that leaves me with only my proprioceptive. So, many times when I

am lying down, and I am not feeling my joints to provide me positional info, I

am extremely dizzy and nauseous and even worse when my low blood pressure or

hypoglycemia kick in.

Some medications that I can take cause my balance to go awry, but so many other

things knock it whacky, too. So for me, my balance is restored by mind over

matter, nothing else seems to work.

Jade