ANA Discussion Forum
Post-Treatment => Balance Issues => Topic started by: cin605 on January 19, 2009, 08:11:33 am
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Yesterday i took another tumble to the right down i went,this time it seemed like forever before i could regain my balance to get back on my feet.anyone having simular experiences??I am doind the vestub rehab & excersises regularly. ???
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I'm sorry you're having balance problems. Hopefully all will resolve eventually and in the interim you won't break anything. Perhaps a little tequila might even things out? :P
Marci
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Cin:
I'm sorry to learn of your fall. I trust you weren't injured. Please be careful.
I'm over 2½ years out of surgery (retro) with a fine recovery and although my balance is good and I have no trouble maneuvering, I occasionally stumble and fall because if I happen to lose my balance (for whatever reason) I find that, in some situations, I cannot regain it fast enough to prevent me from falling. This has only happened a handful of times in the past 2½ years and isn't a problem. Naturally, I try to avoid circumstances where I might lose my balance, but, of course, that isn't always possible. I think my ability to regain my balance has improved in the past year. I'm sure, in time, yours will, too. :)
Jim
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After three years and several months, I still fall on a regular basis and I did PT for several months and do Wii fit balance things daily. I wear dark tights or slacks and long sleeved shirts all the time. I melt in the summer!!
Good luck, hopefully you will be like most people and get your balance issues under control.
Brenda
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Hi Cin,
I had my translab the same day you did. I do occasionally lose my balance...but I can pretty much catch myself before I fall. Have you talked to the doctor about this?
Don't think he can do much....and you are doing your exercises, which is good.
I feel if I walk alittle slower, it helps with my balance.
Wish I could help you more.
Please take care, and I hope to hear you are doing better in a few weeks.
Lacey
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Hi Lacey-
How are you feeling?Well i hope.
I spoke w/ my phycian & there really is nothing they can do.My vestubular is functioning at 25%.Hope w/ lots of work it will return.
Thanks Cindy
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What do you mean by formal therapy?I am just doing the vestubular rehab its at the physical therapist office.
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I'm sorry you're having balance problems. Hopefully all will resolve eventually and in the interim you won't break anything. Perhaps a little tequila might even things out? :P
Marci
Hi marci-I dunno about the taquila.I can talk the talk but do not think i can Walk The Walk. ;D
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I can get vertigo at almost any time. I've learned to be cautious but still occasionally will fall. My episodes vary in length...usually very brief 5-10 seconds or so but occasionally (rarely) if I'm tired or having a bad day they can be longer, up to a minute or two. Some things make it worse...a cold or sinus/ear infection...a change from light to darkness.
I used to be much worse...the more exercise you get, the more you work you're balance the better it will be.
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Too Funny!
I'll have to remember that one.
heres one for you:The other night i got up & came down stair to get a drink of h20.I went back up & left the downstairs hall light on
I got to the top & it was completely dark i could not find the light switch & went in to the bathroom thinking i was in my room!
I was feeling for the bed & found the bathtub!Looking for the light switch on the wrong wall & I have not had a cocktail in about a month!
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oh yeh....i have a nightlight on now!!!
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Unfortunately, over a year later, I'm still stumbling around. Yesterday, a few of us ANers got together and at least two of us had problems negotiating that walking thing.
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Its trickey inside nevermind outside in this N.H. ice-snow-sand.
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Cheri and Cindy,
Very funny stories, I'm not sure which one made me laugh more!
Cindy - since you are seeing a PT, I'm not sure what else to add, except to ask if you do your exercises every day at home too? If so, I guess keep on going and challenging yourself. I'm glad you didn't really get hurt.
Best wishes,
Wendy
P.S. If you try the tequila solution to you balance problems, sitting on the floor might be a good idea! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Did anyone ever see the movie Red Beard?Stagger,stagger,stagger...crawl,crawl,crawl.
Thanks wendy.Yes i am doing the exersises at home.
cindy
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Kind of like a lifetime game of pinball!
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boing down the stairrs...boing off the wall...boing into the washer...boing back three steps...boing forward two steps...boing drop laundry leaving it 1/2 way out of washer..boing...to the sink...boing back into refrig....boing.. sideways to get phone in living room..
boing back to the couch to sit stilll....awe time for the flipper boing its off to the bathroom....10000 points for me!! ;D
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oh yeh....i used to be a pacman! :)
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Going from light to dark is always the hardest thing for me. Most especially when at the movies. Especially if the movie has had a lot of action/movement in it. It throws my system all out of whack. I have to hold on tight to my wife and listen to her grunt and groan as she tries to guide me out of the theatre without me falling..(I'm 6-4, 250...she's 5-3, 130... ;))
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Hey Cin,
Sorry I didn't get back and answer you. Looks like you guys have been having alot of fun with this subject! ha.
The movie theater is bad, until you come to the light. Wonder what people think when we bump into them??? hummm......
Oh well, we are harmless!! ;D
I had to laugh at the story either you or Cheri told....about looking for the light switch, and finding you are in the bathroom instead of the bedroom....I've done that MANY, MANY, times. Cept" I'm not quite as smart...I still don't have a nightlight yet!! ha. I think I have one around here somewhere.
Everyone says "it will be better".........guess we just have to be patient. It's only been 7 1/2 months so far for us, Cin. Let's have this conversation in one more year, and see what we say!
I'm glad you are doing daily exercises to help you. Taking 30 minute walks helped me.....but this isn't summer here in Michigan!! I'd be slipping and falling on the ice and snow now!! LOL.
You got so many great responses on this one. Everyone cares alot about you.
God Bless,
Lacey
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Thank You Lacy.
time...oh yeh plenty of it.
soo....i put thenight light in the bathroom.Moved my bed 2 weeks ago to the othe side of the room{well,my son moved the bed}
i get up go to bathroom last night get back into my room & go to get into the bed where it was 2 weeks ago!
Hmmm... ;D...gotta see the humor in this stuff..
we can only hope next year at this time we can walk outside.Its snowey icey here in N.H. also.
cindy
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Hi all! I too have difficulty in the dark....can't do it! I have small lamps on all over my house that go 24/7. I had CK...a dear friend had surgery........we both suffer from this. We both have lights ON. Put me in the dark and balance goes. I use a cane now to stabilize myself....even in the light. Dark is a four letter word for us......down we go. In the dark I am rendered totally out of touch.....don't know where I am.....where I need to go......I think it has to do with the relationship of eyes/ears for balance. The eyes play a critical part in this. I learned this while trying retraining of the brain excercises in rehab center. I did quite well when eyes were open.....when eyes were closed balance left me in the arms of my grandaughter. It made me laugh when the therapist said...."Honey, I wasn't going to let your Nanny fall" and she replied "Oh yes you were or she wouldn't have landed on me" She is VERY protective of me and outspoken about it. When we left she said "Nanny. I dont' like this place and that lady. I don't like it when you fall over" She is 17 and I have been with her most of the time since she was born and Mom went back to work. She pointed out the use of a cane would make me more secure and lots of people use one. " don't be so "vain" was her comment.....so I got one and it is a good thing for me.....we decorated it with decorative paper and I have been using it ever since......Good idea. Dark isn't good.....timers are good too to turn on the lights when darkness in the house becomes dangerous.
Judy
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I saw one of those clappers the other day it never dawned on me i could use it.I may have to get it i thik its on sale.hey why not if my neighbor hears me clapping in the middle of the night they already think i'm crazy becouse i walk my bearded dragon on a harness
to go lay her eggs at the play ground! ;D pisture me 2 weeks out of surgery weaving down the grass hill following a lizard.
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I am so glad to hear of others having falling issues. I am almost 41/2 years post op and have done really well in general. I think that is my problem, I think I am completely normal and I am not as careful as I should be. I have fallen (A vestibular fall, smack to the ground) only 4 times. One time the arms on the foosball table reached out and grabbed me, I tried to be a long jumper and landed in the flower bed, was walking outside and someone honked and I turned my head and Bam! Yesterday we ventured outside for outside for our official beginning to spring and summer. I was doing fine and on the home stretch when I must have stepped on a rock because next thing I knew I was telling my husband I was fine and he said no your not. About that time I noticed some blood and some construction workers came running over. One drove my husband home and the others stayed with me. Thank goodness they didn't call 911, my husband is a retired firefighter and it not exactly how you want to have a reunion. Went to the emergency room and got checked out and nothing wrong except I have a very colorful face. I told my husband he might have over reacted because of the blood and some memory loss. I think what happened to Liam Neeson's wife made us a little freaked out, but then better safe than sorry. For me it seems like I have spent the last four years trying to just live a normal life, then something happens to remind me of the result of this pushy tumor. A fall, a guestion, Do you have Bells Palsy?, Someone whispering in my bad ear. And then I look around and see so many people that have it so much worse than I do. I told my surgeon I feel like I got the best of the worst and he said that was very true. The good news is I didn't break any bones so my bones must be really strong the bad news is my husband suggested I might have to wear a helmet when I walk. I think he was kidding, sort of. Nobody can understand us like each other. Thanks for sharing! Blessings, Cath
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Well.....it been awhile since i took a fall...but yesterday i went to beach/park w/ my son.Parking was tight as you can imagine a 80 degree perfect day in N.H. at the coast.I parked n we had to walk up over some stone that were probly as round as coffee cups all
piled together to make a barrier between ocean n road.I was feeling pretty good after being way off for 2 days........i thought i could..i thought i could but down the embankment i slid ......no pain yesterday but lower back hurts like hell today!
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Cindy ~
I was sorry to learn about your fall but glad you're O.K. I think we just have to adjust to the reality that our sense of balance will never be 100% again and although we can make great strides toward normalcy, we still have to be more careful than we once might have been and calculate risks when contemplating walking on less than solid/stable/flat places.
My balance is very serviceable but I can still make a wrong judgment. Last fall, while helping my son move, I foolishly jumped off the tailgate of a pickup truck, had too much forward momentum when my feet hit the ground, lurched forward and couldn't regain my balance quick enough - and fell flat on my face (well, actually, my chest). I anticipated the impending fall (at the last second), landed on grass with my hands out to break the fall - and wasn't hurt. Only my pride was (temporarily) injured. Fortunately, everyone else was inside and no one saw my inglorious fall. However, it was a sharp reminder that I simply cannot do the kinds of things I used to do without thinking, like jumping off the tailgate of a pickup truck. I'm fairly fit and used to doing stuff like that. However, I've learned to think about it before getting into any kind of situation where my impaired sense of balance might be a problem. Although one can't always anticipate these situations, I try. I no longer view my somewhat impaired sense of balance as a real deficit because, unless I get into a situation that requires excellent balance, it isn't a problem. I'm good with that.
Jim
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Thanks Jim......I am learning to look before i leap so to speak.....size up the situation before i go weebling into it!
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I haven't fallen yet, but I've come darn close a few times. Fortunately a wall was handy each time and held me up. What I do is sort of monitor the things I've done that almost made me fall. Then whenever I do one of those things, I am very alert about the risk of falling and that seems to prevent any severe balance loss. It's when I'm not paying attention that I am at risk. A few times I dropped my keys or something as simple as that. Simply bending over to pick them up sent me reeling because I wasn't paying attention and assumed it was a routine thing. So now whenever I bend over, I quickly say to myself "stay sharp" and I don't have a problem anymore. 95% of the time I could bend over without paying attention and feel perfect. It's that 5% that will get you if you don't stay alert.
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Hi Cin.....haven't been on in awhile. Sorry about your fall. I have been so out of it.....balance the worst I have ever had......body pain and so much more. Now cervical disc degeneration.....headaches galore, nausea, tinnitus, can barely get from bed to kitchen. No cocktails, no energy, no nothing. Three nights of poor sleep etc. I am going to the pain management course for ten weeks......very good attitude adjustment techniques....hasn't helped yet but hopeful.
Hope you find relief soon.
Judy
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Judy,sorry to hear you are not so good...hope pain managment class works out.
I went for nerve block it has helped w/ headach but my balance notso much..i have this one spot on the left of my neck n every so often it sends a wierd shock wave down my left shoulder blade it must be nerve firing off.
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Thirty years after surgery I still walk like a, "Drunken sailor", as my physical therapist puts it. I do not fall as often as 30 years ago, but I still loose my balance frequently.
Part of my cerebellum was removed. As I understand it the inner ear and the cerebellum provide the primary balance sensors for the individual. With loss of one inner ear and half the cerebellum, half the primary balance features no longer exist. At that point the seconday sensors, vision, and balls of the feet, become effective.
I figure this explains why my balance is worse at night, and the most horrific walking down stairs in a darkened movie theater. I do not like walking across grassy areas either, especially if soft and uneven.
This still exists after 30 years, but I actually do not hit the ground near as often as in the beginning. Maybe it is just experience.