Re-calibration of Balance- how long is normal?

[HeadCase2]

  I'm 11 days post-op (vestibular nerve cut on one side) and wondering how long it takes to successfully re-calibrate balance?  I know some have continuing balance issues, and my heart goes out to them.  But what I'm asking here, is how long it took for folks who sucessfully have gone through this process.  Thanks for any feedback.
Regards,
 Rob

[Boppie]

It took me four weeks to be really good at things I wanted to do in my normal daily routine.  That is not to say I could do sports activity. Now at 9 weeks I only have a little head motion when I spin around fast.  I can do a pretty good drunk walk now with my arms to help.  Actually my drunk walk was worse at pre-op.  Running is rediculously funny!

I am 64, 2 CM AN Translab 12/15/05.  Most of hearing lost pre-op.  Not a sudden loss. All side affects recovered to normal except tongue numbness and taste silliness. Very few headaches, no migraine either.  The implication is the bigger the AN the bigger the issues. 

P.S. The "perfect" drunk walk is hard for many healthy people.  So work toward "Good"

[JHager]

Howdy!

I had translab on 11/7/05 for a 3cm AN.  It probably took me 4 weeks to feel 'normal' during normal activity, like walking stairs and driving.  Now, I barely notice any balance issues at all - only when I'm actually really tired.

I'm back to the gym, running, hiking - all the stuff I like to do.  Plus, I just got back from Disneyland yesterday - rode Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain without feeling anything more than the usual rollercoaster yips.  Fun stuff.

Good luck, and I hope your recovery goes as smoothly!

Josh

[Sanddollar]

Hello, there.

I had translab surgery on the 25th of January.  The surgeons were great and the tumor cooperative, so my procedure was only about 8 hours long. 

I had significant hearing/balance impairment prior to surgery, so I think this has gone a long way toward easing my adjustment.  The second day after surgery I was walking easily in the hospital, and other than some wandering on/off sidewalks when I don't pay attention, I feel very comfortable moving around.  I can stand in the shower with my eyes closed, go up/down the stairs, and I am driving on short trips, no freeways yet.  I am contemplating putting my rollerblades back on - full pads/helmet - to see how it feels post-op... this may be the end of my forward progress...  I'll have to let you know.   

Sanddollar

[DeniseSmith]

  I'm 11 days post-op (vestibular nerve cut on one side) and wondering how long it takes to successfully re-calibrate balance?  I know some have continuing balance issues, and my heart goes out to them.  But what I'm asking here, is how long it took for folks who sucessfully have gone through this process.  Thanks for any feedback.
Regards,
 Rob

Rob, i don't understand your comment "how long it took folks who sucessfully have gone through the process".  I had a 2 inch x 2 1/4 inch, yes mine was measured in inches, AN removed on my left side, 5/9/05. My "wait and see" time was a speedy 34 days from diagnosis to surgery.  Even though I have gone through and continue to go through major changes in my life due to my AN. I consider myself a person who has sucessfully completed surgery (I am alive) and even though some people on here have had better outcomes than me, I am offended by your comment.  I think as long as we come out of surgery alive, it is successful.

 My balance problems continue to improve, through my pt exercises, and I think you need to remember we all have different outcomes, and different people heal at different speeds. 

Thanks, i needed to vent.....
Denise

[Jeanlea]

Hi Rob,

I think everyone goes through the recalibration process at different rates.  For me, I began by walking with a cane, mostly because it made me feel more secure.  I ditched it about 3 weeks after surgery.  My balance has steadily improved.  I'm lucky in that I can walk a straight line.  My PT doctor told me to stand on a pillow with my eyes closed to help me.  Now I can put my feet together on the pillow, close my eyes and not fall over.  I only notice my balance problem when I first get up in the morning, probably because I'm not yet fully awake.  lol  A couple of weeks ago I was in Florida and was able to do some kayaking.  Once I got over being nervous I was fine.  Now if my face would just come back, I'd be great.

Good luck to you. 
Jean

[HeadCase2]

  Thanks everyone for your feedback.  It's been very helpful.  I had originally planned on 4 weeks loff work.  I've now extended that to 6 to 8 weeks.
  I would describe loosing vestibular function on one side as being cut adrift.  Our sense of balance allows use to move our eyes, our heads, our bodies, etc., and still feel "grounded" in one place.  When the vestibulat nerve is severed, you have to re-develop that grounded abiliity.
  Here's a brief description of retraining balance, so far (two and a half weeks post-op).
  First 24-30 hours in ICU, even moving your eyes around the room gives you a kind of lurching feeling.  I kept my eyes closed a lot the first 24 hours.
  Next few days, moved my eyes around the room more after one my Drs explained that it helped with re-aquiring a sense of balance.  Moving you body or head around still gives a lurching feeling.  It's hard to describe, but is kind of like being very inebriated.
  Day two, walked around the ward with the help of a walker.  Looking down seemed easier than looking up and out while walking.  Therapist wanted me to look up and out to speed re-calibration.
  Day four, the ride home was a real experience, everything seemed to be in motion.  It was even hard to look at the car in front of us, it was moving around too much.
  Two and a half weeks out, I'm walking around OK  No lurching with eye movements.  Still some lurching with moving the head while looking at one thing.  Ridung in the car is much better, but still not really comfortable.  I don't feel capable of driviing yet.  Things improving daily.
   

[Boppie]

...Being "cut adrift"  I like that, Rob.  I am glad to hear from you.
To give readers another version...
I was asleep for 24 hours in ICU.  When I heard I could go to my room I sat up in bed, got on my feet and into a chair.  I was able to fix my eyes steady from the start.  My legs were a little shaky but I could walk unaided with a gliding motion.  I was told from the beginning to keep my eyes up and I was able to do it.  The ride home in the car was without dizziness but I had to keep my eyes at the horizon level the whole 115 mile trip.  My surgery was Translab and I had lost considerable hearing over a long period of time.  I think my initial recovery of balance went fast because I'd already compensated for it.  In general, I would describe balance recovery as feeling disconnected from surroundings, mildly light headed.  At ten weeks out I sometimes get a whirl out of rising quickly from a chair and turning to walk.  Driving has been fine.  But I don't use freeways and overpasses yet.

[becknell]

Glad to hear things are improving slowly, Rob. Give it time. My husband was pretty much back to normal after 4 weeks, but he had a large tumor and the drs. told us people who have larger tumors often have fewer balance problems as their bodies have already learned to compensate for the loss of the vestibular function. Are you going to be getting any more therapy or are you done?

[Kathleen_Mc]

I can remember still being off balance at 3 1/2 months post-op and I still returned to work, it wasn't that bad but still there. Kathleen

[Captain Deb]

Rob,
I had a relatively small-1.2cm. tumor which means other systems(vision, surface sensors) hadn't compensated at all.  How big was your tumor?
It has taken about 3 years to get to where I can do just about anything I did before, with the exception of anything really exerting, because I get really bad headaches from exertion. 

Am currently going to the gym trying to "push" myself into desensiting my head from these exertional headaches since they don't want to go away by themselves.  The other day I stood on a barstool in my studio and changed the direction swithch on my fan!  Without even thinking!

Have you gotten together with a physical therapist trained in vestibular disorders?  This is crucial!  I can't say that one enough.  I worked with one for 6 months--Had to pay for a lot of it myself --Insurance only paid for 30 sessions--but it was work it.  There is a lot you can do at home.  Google VEDA on yer 'puter the society for Vesibular Disorders--lots of info there.

Hope to be sailing soon
Captain Deb

[Battyp]

Rob...I was going to be out for 6 to 8 weeks and I'm still considered out.  I'm back 10 hours a week some from balance issues some from other issues.  I spent the first two months with a walker and now just wobble when I'm tired.  It just requires so much concentration to walk "normal" again...Hopefully you'll fair better.  What is it you do?  Standing still is a lot harder than walking.  I tend to sway in line at the grocery store..I wonder if they think I'm always drunk?  lol

[SKT]

battty princess - you describe it well - standing seems to be the hardest thing of all - u get that insecure feeling that you're going to fall.  That coupled with not hearing on your left side, really does make for some insecurity in the line up at the grocery store.

One thing that those of us with larger ANs on diagnosis should be grateful for - the fact that our brain has compensated for balance over a longer period of time than those with smaller ANs, really seems to make balance recovery after surgery so much easier.  I really feel for all you out there who have significant balance issues.  Before surgery, my audiologist told me that i had virtually no balance on my AN side at all, and he expressed the view that my balance recovery post surgery will be very quick.  He was right.  If only now that excrutiating loud loud banging in my head would quit.....

[Static]

My an was considered to be on the large side and I had an awful time with balance afterwards.  Maybe it was because the tumor was not as much in the auditory canal as it was pressing on the brain stem.  My hearing and balance nerve was severed to remove the tumor and I had to walk with a walker for a couple of weeks.  I was just using things around the house that I could grab but when the pt who visited was here and saw that she insisted I stick to the walker, that it was safer.  I couldn't wait to ditch that thing.  Standing still and wobbling with folks looking at you makes a person self conscious at first but lately I've just been shrugging it off.  I still grab onto things when I walk through the house in the dark after turning everything off at night.  I can never seem to find a flashlight around here and figure it's good therapy anyway!   Never did do well in the dark in the first place.  About a year before my AN I walked right into a dresser and broke my little toe in the middle of the night.   

[SKT]

Static, you've had such a time - well that just shot my theory!!!  I can't say i don't have balance issues, as I always fall backwards when i'm just standing around at parties -but nothing like what you experienced for so long. I do hope it's getting alot better for you - unsteadiness can be sucha horrible thing. Took me days to walk properly again, and couple of weeks to feel confident enought to walk somewhere without someone with me.  i feel the residual balance issues will never go away, but we'll just learn to live with them better.