Please describe balance problems

[er]

Nancy Drew,
All the systems you are describing are all like mine but I also noticed if I have good ear facing a wall when I am out side a building or in a store with shelves  and the bad ear towards the open  I feel like some thing is pulling me over  so I have to stop and  hold on to something to catch my balance. Very weird feeling. As long as I am pushing a cart it isn’t to bad.
eve

[leapyrtwins]

Nancy -

until I saw my neurotologist shortly after my diagnostic MRI, I had no idea I had balance problems.

At my first appointment he asked me about symptoms and when he mentioned balance problems, I told him I had none - then I promptly failed all his tests.

Standing on one foot with my eyes closed made me fall over to one side.  Walking down a long hallway heel-to-toe made me fall over to one side.  I forget what other tests he had me do, but the results weren't any better.

Jan

[Nancy Drew]

Steve,

All I know is that they said my balance was fine.  I do have bad motion sickness though so maybe that is why I threw up.  Who knows! 

Nancy

[Sammict]

Hi Nancy

   I was just diagnosed in March of this year but for the past year I was having problems with balancing and dizziness. For a short period of time I thought I was pregnant.
 
When i would get off an elevator I still felt like I was moving. I can't walk a stright line. When I am tired it gets worse. I walk into things all the time.

I now call my tumor "Jose" after "jose Quervo" I joke around to my family if i am going to walk like a drunk might as well give it a proper name.

I used to think I was nuts because i couldn't get myself in check but joining this forum has helped me realize I'm not alone.

Soon I hope to part ways from Jose. I'm sorry to hear you are going through that but know you're not alone.

Good luck Sam

[leapyrtwins]

I now call my tumor "Jose" after "jose Quervo" I joke around to my family if i am going to walk like a drunk might as well give it a proper name.

Very cute, Sam 

Jan

[cindyj]

Just reading about all these issues makes me woozy!  Not sure if mine is balance isuues because of the AN or my vertigo, which may or may not be due to my AN...in any case, it doesn't take much to make me unsteady.  But, oftentimes, just reading something or watching something on tv can throw me off.

You've had some really good questions, Nancy.

[leapyrtwins]

You have had some very interesting questions, Nancy 

I wanted to return to this subject and say that sometimes balance issues don't really go away - they just seem to.

As I mentioned before, I had balance issues prior to my surgery; although I was unaware of them - and post op my balance got worse before it got better; your body usually adjusts.  Now that I'm one year post op, and most days I would say that I don't have any balance issues, that is not entirely true.

I went for a walk tonight with my kids - because thankfully the weather has finally cooled off a bit.  I didn't get much sleep last night and by the time we got back to our house, I was doing the old "drunken walk".  I was actually stumbling a little and weaving from side to side.  Some people outside on their porch gave me weird looks - they must have figured I'd been drinking    

Bottomline is, fatigue can cause balance issues to recur - at least in my case.

Jan

[Kaybo]

I DEFINTIELY agree with Jan on this one!  I have obviously been dealing with this for most of my adult life and it is one of those things that is always there, just waiting for me to get too tired.  I know I am tired b/c my balance is off, my eye is more droopy and when I am REALLY tired, my speech is poor too.  I don't want it to be like this, but I know that signs TIRED (like now - Goodnight ALL!)


K

[sher]

Hi there!

I had the water in the AN ear and I didn't respond AT ALL to the water... my dizziness effects my eyes focusing and I feel like they move when I stare at things. WEIRD... anyone else have this same thing?
Sherry

[Betsy]

Hi everyone,

I had intended just to pop on and see what was new then go do the dishes, but this thread just drew me like a magnet!  Wow, we are a wobbly bunch!  I can relate to most of it.  Sherry, if you put your fingers lightly over your closed eyelids, can you feel your eyes moving?  The fancy name for that escapes me at the moment, but I call it the eye jitters and for me it happens when I'm having vertigo.  If I try to focus, it just makes the nausea more intense.  Or, if you mean they move around like when you look through binoculars, that's called oscillopsia (I call it oscill-oops-sia, because when it's bad, I say "oops" a lot).  Vestibular therapy can help with that, but I don't think it ever completely goes away.

Wishing everyone an "oops" free day!  Now I really have to do those dishes...

Betsy