Anyone heard from Hbep--or know how she is doing---been awhile---last post I read(I think) she had the flu?

:cool:

I hope you are over the flu Hbep? I've been thinking about you too. Hope it didn't set back your dizzies too much. I know you were making progress with the VRT....... let us know how things are going. :)

Ruth
xxx

Hello there Subs and Ruth,

Thanks for asking after me, funnily enough was wondering how both of you are. Subs still doing good? Ruth, have you recovered from your set back after the throat virus?

I've been quiet for a while as been having a tough time of it, wanted to get through to the other side before I wrote. As you know 2 and a half wks ago I got flu, the real deal with a capital F - temperature, in bed unable to get up for 5 days etc.... They weren't kidding about it being a v. bad strain this yr. Anyway, think it took about two weeks to get it all out of my system.

I hope it wouldn't set me back, but considering how bad it was I kind of knew it was unlikely. Got to admit it's been very tough - I am only just starting to get out the other side - slowly, slowly grappling my way back to the level of compensation I achieved before, although there's still a way to go. At the weekend I forced myself out and about for a big shopping spree with a friend - wow - didn't realise I could revert back to month 2 or 3 symptoms, dreadful, BUT the next day, I forced myself out again and was surprised to find I had already made some gains - still pretty bad, but not as bad as day before. This spurred me on to get active again, but boy is this condition tedious. Today, two and a half weeks on, I am doing ok, still less good than before, but ok, I feel I'll get there again. On the up side, writing this I realise in total this whole disaster has only been two and a half weeks and I am already improving, so looking at it like that, you do compensate quicker - considering it took me 14 months to get as good as I was prior to the flu. It just feels awful having come so far to have to experience those violently bad symptoms again. I'd forgotten just how terrible the dreaded brain fog can be.

I've been chewing this whole thing over in anticipation of my neurotology follow up appt on Monday. I guess the conclusion I've reached is that people who struggle to compensate probably generally have something else going on - whether it be a headache problem, neck problem, visual problems etc, which needs to be sorted out so they can move on. I think anything else wrong with your body will slow down compensation. Or alternatively they have the wrong diagnosis - i.e, like, for example, Scant and Jen, the problem is possibly migraine and or neck etc related and not inner ear. Either way I think it would make total sense for me to try to tackle the tmjd and or, my new theory, that what has been diagnosed as tmjd might be migraine. The symptoms can, in certain difficult cases, be very similiar. I know there are drugs that are used to treat both conditions, I tried them once before, they were given by the dental hospital and I got dizzier, but I think it's cos they made me drowsy, so I will be asking about a different drug to try. My hunch is that they will suggest this anyway, seems to be the way they often go with people who are still dizzy over a yr in, i.e treat anything else that might either be slowing things down or alternatively causing the problem.

Anyway, that's a very long answer to a short question, lol, but it's sometimes really useful to write things down, take stock.

take care and let me know how you're doing.

best,

hbep.

Hi Hbep

Ah Ha!! knew it was something like that---and the reason I did not ask---your "where-abouts" earlier---"out and about"--good show!! Yep everything I read says---that after the initial compensation period---any set back in compensation will be short lived---and short in duration---and the Flu can sure provide a "set back"---one of the reason--I took the risk---in setting myself back---and got the flu shot(& pneumonia)---as it turns out---for me---did not set me back.

I think---this is it for you Hbep---I suspect---that when you come out of this episode---it will be over and done with---ask the Neuro-oto people about that---I remember reading about that---it has something to do(if I remember correctly) with the bodies ability to overcome & then doing it--when its over--there is not much that can throw it off again---sort of like a "strength you gain"---like mastering "riding a bicycle" once the brain's got it---down---you can always do it again---maybe a little wobble for a few min---but then your off and running---think I am correct on that!

yep---still at 100% :D --Hbep---maintaing it---with no problems--todate

:cool:

Glad you are not too bad Hbep but sorry about the flu. Going to have flu shot I think! I do think these bad episodes actually help compensation sometimes afterwards as they help the brain to tune a little more so I hope that happens for you too. Know what you mean about the compensation thing...I wonder if my tense neck plays a part though my specialist did tell me that lots of people appear to take longer to compensate than others though this is more to do with where and what type of damage is done rather than them being slow compensators! He said he sees lots of people who have no other hinderance and after months of VRT get better - just because the brain needs more help than others. But he did stress that some causes and places of damage were far more harder for the brain to compensate than others.

Hope you feel better soon. xxx

Good to hear from you Hbep. :) Really sorry about the flu - what a bummer! I've only had flu once in my life (about 4 years ago) and it was horrendous! It was bound to set you back, but hopefully, as the others have said you will get back on track fairly quickly.
Great that Subs is still 100%! I think he proves that we can all get there! I must say that on the dizzy front I feel pretty good most of the time these days, but I do have blips of 1-4 days every now and then. I'm over the cold I had, although I had a bad chest for a good week afterwards. Bizarrely I had absolutely NO dizzinesss the whole time I had the virus and felt like crap, yet just as I was saying goodbye to the cold I got hit with a few days of dizziness!?! I think Emsybobs had the same thing.
My personal view (and I'm no doctor, although I feel pretty qualified!!! lol!!!) is that the length of this thing is due to all sorts of reasons:
- taking drugs probably hinders compensation - but most of us never took meds for very long. (I took them for 2 weeks last December). So that is not the whole story.
- I think you are right hbep that other factors such as eye, head and neck probs can slow recovery. (Although I don't think they were an issue for me).
- I would agree with your docs statement, Emsybobs, that some people have more major damage to the vestibular system than others.
- I strongly believe that in my own personal case that the actual virus that caused the whole nightmare was in fact 'doing its thing' for a good 2-3 months - simply because I had viral symptoms for a long period, and I do not believe that I had a virus for maybe a couple of weeks that disappeared and left me with vestibluar damage. I think that is another reason why some people feel so ill for so long. I definitely had a 'supervirus'!!!!
I shall never forget the ENT who told me that other people compensate very quickly because they work harder at it! I forced myself to do exercises 3x a day even though they made me feel horrendous and very sick and I tried to take short walks, etc... but a lot of the time I was too ill!
Some people get lab - are very ill for a couple of weeks - and then are absolutely fine. I have no idea why. I wouldn't suggest that they were 'less ill' than me - only that they were affected differently. Maybe no lasting damage? Or perhaps just a diff type of virus caused the problem?
In my opinion, although the neuro-otos know the most about the inner ear, I still don't think they fully understand the virus side of things that causes it in the first place!
Hope all goes well with your appointment hbep.
Ruth
xxx