My neuro-otologist said he wanted to send me for some physical therapy for my dizziness (inner ear Problem). I went last tuesday and the therapist had no clue what to do with me. She did some balance things but i'm really not having a problem with my balance. She said she was going to look up some things and see what she could find for me to do and then she would be ready when i came the next time. She said I was her first patient with this....great!!! I am supposed to go back tomorrow but I'm just wondering if there is really any point. Surely there is somewhere they can send me where someone actually knows what to do for my problem. I live in Birmingham, Alabama.. Anyone know???

I don't know of a place since I am not from your area, but I would be careful about having somebody do "therapy" on me when they don't know about vestibular problems!!! That must be disappointing! Maybe you could give her one more chance abd see if she can come up with something. Good luck!!! :wave:

I have been following your notes because I have had the same problems (dizziness – lightheadedness, numbness and burning sensations in my hands) for almost a year. I have been evaluated for everything under the sun, including hyperventilation. I also noticed a bluish darkening in my fingernail beds about the time this all started. Have you had any luck?

Unfortunately it's quite common, at least frow what I've read and experience myself, to have dizziness, lightheadiness, and all this ralated inner ear stuff, and still "pass" most of the balance test the doctors give you.

This is even mentioned in one of Dr. Rauch's videos(on the sticky).

In my case if it was not for the ENG caloric test, really nothing showed up, and for some people even this test is inconclusive, showing how difficult is to get a clear Dx on this, and even having one it's no so easy to get a "precise" cure, or VRT program.

Whay my doctor said to me is that this looks like an "old" vertigo, because I was quite well compensated, as the test showed, so they only gave me the Cooksey excercises, wich are the more general kind of VRT, even as I was hoping for something more specific for my case.

The thing is that there is a great deal of uncertainty on this, so it's hard even for the doctors to tell, and then to give you some specific treatment or VRT, or even where to start... so they usually stick to the basic, be active, maybe the "general" VRT as they did with me, and that's about it.

Obviously in the midtime we still hav to deal with the dizzy stuff, begging for some help, wich I believe is the reason of most of the posts here, where we can find answers, or at least some relief.

Hope they get to some specific VRT with you, if not, why don't you try to start with the VRT program showed on the sticky?, at least until you get a seccond opinion, it won't hurt, and maybe it could help you recover.

Obviously being active and possitive is a must for any case of dizziness.

missalabama,
I encountered somewhat the same situation. Although the PT I was referred to did know a little bit about very, very basic VRT, by no means did he really know how to proceed with the "looked up" information he had in front of him. (He also wanted to focus on the balance stuff, testing me repeatedly on all his fancy balance machines, etc. But when it came to the true, hard-work-at-home exercises (the very things that are going to make the difference!), he was pretty clueless. FRUSTRATING, to say the least!!!!!:dizzy:)

I would put a call back into your neurotologist and explain what happened - maybe there is someone else you can be referred to. I ended up making up my own VRT plan, thanks to the many, many posts here from people who had received reputable help - though not nearly as good as getting a customized plan to meet my own particular vestibular issues, it still did help.... and I continue to improve (SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWLLLLLY) as I continue to try to implement these (and various other exercises I found on the web) into my daily life.

Good luck - hopefully you'll get some help from the dr.'s office!!!

Hi
Just wanted to add one thing about creating a vrt plan from the posts on here. I did this until I got to see someone properly - the real difference is that the vrt person made me do the exercises VERY SLOWLY and only to do a couple to start with for a couple of months, and then to just add one or two each time - so each couple months you add another 1/2 exercises. On my own I was doing a variety of things, but the best way to see results is to take it slowly and it really does take ages for your brain to learn.

Good luck and all the best.

I do the cawthorne cooksey exercises and I would say it has made a big difference - but it takes a while to really see a difference.
xxx