I was just diagnosed with unilateral vestibular disorder - specifically weakness in my right ear. I just started VRT and I feel much worse. Will it get better? Does it really work? Anyone else been diagnosed with this condition?

VRT can help. The reason why you feel worse is because you are challenging your brain to compensate for the loss of vestibular function on your right side. As you compensate, you will feel better. the damage is done to your vestibular system and that will never get better, BUT YOU WILL FEEL BETTER, because your brain learns that it is getting bad signals and compensates. VRT helps that process happen faster.

I have unilateral vestibular loss on my right side too, a 35% deficit on that side. I have pretty much recovered, but do at times feel off when I'm really stressed out or get really sick.

the one thing to remember is that this road to recovery is at times one step forward, two steps back. Because this is a learning process for you brain, you will feel better, and then may have a set back, feel better, have a setback as your brain learns to make the compensation more permanent. The reason i mention this, is because when you start to feel better, try not to get discouraged if you have times when you feel a bit worse. this is normal. But keep in mind that those times of feeling worse become less and less as your recovery progresses.

Hope this helps. Hang in there with the VRT. It will help.
Good luck
Joy

Joy, what were you diagnosed with? How long did it take you to feel 100%...what were your symptoms?

Glad to hear you are well!!

Charlotte,
Most doctors I saw told me it was labyrinthitis. I'm not 100% sure what caused the initial damage to my right ear. I didn't have the violent spinning associated w/ labys, mine was much more mild and shorter in duration, but my world was still spinning when it first came on for a minute or so. then i was left with a swaying sensation for almost 6 months. i recovered 100% for four years, andn then it came back. same way, same thing. 6 months of swaying and then feeling better. Although this time, i can't seem to shake it completley. i can decomp a lot easier than before. Not sure why, but hopefully that will pass. but all in all I feel good most of the time. So some doctors say labs, other BPPV. I'm definatley not buying BPPV. So who knows. It would be nice to know what caused this damage, but in the end that won't change the fact that I have the damage.

What matters is that even with damage people can get better. everyone is different in their recovery. But it is possible. How are you doing?

Joy..thanks so much for the response.

I got hit with VN just over 4 months ago. Mine started with the violent vertigo that subsided after about 24 hours....then dizzy ever since. The dizzys have become milder and milder. Right now, I am doing VRT (seems to help lots)...getting exercise when I can. I am back to driving, and doing almost as much as I did before. Now I just find that I have a constant dizzy feeling(lightheaded)...and can get ear pressure when I do too much. My PT says I should feel 100% in a month or so....I don't know, we will see. This illness really knocks you for a loop though.

Do you think the new dizzys for you is decompensation?

yeah, I do think this new round of dizziness is decomp for me. When it first came on I couldn't believe it was happening to me again. I felt fine for four years and i just couldn't understand what was going on. I've been doing fine, with a few transient feelings of dizziness that last two weeks or so, and then i get better. I'm really hoping that soon i can get back to that solid symptom free place. But what this has taught me is that i will always have some inner ear damage, so it can come back. But i take comfort in knowing it will get better.

It's great that you are doing VRT and that it is helping. keep it up, i'm sure you will be feeling better soon.

I can understand that Joy...

I had one night with periods of totally forgetting I had this (hour or so)...now, with these new VRT's...my dizzys are back. Still stores kill me. There are moments I feel I will feel 100%...then I get dizzy and think it will never go.

I am glad you got better...clearly, it shows you have reached 100%..so you will get back there again.

Hey, did you have funky visual stuff the last part prior to getting better?

The fact that you have times when you feel 100%, even if it is for an hour, is a REALLY good sign. that means you are compensating. Your brain has figured out how to make you feel better, it's just a matter of time for your brain to be able to hold that good feeling more permanently. The VRT challenges your brain, and makes it work harder to compensate. That is why you feel worse, but it can only make you stronger in the long run.

Think about the time you felt really good when you feel realy dizzy, and realize that it will go away because you were able to feel fine if even for an hour or so.

I never had visual stuff, but everyone is different with these things. that is what I think is so hard with inner ear stuff. Everyone reacts differently so symptoms are different from person to perosn.

I'd listen to your therapist who says that you should be feeling much better soon. A positive attitude (as hard as it is with this stuff) does get you a long way. Try not to let the anxiety of it never leaving get the best of you. It's hard to do, and I have fallen into that anxiety many many times. even now when i get moments of the dizziness coming back, I will freak out and think what if it never leaves this time... but I always feel better. The anxiety makes you feel worse, so try as hard as it is, to remember this will pass and you will feel better.

Thank you Joy! I have read many of your past posts...you have been much help to me.

I am not sure if I am 100%..but what I do know is that for brief periods..i forget I am actually battling this illness.

When it is in full swing...it is so on my mind...

Do you feel the same?