Hello. So i'm going on my 8 month of being imbalanced. It has been a long ride. Now I have contiued to do my vestibular rehabilitation excises, physical therpy, and acupuncture, which have helped me alot. I have this fear that it is going to stop getter better. Could that happen????? I like to think that i'm 90% better so it should contiued right?? I'm so anxious. Is is possible that my brain can not re-train itself is be balanced again. Can anyone help me deal with this??? Thanks

Hi there,
You have made a lot of progress, and having this for eight months isn't that long (even though it feels like forever). I'm sure you noticed that with recovery it tends to go one step forward and then two steps back. So, with that said, you shouldn't assume that you can't pull through to 100%. It just takes time. You're doing great, hang in there.

Thanks it is just that my acupuncturist told me that i might have this forever and that depressed me.

You are going to heal...your acupuncturist is wrong.

Don't listen to your acupuncturist. She/he is not an expert. Lots of people pull through this. you are healing well, 8 months and at 90% is great. Keep a positive attitude, keep doing your VRT, acupuncture, and stay active. You'll be fine.

Gee..the fact that you have improved is a great sign. Most who see improvement know that they are on their way. Most make a 100% recovery...just takes time.

It is hard to believe it, when you are in the middle of feeling so poorly. It is a fact that positive thinking helps strengthen signals to the brain to help you compensate. In addition, stress...depression can weaken the signal to the brain..leading to decomp moments.

Keep positive, rested...and working to heal.

I know you will get there...

Thank you guys for your replies:) I feel that I fight everyday to stay positive. Do you guys have any secrets on how to stay postive? There are some days that I don't leave my house cause I don't want to dill with feeling gross.

I've generally (knock on wood) been feeling pretty good, so when I have decomps due to stress, illness, or something else (sometimes it just comes on and I have no idea why), I try to remember that it will pass. I try to think about how i feel when I'm not having problems, and that I've been in the position of feeling crappy before and I've always pulled out of it. for me that helps. I try to think about the times I've felt good. Think about how much progress you've made and how far you've come in eight months. Maybe that will help.

Joy....exactly.

I remember that I can get better. There are lots of illnesses that you cannot recover from. I take the moments when I am feeling really well...and I try to live it up a bit.

The times when it comes back...like this AM...I complain to family...and hold on.

It just sucks, but it is all we have. You have to have someone to vent to...you have to remember...we WILL get better.

Thanks it is just that my acupuncturist told me that i might have this forever and that depressed me.

Hi Geegirl,

Let's look at the hard facts and evidence here in working out how true that statement is. First, while your accupuncturist is probably doing the best they can to help you, they are NOT qualified to make a comment on this condition nor should they be saying something so ridiculous (an unsupportive) to you when they really have no idea what they are talking about in terms of the prognosis of a dizzy related illness. In my opinion that is highly unprofessional and I'd be looking for another person for the accupuncture should you choose to keep it up.

Second, while there are a number of us on this board with long-term complications from this junk, the vast majority make it through and totally recover. Subs and Treefarmer are two who still help on the board who have recovered completely and maintain 100% while many others are hovering around 95%. I think most others just leave the board and want to forget this altogether once they are well again. However, some of us like to hang around and help those that are first hit with this because we all know too well how weak the support and understanding is out there of these dizzy conditions (ie, your therapist).

Third, you must remember that a vestibular onslaught is not unlike recovering from a stroke (of course not the same condition). In the case of VN for example, neural tissue has probably been damaged somewhere along the vestibular nerve, in the inner ear itself of perhpas within the vestibular nuclei (brain processing area). It can take the brain quite some time to learn to compensate for this loss using other neurological pathways to take over (think of it as information being redirected over new power lines or power lines that were previously used for other functions).

Fourth, it is important to watch for possible secondary problems that arise from this garbage that inhibit the compensation process: anxiety, depression, migraine and its variants, visual problems where glasses may be needed (in Subs' case), and possible uncompensated labyrinthitis which I personally think is *highly* unlikely and think one of the former is more likely for anyone with hugely extended symptoms. But for whatever reason, it can be attacked, removed from the equation and you can feel normal once again. Personally, I think it is the secondary problems that are harder to solve and work out then the original problem. I'm only now realising 3 years down the track that there is a migraine problem keeping me from hitting 100% and staying there. You're at 8 months now and still in the "chronic compensation" stage. This goes on for years really but will get to a point soon where you are not even aware of it. Very normal stuff.

There is good info in the science literature showing that a positive outlook and the *belief* that you will be well again plays an important role in pushing recovery along. For that reason, your therapist needs a good dressing down for those comments. Don't listen to that for even a split second. He/she knows not what they are saying - they really don't.

Lastly, check out the Archive post and watch the video on "vestibular compensation" by Dr Rauch. Watching this and hearing the language analogy he makes will make you feel much better and confident about the whole thing.

Hang in there, be patient and you'll get there.

Best........Scott :cool:

Scott,
that was a great post... I 100% agree with what you said about the acupuncturist. I'd find someone new right away. it's hard enough to deal with feeling the way you do, and then on top of it have insensitive people tell you things that are just wrong.

At first I thought that I was crazy and emotionaly and I try to tell myself everytime I seen any kind of doctor to not get so emotional but as soon as they would say something negative I brake down. Thanks for your guys advise and resources. I'm going to try to give myself some credit with the improvement I have made and keep hopefull. I watched the video on vestibular compensation which was easy to understand sometimes the terminology can confuse me. Thanks again.