I went to my neurologist and mentioned that I was occasionally dizzy. He did an in-office test that made me very, very dizzy. As I lay there feeling miserable, he stopped back by the office to tell me I had a vestibular problem.
Embarrassed that I didn't know the word "vestibular," I came home and looked it up. Well, it means "inner ear." Talk about relief. I was sure it was a part of the brain I hadn't heard of, one that would cause worse problems than I and others I've heard about have had.
Now if you learned "vestibular" when you were five years old, don't tell me. I kept telling myself I should know it, but...
Anyway, now I know it.
The neurologist told me I would need to see a physical therapist, but first he gave me a prescription to help with the dizziness. If you've been dizzy,you have probably taken Meclizine. It did wonders for me. After a couple of days I felt much better and then I wasn't dizzy at all.
So I swanned into the physical therapist's lab sure that she would give me simple exercises. First she had me do a few things, such as looking at several things by just moving my head with my eyes open. I could not do it. My eyes went in every direction.
Then she held something in front of me that I was to look at while moving my head. Couldn't do that either. My eyes went on journeys that time, too.
Before long, I was dizzy and nauseated again. So she gave me exercises that were exactly the things that had just made me feel lousy again. This is "vestibular rehabilitation," she said. And she added that I had to do them several times a day.
Since I left her office, I have imagined the minuscule parts of my inner ear running laps and lifting weights. I hope it's working. I'm not doing my routine nearly as frequently as I should.
But I have a few days before I have to go back to her lab again. Surely in that time I'll make up for the time I'm missing now. At least I hope so. I hate for the parts of my inner ear to have to keep up their vigorous exercises.
