walking on walls
Jan. 19th, 2014 09:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanI saw the ENT yesterday to follow up on my balance test. I finally have a diagnosis.
There is damage to one of my otolithic organs. Since most balance testing is focused on the semi-circular canals I kept showing up normal in all the tests. Something that I said about always feeling like I'm walking on a tilted surface tipped him off, so he ordered the right test and there it was. 68% loss of sensation on my left side.
A doctor who listens to his patient and modifies his treatment strategy accordingly. WHAT KIND OF NEW-FANGLED WITCHERY IS THIS?
Anyway. Most common cause is a head injury or an infection. The loss is permanent - will not heal, cannot be repaired. However, as he put it, "You have two of these for a reason." Dealing with it will consists of training my brain to rely on the working side and ignore the signals from the damaged one. I think yoga is already going a long way in that direction and I'm going to talk to the physiotherapist about additional exercises specifically for vestibular rehabilitation.
So since this one is not going to require anything be removed I'm going to count it as a non-major medical issue. (BC is keeping count.)
[ETA] It just occurred to me that the nerve damage in my eye is also on the left side. I wonder if it's possible for them to be connected.
There is damage to one of my otolithic organs. Since most balance testing is focused on the semi-circular canals I kept showing up normal in all the tests. Something that I said about always feeling like I'm walking on a tilted surface tipped him off, so he ordered the right test and there it was. 68% loss of sensation on my left side.
A doctor who listens to his patient and modifies his treatment strategy accordingly. WHAT KIND OF NEW-FANGLED WITCHERY IS THIS?
Anyway. Most common cause is a head injury or an infection. The loss is permanent - will not heal, cannot be repaired. However, as he put it, "You have two of these for a reason." Dealing with it will consists of training my brain to rely on the working side and ignore the signals from the damaged one. I think yoga is already going a long way in that direction and I'm going to talk to the physiotherapist about additional exercises specifically for vestibular rehabilitation.
So since this one is not going to require anything be removed I'm going to count it as a non-major medical issue. (BC is keeping count.)
[ETA] It just occurred to me that the nerve damage in my eye is also on the left side. I wonder if it's possible for them to be connected.