labyrinths/dizziness

[nataliewoods88]

hi there everyone, i am a health anxiety sufferer and have been for years, my main concern now is my balance! i got diagnosed with labyrinths a good few months back and it seem to go on its own, but then it came back and never went, was always lurking, now i get it on and off! i get the dizzness, unsteadiness, floor moving/breathing, feel like im swinging type feelings. Today was a really bad day for it though. I'd gotten off my bus (moving things like lifts and elevators make it worse) and i started to walk but my feet felt like i was wading in mud! the ground was all thick and uneven. I was majorly scared! My ears are very inflamed at the moment and they feel full and blocked, i know this has a big part to play in the inner ear but it was so scary!! Can anyone relate?? How do you cope with uncompensated inner ear probs?

[HoneyLove]

Natalie I feel for you! I have had a lot of trouble with balance and dizziness and it's so scary and exhausting.

The first thing to remember is that it's natural to feel anxious when you're having this kind of problem - your brain is getting mixed messages about your balance, and this can spark off feelings of nervousness in your body because you're feeling so unstable. But if you try to remember this it can take a little bit of the sting out of the anxiety, it's better to just try and accept the feeling and let it pass. It's hard I know, but it does work if you practice it.

The thing about labyrinthitis is that it can damage your inner ear. Normally your brain compensates for this damage, but sometimes when you get sick or hungry or your brain is distracted in any other way it can forget about this compensation and make you feel wobbly all over again.

The good news is that you can get some help with this from any physio who specialises in Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy. They will work with you to improve your balance and either stop the periods of decompensation or show you how to recover faster if they do happen.

Have a look in your area and see if there is anyone who practices VRT and have a chat with them, see if they think they'd be able to help you out.

I get those weird feelings after getting off transport too - out of busses/trains/cars/trams, but this should die away as you get better. Anyone who specialises in VRT should be able to talk to you about this and explain why it happens. Once you know a little bit about it it really helps you in dealing with it.

Hope you start feeling better soon x

[Nyan]

Hi Natalie,

Hope you are doing ok. I know exactly how this one feels, I had a very nasty case of labrynthitis 2 years ago now. After the initial vertigo subsided I was left with what you were describing and know how horrible it is. As Honey Love says, it is completly natural to feel anxious with it, it is pretty darn scary when the world appears like it is moving. I felt really pants for a few months and pushed to be refered to a specialist who sent me for some amazing physiotherapy as described above. It really really helped and I am 100% recovered now but my I thought that day would never come as the condition just seemed to go on forever!

Some advice from my personal experiance, hope you dont mind me saying (and it may well not apply in your case :) ) I found that for me the whole thing was a bit of a viscious cycle, I had the initial ear problem, and was so worried and scared by the dizziness it started off my anxiety, which then perpetuated the dizziness and didn't really help with my recovery process as my mind was always focused on whetehr I was feeling dizzy or not. When I saw my specialist he said that it can happen this way and certainly for me it was really important to get my anxiety and depression in check to help me recover my balance. Its funny, at the time I didn't even realise I had anxiety! By the end I realised the dizziness I was left with was not that my ears haddnt compensated (they did with thee help of physio!) but that my anxiety was causing the left over symptoms. As I say, this may not apply at all to you but just incase it helps at all....

Anyway enough rambeling from me, just want to reassure you that it will get better.... I know when you are going thorugh it, it feels like forever and can be very upsetting and anxiety provoking. Please don't underestimate the emotional impact that going through a period of illness can have, and if you have someone to talk it through with I found that really helped as I often felt very isolated and in my own dizzy bubble.

Feel free to PM me :)

Wishing you and your ears well!

C :)

[HoneyLove]

That's definitely good advice Nyan. The stress of all of it can really make it so much worse, and it definitely did for me! It is hard, but I really wish someone had been able to tell me if I had focused on relaxation more and stressing less then my recovery might have been much faster.

It really is the most horrible thing to have to deal with, balance is something that you just take for granted, but when you start having problems with it you begin to see how it can affect your whole world.

I still have balance problems these days, but it's not labyrinthitis. I really feel for anyone on these boards who come with anxiety about dizziness and balance issues, it's a rotten thing to experience.

[ddonaghey1989]

hi if you dont mind me asking how did your labs start? im struggling with a diagnosis drs keep telling me its anxiety but it seems like an inner ear thing? did you have spinning vertigo? was it after a cold or anything. ive been dizzy since january?