During the first few months of dealing with the chronic onset of my vestibular imbalance, I was encouraged to find what my therapists referred to as ‘triggers’. These could be anything that I noticed that worsened the symptoms that I was suffering from. Below is my list of ‘triggers’, and my hope is that by sharing them, then perhaps some of you will benefit from avoiding them as well. Everyone’s journey with vestibular imbalance is different. For me, I am altered to some extent every day, and the extremes depend on what I have done that day.
1. As I have mentioned in previous articles, stress is a huge hindrance when you are trying to recover from a vestibular imbalance. That being said, the number one thing is to try and avoid it as much as possible (which I know is very, very difficult).
2. People with vestibular imbalances are extremely motion sensitive. Not only are we sensitive to being in motion (meaning anything from riding in a car, to being on a train, or riding a carnival ride), but we are also susceptible to motion that we see (meaning anything from walking down the street and catching motion in the corner of your eye, to going to the movies and watching from a first person camera perspective). This is one of the worst triggers for me. Even the shortest ride in an elevator can leave me feeling like I am walking on the moon for several minutes, and don’t even think about asking me to go on a roller-coaster with you!
3. In the beginning of my journey I did an allergy elimination diet and the purpose was to see if anything that I was taking into my body was affecting my vestibular system. As it turns out, I have a rather large sensitivity to caffeine, alcohol and sugar. These three things proved to be HUGE inhibitors. For me, they heightened my vestibular imbalance to the point that I couldn’t function even remotely normally, aka: brought on what I have come to call episodes.
4. Probably the worst trigger for me is too much screen time. That is why I have taken well over a year off of work, because there are very few positions that don’t deal with at least some form of computer work. When I say screen time I mean computers, TV’s, tablets, smart phones, all the fun gadgets we know and love and are so dependent on. For me, I literally cannot stay on the computer for longer than an hour without it heightening my symptoms to where I have to step back for at least an hour. I know some people have trouble even when just reading a book, so much of what I have come to understand is that our vestibular system is fed information buy our eyes, and if our eyes are strained in anyway, then the vestibular system perceives this as imbalance.
5. AVOID BEING SENT TO THE “DIZZY CLINIC” in the South Health Campus Hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. TOTAL SHAM. They made me wait for 6 months after promising I would be seen after 2 months. Then they made me wait another 2 months to be tested and another 6 months to get my results. In the end their ‘specialists’ told me that yes, I was deviated from the norm, but not enough so that they would do anything to help me.
I really hope this information helps. In my experience it is nice to hear from people who are dealing with or have dealt with the same things that I am going through. The most important thing to know, when dealing with something like this, is that you are not alone. This disorder or illness or whatever you want to call it can be extremely isolating, so always try to remember that there are people who are experiencing these things just like you are and you can always find someone to talk to.
My Vestibular Diaries 