To all:This is not the usual post; I am not asking for support, although I wish I had 10 years ago—instead, I am offering a universal support.
I have made a few supportive posts here and all have to do with balance—the key to managing an acoustic neuroma. Not all acoustic neuroma sufferers have a balance problem, but those with a vestibular schwannoma do.
Like all acoustic neuroma sufferers, I was initially bewildered, sad and frustrated (and the dizziness, pain and tinnitus didn’t help), not to mention making the “big decision†(surgery or not? scalpel or radiation?). But I got through it with a few GK holes in my head. Then came the real challenge, living with it!
The constant headaches, loud tinnitus and inability to tell sound direction were bad enough, but the loss of balance was too much to bear; I felt like a drunken idiot falling to the side all of the time; I had to do something about it!
As a four-decade bioengineer, I have analyzed and invented many health-improving programs; my balance program is one of them. I started developing it (based on exercises astronauts did for dizziness) about a month after surgery, and at first, it wasn’t much help. Then I discovered that if I worked each semicircular canal individually, that I could literally “reset my cerebellum†and regain my balance. At first, its positive effects (controlled balance and drop in headaches) lasted only a few days, but after a couple of months of doing it about three times a week, then once a week, and then monthly, it finally held.
Balance (the 6th sense, the somatosensory system) requires both brain and muscle coordination; these exercises create that. But of course, like all exercises, muscles take weeks to develop, but once developed, it only takes monthly exercises to keep the brain (cerebellum) properly functioning.
It may sound ridiculous, but every symptom I have (except tinnitus and lack of sound direction) can be relieved by these monthly exercises, including improved cognitive ability (or at least, maintained cognitive ability) as I noted in a previous post.
These exercises can be downloaded form
http://www.personalityfinesse.com/pdfshow.php?pdf=12.
There is a bonus to these exercises; it keeps your spine and neck healthy (should you have such problems).
I have received an inquiry that prompted me to make this post, based on the use of the exercises.
It is best to do them on a treadmill, walking at a normal steady pace, with arms naturally swinging from side to side while concentrating on your leg muscles and how they keep you balanced.
If you don’t have access to a treadmill, you can do these exercises as you walk naturally in your neighborhood. The only problem is the embarrassment of looking like a weirdo, with your head bouncing in all directions as you walk.
I had wanted to share these exercises with acoustic neuroma sufferers long ago, but wasn’t sure how to go about it before finding this forum. I hope that this understanding encourages those of you who suffer from balance problems, and its consequences, to take a proactive stance and manage your acoustic neuroma instead of having it manage you.
This post may be inappropriate, but it is how I give support; I'm not much of a relator who can give emotional support like the rest of you. I hope this helps.
Dean
