All very good descriptors of balance/ vertigo etc. To me vertigo is the sensation that I am moving in space, with a physical reaction to that sensation vomiting and eye movement like watching the telephone poles pass while riding in a car, I like the description of looking up from a merry go round. A sense of floating in space I guess. Vertigo was an attack for me, a severe reaction and stopped normal activity until it was over. I was unable to open my eyes with out vomiting.
Imbalance for me is equated with trying to stand on a balance beam with one foot in front of the other always in some stage of falling, a continuous battle to stay up right. This feeling doesn't include the nausea and physical reactions included in vertigo. Just simply can't stay standing. Sometimes it was only during movement, sometimes from moving my head to quickly, sometimes just for no reason like a cartoon when suddenly everything is gone underneath and the fall happens as a delayed reaction. It is kind of comical when it happens.
Disequilibrium is the sensation that the world around me is moving, like trying to get off a merry go round that is still moving. The sensation that my feet are not landing on the ground when and where my brain is saying they are. Or walking on a frozen puddle while the ice is giving way. This doesn't include the falling feeling but a feeling that the ground below is hard to navigate and requires mental concentration to ensure good footing. And like balance there was no vomiting or physical reaction.
All three happen simultaneously in varying degrees, and they are so interconnected that it is hard to separate and categorize specific symptoms to each description. For instance vertigo would include all the above, another way to look at it would be they are varying degrees of severity with disequilibrium being the mildest form and vertigo the worst. I built up to my vertigo attack, over a course of about 24 hours I started with disequilibrium building to off balance and finally full blown vertigo. The ending was the same but longer than the build up, it took about 2 months to get back to normal.
I am 18 months post GK small AN and my symptoms are calming. My balance issues have calmed dramatically in the past 6 months. I still have slight balance and disequilibrium in the dark and when physically tired, but not any where close to what it was from 6 months to a year. I have only had one vertigo attack, so I am not sure I am a good judge of what typical vertigo is like.
After my severe vertigo attack my balance and disequilibrium were screwed up for about 2 months. I took rehab into my own hands and began to walk. I started with short trips and gradually increased the distance. At the beginning I had to concentrate on every motion, watching my feet commanding my feet to resynchronize with my brain sort of speak. Over time and increased distance the balance/equilibrium came back and I could walk with out paying attention to my feet. During these walked I practiced the vestibular exercises I learned in rehab months earlier. By the time this was happening I was walking 4 miles a day. I have been locked inside the last two months and stopped walking .....snow and frigid cold....... but my balance issues have not returned in spite of inactivity.
Hope that helps put a face to an abstract picture.
