My neurologist wrote a prescription for me about six weeks ago to have some physical therapy to assist in my balance issues. I got not one, but two therapists: An Occupational Therapist who came Mondays and Wednesdays, and a Physical Therapist who came on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The OT concentrated more exercises for the upper body (hand weights, etc.) and the PT concentrated on the lower body strengthening.
I can certainly tell I've been exercising because my muscles tend to kind of be sore....not hurting, but I know they're been used lately.
I went back today to this neurologist and he tested me again for the benign essential tremors. None showed up.
Essentially, what happened was that I also went to an ENT doc to find out why my balance was being affected, and an occasional dizzy spell.
It seems we all have crystals in our ears. (Never heard of that). They hang on to the little hairs that line the ear canals, until something happens to cause them to abandon ship, so to speak. Mine had evidently all fallen off in my left ear, slipped down into an ear canal and rattled around where it didn't belong. Thus, the dizziness.
So the treatment was: I was on an exam table and the technician put a mask on me, with one eye covered, and I was instructed to focus on the window. I did. Then we did the other eye, same thing. Then she had some kind of "tractor" device that she ran over my head, vibrating in a rather heavy manner. Then she instructed me to turn on my side, where she did it again. Then the other side. Finally, I was allowed to sit up, where I immediately felt like I was falling off the edge of the earth. Not just the exam table....the entire earth. It was the worst feeling ever, but it passed, thank God.
She gave me written instructions: for the next 2 nights, sleep on my right side, at a 45 degree angle. That's easy for them to say; I always go to sleep on my left side, and perfectly flat, too. Those two nights were the worst nights I've had in a long time. Oh, and I couldn't bend over, either.
So a week later, I was to go back and see if the treatment worked. I was once again in the treatment room, dreading the ordeal again. But a young tech came in and asked, "Are you absolutely, positively sure you haven't had any more dizziness?" I replied, "absolutely, positively sure." Then I was free to go, with an invitation to come back if I ever needed this treatment again.
I told the neurologist about this treatment this morning, and that evidently people with lupus are at most risk for the little crystals to fly off and go where they're wreaking havoc, because the last questionnaire had the single word: Lupus?
I checked it, "Yes." Another gift that keeps on giving in my lupus life.
At least now, I'll know what to do about it.
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