Vertical movement

What a revelation it has been slack-lining.  The last time I wrote, I had trouble standing up on the line. It has been interesting, now I can walk up and down 20m on the line on a good day. On a bad day, I can't stand on it at all. But that is no surprise given the disease we have. 

During the one attack (yes, I've had one attack since), it was interesting to note that despite quite severe nystagmus, I was able to move myself to a place to rest, and not succumb to nausea. As you all know when a vertigo attack hits, that the motion sickness itself is the one that becomes completely debilitating. Well, I am glad to say that it really helped with tolerance against nystagmus. 

Lately I have been experimenting with various motions on the slack-line. And it is becoming quite clear now that it is the slow moving vertical movement that triggers nausea. Even small amounts of slow constant movement on the vertical axis, will send me feeling nauseas. This makes sense, some of my worst triggers are all vertically based. So my exercise now on the slack-line is to concentrate on bopping up and down the line, as opposed to walking on it constantly. This really triggers the sickness, but I have noticed one of the enormous strengths gained is the ability to abandon thoughts, and concentrate on the gaze, calm the mind and calm the breath. And there it is, breath to the gaze.

During nystagmus, if you are able to maintain your gaze perfectly and concentrate, then the nausea begins to settle. The dizziness fails to take over and control somewhat returns - well it does for me. I am able to get to a safe place, and rest until the attack is over, for now. And this is one of the very ability I saw when I mentioned before, the guy who has had nystagmus all his life, that he was able to momentarily focus and gaze on a subject, walk about otherwise, without feeling sick. And I believe the key here to that adaptation is through the calmness of the breath, as opposed to hate and anxiety.

I believe, in time, we can do it too !

Lately I have noticed many people are beginning to think of this disease in terms of neuro-plasticity. I am glad to hear this, because too many of us who suffer this disease seal our fate by reinforcing the anxiety, and that will result in worst attacks. By giving so much hatred and anger to the disease, it begins to take over ones life completely, and really does make it feel worthless, but the understanding of neuro-plasticity really provides a way of knowing we can make what's left of our balance, and relearn how to adapt to things we cannot change. Maybe, with any luck, we can make a change and rewire our vestibular brain!

May you find your balance..... 

Increased vitamin D

Vitamin D update

My 5000IU doses of Vitamin D arrived, and I started taking it promptly. The good news is that it made me feel better, stronger - like I've had 2 shots of fresh brewed coffee without the jitters. The bad news is, I still had slightly dizzy attacks early on after increasing my dosage. I'm unclear if the effects of vitamin D will make any immediate difference to my vestibular health, or does it take longer to take effect. One thing it did make me feel however, is a hell of a lot more energetic, aware - alert.  I guess what I can report on is that if you are in fact low on Vitamin D, and that has become your norm, then this is going to wake you up from your hiatus! Within a few days, my power endurance activity increased significantly.

I'm also sleeping better, and that is not normal for me.

New therapy?

At the same time, I've also started doing something incredibly unlikely, slack-lining.

Apparently, when a new activity is used adopted by the brain, it is able to increase it's size and connectivity by multiple folds within a week. I have also heard numbers of 50% within a day given the right stimulation. I suppose the difference is willingness. 

This little 2 inch wide bit of tape has been my ticket. Incredibly rubbish at slack-lining  I found myself frustratingly bad at even standing on the line for a split second. But this has been incredible therapy, and so much fun at it. I could have sworn the temporal bone behind my ears experienced pressure and pain the first few sessions. Previously I have practised awareness towards sound, however, I started to realise it wasn't sensitivity to sound that I had to increase awareness, it was spatial and balance, so I decided to give this a try.

The first few sessions, was about relaxing and one interesting trait I noted off the eye. I found it very difficult to stare at the one spot, with random and constant shifting of a point of concentration despite my greatest efforts. It's not as if my attention moved away, but the focus of my eye would not stay. However increasingly with this practise, I became more fixated on a point, it translated to being able to correct my posture, straighten up and ease into relaxation. Strangely enough, it also helps you ease anxiety. So far so good right ?

I'm still absolutely atrocious given how many tries I have had but I have a feeling this is really something that is going to help me a lot with this disease. Sure beats walking up and down the hallway moving my head left right up and down. And again, ... is therapy meant to be this fun ?