Horse riding & fishing

[Staceyfletcher24]

Before the 'injury' I used to go riding, I've had horses and been riding since I was about 4 years old. Since the injury my balance has been poor, started vestibular rehab in 2022 and naively thought "this will 100% cure me" so bought a pony thinking a gentle hack round the forest roads would help my balance..... it did not, not even slightly.

Don't get me wrong the treatment has made a huge difference. Just not as much as I want.

I met up with friends and rode in a lesson (on a sand surface) I knew I was struggling but being a bit stubborn I wasn't leaving till I done it type of attitude..... Needless to say I was in bed very poorly for a week afterwards.

I've managed to hack out the pony once since then.... when it wasn't sunny, it wasn't raining, it wasn't windy to make his mane move etc.... but it kills me that I can't do it.... my husband bought me a wagon so have trained the pony for driving and logging, which has been great and he loves it.... but just really miss riding....

Any tips or advice?

Same with fishing, I can't look at water moving anymore, i get very nauseous then just fall over.

Thanks

[pinkvision]

Hi your vestibular system is linked to your visual processing and cervical spine. It's called the cervical/ vestibular/ ocular reflex. The vestibular therapy helps realign the crystals in the vestibular canals; sounds like it went well for you; however you also need to sort out your visual processing because you can't look at moving water and also make sure your cervical spine is ok because it aligns your head and body.

I'd suggest seeing an optometrist for your visual processing and a chiropractor/ physio that deals with sports concussions for those. You'll have to pay for both because you can't get them on the nhs.

[Staceyfletcher24 in reply to pinkvision]

Hi thanks for your reply. I have been to see ophthalmologists, think part of the issue is that during the 'incident ' I suffered a thermal concusive type injury to my left eye.

My eye effectively had a hot blast wave , which has healed into cataracts and cysts (that was the burn holes)

That in turn has caused a 'neurodivergent squint' (excuse my spelling)

I do have glasses to help slightly but can't use them when the headaches are very bad. Which is most the time.

So it seems to be a vicious circle, sore head, sore eyes, balance, etc

[pinkvision in reply to Staceyfletcher24]

Hi, an ophthalmologist deals with your eye sight, an optometrist deals with visual processing in the brain. They are different professions.

[Staceyfletcher24 in reply to pinkvision]

Hi sorry I completely misread your reply

[Stubble]

I used VR a headset to help with movement processing. Optokinetics and, bizarrely, a roller coaster game helped me to restore a lot of my visual capacity.

You can find optokinetics videos on YouTube if you don't want to plunge into VR. I was very surprised how much they helped with visual processing. Best done on a large screen though as the range of eye movements can't be achieved on a phone.

I spent over 30 years riding motorbikes and am still hoping I can get back in the saddle again sometime but I know I'm not ready for that just yet.

[Staceyfletcher24 in reply to Stubble]

Thanks, I'll look into giving that a try. 😊

[Nemo24]

It's tough isn't it when you feel there's a block to doing what you love. I'm not a horse or fish person so can't offer help in them. But playing tennis was my passion. Get back to full blown level feels too much. Have started some walking tennis though. It's great being in court, outside getting fresh air & sun. I live in the moment now & find it helps me switch off too. Hope you gets some ideas, take care.

[Ideogram]

Hi. Sorry you're in this situation. Definitely empathise.

I also have the thing where looking at visual noise like the sight of rushing water gives me vertigo. This seems to be separate to the BPPV where I can get vertigo from looking up. My neurologist called it PPPD. Unfortunately my vestibular therapy doesn't seem to have covered that, or POTS, and I'm afraid I don't know the answer to it but it may be worth asking.

On the eye front, I totally agree that this needs looking at. I had an eye health check which was fine; asked my GP to refer me to neuroptometry and they said no; but only on seeing my rehab physio did they realise that the muscles (and maybe nerve?) around my eye might be damaged and they've referred me to an orthoptist (my injury was from a trauma to the eye area). I don't know if this is the right answer for you, but if you've also had an actual issue in the eye area too, perhaps it's worth looking at-? Unless this has already been done.

Sorry not to be able to offer clearer solutions but I definitely feel your pain; I seem to get wobbly from a lovely omnishambles of BPPV, the visual noise one, occasional vestibular migraines, and also POTS (I assume you don't have that-?) and I am wondering how on earth I will get back to climbing. But we will keep on bashing on.

Best of luck.