Neuro Chiropractor

[Vespalover]

I had VM in May 2012 10 months ago. I currently live in Atlanta, USA but am a Brit. The care here was great when I was in hospital for the first 8 days then I had to lobby to speak to a Neurologist who had me follow his pen with my eyes. He wanted to do another MRI (Had one when admitted) and another Lumbar puncture.

Over here I have health insurance as there is no public health care so I was already $7000 in the hole (5,000 GBP). So I declined both.

A friend recommended a Neuro Chiropractor. I had never heard of such. He put a set of goggles on me that track my eyeballs. Then I have to watch a cursor moving slowly up/down and left/right. Then faster. Then the cursor just appeared.

Then he had me on a balance machine.

The result were that I was profoundly weak at tracking on my right side and up and down (why scrolling on a computer is impossible). I was missing the target and slow.

So he gave me exercises to do at home to retrain my brain. I have a set of 10 dots in a colum on a peice of paper taped to the wall. I have to count up to the 4th one then stare at it and nod my head up and down 5 times, then up agin 5 times and nod. I thought it was all a bit of mumbo jumbo but.....it seems to be working.....

Just thought I would let you guys know. Anybody else heard of Neuro Chiropractors?

[Tiga]

NO have not heard of it, but found a link for nay one who wants to read up on it ehow.com/about_4568460_chir...

i live by the rule if it works for you go for it, best of luck

[daffodil in reply to Tiga]

Thanks Tiga- this is really interesting.Does anyone know of any practitioners in the UK?

[Tiga in reply to daffodil]

azzolino.com/faqs.html found this on line azzolino.com/faqs.html

[daffodil]

Have never heard of a neuro chiropacter,but the tracking exercises sound similar to what I was given at vestibular rehabilitation.If you google vestibular rehabilitation ,you will find lots of exercise to help balance,tracking etc.

I have acute vestibulopathy as result of damage to inner ears and cerebellum,after bacTERIAL Meningitis and Septicaemia in 2008 and underwent a year of VRT ,though to very litte effect.Over theyears,my actual balance has improved in thet I can stand up with crutches and walk forwar a very short distance,but alas the spinning/imbalance and vertigo have not changed,I have wriiten a wee blog on vestibular dysfunction which you may want to check out.

It is all to do with how the inner ears,eyes,brain and muscles work together to maintain our balance.If any part of the vestibular system is damaged,it becomes uncallibrated.The exercises challenge your system to work togather and to make new pathways in the brain.This is why vrt exercises make you worse at start ,but then should start to lessen symptoms as new pathways made.My main symptom is vertigo which worsens with movement of watching movement,so even scrolling on computer,watching rain,snow,travelling all worsen vertigo.

One of the exercises that does help with tracking is to put a moving scerensaver on computer and make myself watch it for up to 1minute.This makes me feel very nauseous still,but at least I dont topple off the seat as I used to! Another was to pin a peice of very busy paper( eg I had spotty wrapping paper) on wall/pinboard and move head to right,left,up and down,with increasing speed.As you say you wonder what its all about!I know a few people who have responded very well to vestibular rehab,sometimes also called brain training,so keep on practising and wishing you well.Do let us know how you are improving.

[Jeffery]

Hi Vespalover, I found that playing Mah-jong on the computer helped me with my visual tracking more than the exercises that the dizzy Dr. gave me. I have vestibular imbalance in both inner ears as well as permanent hearing loss in the right ear. I am 2 years post bacterial meningitis. Balance is worse on fatigue but I have had many gains as well. Still walking unassisted for short distances and use seated walker and motorized shopping carts for longer periods, ie if I am doing a long period of shopping. At first I could hardly lift up my head and would topple over if not really careful so this is obvious not an illness that you immediately bounce back from. I am Canadian and first generation British. The hardest thing that I find to deal with is the sudden fits of fatigue. Kind Regards, Jeffery

[Vespalover]

Here is their web site:

healthybrainnow.com/

I am sharing this with all of you not because you are going to rush to Georgia to see Dr Ellis, but so that you may be able to find something like this in the UK. It is another rescource that we can use in the battle against the lasting effects of Meningitus and Lord knows, we have very few of those.

Thanks for all you comments and words of support.

Ana