Anyone else with balance problems?

phrannie51

The great majority of the time I'm fine, but I get these "spells"...I feel my ear plug up, the ringing in it muffles, and I get totally off balance....yesterday I literally had to plop on the couch to keep from falling. Then it passes like in 30 to 45 seconds. I don't feel dizzy, just completely off balance. It always on the right side, the side that had the lymph node, and where the heaviest radiation burns were...could it be the rads offering another "gift"?

p

Djsturn

Hi,
Yes I have experienced
Hi,
Yes I have experienced the off balance feeling and have had to sit down immediatley out of fear of falling. Not sure what causes it but the episodes have decreased. I had my last of 35 rads on April 27th and last chemo April 30th. I'm not sure how far along you are in your treatment but hopefully they will decrease in time. I was also experiencing nausea and that has also decreased the last two weeks.

Deb

Skiffin16

Off-Balance
I'm a little off balance.....LOL.

But it has nothing to do with cancer, or treatment....

JG

ratface

Skiffin16 said:

Off-Balance
I'm a little off balance.....LOL.

But it has nothing to do with cancer, or treatment....

JG

I experienced some difficulty in walking
during my chemo and radiation treatments and several months thereafter. The wife and I would routinely take walks on the city sidewalks and I would always walk to one side. I would constantly trip over slight differences in surface elevations as though I could not sense they were there. You will notice that the normal human walk is never straight anyway, but we tend to follow the paths of least resistance which could flow with land contour. Watch a deer walk through the woods. But yes, it's quite normal and does eventually get better. I only trip now after multiple bottles of merlot.

Skiffin16

ratface said:

I experienced some difficulty in walking
during my chemo and radiation treatments and several months thereafter. The wife and I would routinely take walks on the city sidewalks and I would always walk to one side. I would constantly trip over slight differences in surface elevations as though I could not sense they were there. You will notice that the normal human walk is never straight anyway, but we tend to follow the paths of least resistance which could flow with land contour. Watch a deer walk through the woods. But yes, it's quite normal and does eventually get better. I only trip now after multiple bottles of merlot.

LOL....
Walking with your wife....

Reminds me, everytime Shelley and I walk together, she constantly walks into me.... That's my story and I'm sticking to it....

JG

Ingrid K

Don't worry, you're okay.
Hi Phrannie...
yes, yet another side effect that we maybe forgot to mention. I had it too, but I guess I must have forgotten about it, as I know I didn't tell you about it. I still find now that I hang onto a shopping cart more than I used to before, and I walk more gingerly in general now, due to the earlier unsteady gait. I have it on both sides, in my case my rads were pretty much in the middle due to the tumor being in the middle right part of my tongue.

D Lewis

Ya, I had balance issues
It was an inner-ear, middle-ear related phenomenon for me. I would notice the balance issues at the same timeas when my ears were stuffy, and my hearing was muffled and such. It would come and go. I assumed it was one of those radiation-edema related effects.

Deb

CivilMatt

balance
Hi phrannie51,

Now is it a balance problem or a “spell”, you mention both. Balance problems I only get when jumping up to fast and happened mostly during the time of treatments. Spells, haven’t had one of those cast on me in awhile and I can’t imagine anyone putting a spell on you.

I am not much help today; I guess I am off balance.

Hang on to something

Matt

Ingrid K

D Lewis said:

Ya, I had balance issues
It was an inner-ear, middle-ear related phenomenon for me. I would notice the balance issues at the same timeas when my ears were stuffy, and my hearing was muffled and such. It would come and go. I assumed it was one of those radiation-edema related effects.

Deb

balance and swelling
Deb,

I hadn't correlated the balance issues to the swelling, but you're right ! I seemed to have the most problems in the a.m. when my face/jaw was most swollen after sleep and then sometimes after an afternoon nap....now that I think back, it was definitely related.

Skiffin16

CivilMatt said:

balance
Hi phrannie51,

Now is it a balance problem or a “spell”, you mention both. Balance problems I only get when jumping up to fast and happened mostly during the time of treatments. Spells, haven’t had one of those cast on me in awhile and I can’t imagine anyone putting a spell on you.

I am not much help today; I guess I am off balance.

Hang on to something

Matt

VooDoo Spell
"Spells, haven’t had one of those cast on me in awhile and I can’t imagine anyone putting a spell on you..."

Matt, obviously you haven't met my buddy Sweetblood22 - Dawn...., she can whip a spell on your butt before you know it.

She even made a VooDoo Doll for dealing with me...(but I stole it back from her recently)...shhhh.



....))(....
...(ړײ)...
...«▓»....
J..╝╚...G

phrannie51

LOL Matt....
I call it a "spell" because it comes on quickly, and departs the same way. I am much relieved tho, to hear that I wasn't the only person who experienced this tho. Magical magnifying minds like mine, tend to leap to disasterous conclusions.

I've gotten dizzy standing up quickly, but this is different...like there is pressure or something...almost like a void...then my balance goes to hell...

p

katenorwood

Off balance...
Phrannie,
This could be very normal for the treatments....but as a very WISE woman advised me..(aka..Phrannie)...check it out please ! We can never just blow things off as normal, please...please ask your oncolgist or nursing staff. Thinking good thoughts for you ! Katie

phrannie51

katenorwood said:

Off balance...
Phrannie,
This could be very normal for the treatments....but as a very WISE woman advised me..(aka..Phrannie)...check it out please ! We can never just blow things off as normal, please...please ask your oncolgist or nursing staff. Thinking good thoughts for you ! Katie

LOL Katie....
I go in on Monday for a CBC, so I'll ask about it...will be there all day on Tuesday, too, so can talk to my Onc, and see what he says.

p

Tim6003

phrannie51 said:

LOL Katie....
I go in on Monday for a CBC, so I'll ask about it...will be there all day on Tuesday, too, so can talk to my Onc, and see what he says.

p

Hi Phrannie ..
I just read a GREAT book my a doctor who had throat cancer - boy did he have a time with it ...recurrence and everything ...the book I could not put down.

Book was titled "My Voice" by Itzhak Brook, MD I learned soooo much more than what I thought I knew already. Well worth the $12.00 buck and shipping I paid.

Anyway ..he mentioned the blood pressure sensors were in the cartoroid arterys (I am going by memory here an it was a 300 page book I jus finished a day ago (could not put it down, took me 3 days to read between work, wife and five kids) He said the radiation can cause swelling to neck (duh, I know) and can affect blood pressure. He even had a article written on his findings / study in a medical journal and he had laser tretments to the neck to alleviate fainting and dizzy spells. Apparently he had bouts of low and high blood pressure.

Anyways, could be fluid in the ear from all the pollen too ::::: LOL -

Just sharing ....

His story was fascinating!!

Best,

Tim

KTeacher

Tim6003 said:

Hi Phrannie ..
I just read a GREAT book my a doctor who had throat cancer - boy did he have a time with it ...recurrence and everything ...the book I could not put down.

Book was titled "My Voice" by Itzhak Brook, MD I learned soooo much more than what I thought I knew already. Well worth the $12.00 buck and shipping I paid.

Anyway ..he mentioned the blood pressure sensors were in the cartoroid arterys (I am going by memory here an it was a 300 page book I jus finished a day ago (could not put it down, took me 3 days to read between work, wife and five kids) He said the radiation can cause swelling to neck (duh, I know) and can affect blood pressure. He even had a article written on his findings / study in a medical journal and he had laser tretments to the neck to alleviate fainting and dizzy spells. Apparently he had bouts of low and high blood pressure.

Anyways, could be fluid in the ear from all the pollen too ::::: LOL -

Just sharing ....

His story was fascinating!!

Best,

Tim

Thanks Tim
I'm going on to Amazon next. Glad you read the book. I have the dizzy's. See my ENT in July. None of the other doctors I see can find a reason. Clean PET (thank God) in April so I"m thinking inner ear. I will read the book before the appointment.

ToBeGolden

KTeacher said:

Thanks Tim
I'm going on to Amazon next. Glad you read the book. I have the dizzy's. See my ENT in July. None of the other doctors I see can find a reason. Clean PET (thank God) in April so I"m thinking inner ear. I will read the book before the appointment.

Fell
I had surgery, rads, and chemo ending in Feb. This June, I fell flat on my face. Just turned and fell. Now warning, No dizziness. Just once. Did not trip. Rick.

denistd

ToBeGolden said:

Fell
I had surgery, rads, and chemo ending in Feb. This June, I fell flat on my face. Just turned and fell. Now warning, No dizziness. Just once. Did not trip. Rick.

balance
Went into the bank the other day and asked the teller if she would check my balance, she came round the counter and shoved me. Seriously though, my problems were a severe drop in blood pressure when I stood and walked, it went away after a few weeks and adjustment to my blood pressure meds.