Vertigo updates, and VR driving

I’ve been going to physical therapy for vestibular rehabilitation for a few weeks, and right now I have good days and I have bad days when it comes to vertigo. Today was a bad day.

On the plus side, even on my bad days I seem to be able to drive, at least within town, without having a vertigo-induced panic attack. Maybe I’ll be able to start driving to choir again soon. And also finally go to Costco in person instead of paying for delivery for everything.

Read more…

Stuff and happenings

I’ve been accepted into Furality’s Dealer’s Den as a musician! I have a month to get my booth together and I’ve already got it like 90% done. It’s actually in an acceptable state already but there’s some more little things I want to do with the background video, and I’m learning so much DaVinci Resolve stuff to do it.

I also have a show on Sunday, at around 4:30 PM PDT. I hope folks can make it!

Read more…

Statuses

I’ve got stuff going on, figured I’d ramble a bit for those who care.

Read more…

I’m fine BTW

Some folks wanted an update and didn’t see the webmention-based updates on the last entry. I discontinued the Effexor and the concerning symptoms subsided throughout the day, and I only had minimal withdrawal symptoms (basically just a few hours of extreme nausea and some really intense dreams for a couple nights).

I’m annoyed that this didn’t end up being a workable solution but I’m still holding out hope for the vestibular rehabilitation, as well as some other things I’m trying, and whatever happens I’m determined to survive and thrive, regardless.

Read more…

Jinxfexxor

Wellp, as usual, saying anything vaguely optimistic about a new medication has angered the side effect gods, as over the course of yesterday I noticed I was having progressively more trouble breathing and swallowing and a feeling of swelling in my throat, which is on the list of Effexor side effects to watch out for and to immediately contact your doctor about. So, I’m pausing the Effexor for now (hopefully having been on it for only three days at the lowest dose will minimize the withdrawal effects, ugh) and have sent a question to my doctor about it.

If dopamine regulation is so great, why doesn’t my brain just do it on its own?

Effexor

The only theory that anyone’s come up with for my vertigo issues that holds any weight is that they’re possibly vestibular migraines, so my neurologist put me on Effexor, which can help treat vestibular migraines.

It can also treat anxiety, fibromyalgia, and ADHD (which makes sense, as they’re all fundamentally dopamine dysregulation problems, and Effexor works primarily by regulating dopamine), so maybe this will be the magic bullet that helps me with everything. Several of my friends turn out to be taking it for their fibromyalgia and/or anxiety and they say it helps them somewhat, so, we’ll see.

Read more…

Vertigo and meclizine

So, I was on meclizine for a couple days, and it is definitely not the right med for me.

Basically, it made me super tired and pretty much constantly sleepy or on the edge of falling asleep (like, to the extent that I was experiencing hypnagogia), and it wasn’t helping my vertigo at all.

What’s more, for vertigo it’s meant to be used as a rescue med and not a maintenance med, getting tolerant to it can cause some major problems, and it has a bad interaction with my rescue inhaler. I’m not even sure how it would be useful as a rescue med given that my vertigo attacks usually last 10-15 seconds and are brought on at random, and it takes about an hour to kick in.

Right now my best hope seems to be the vestibular rehabilitation physical therapy I’ve been prescribed. My intake appointment for that is in about two weeks. I also have a neurologist appointment next week, which will hopefully provide some amount of clarity.