What is it about showering?

Personally, no. However many members have fallen while showering.

Pure conjecture, however do you shower facing the showerhead, or away from it? If you face towards the showerhead/the tiled wall the showerhead protrudes from, your dizziness may increase due to looking at a tiled wall at a closer proximity, depriving your eyes/brain of visual cues that your compromised inner ear requires to determine your place in space.

This may also occur regardless of the direction you're facing, if your shower in general is lower on vertical & horizontal visual cues. Amplified, of course, if lower levels of light are found in your shower.

 

Hey Pupper, showers are precarious for me, too. My vestibular therapist explained that when the vestibular system is damaged the brain learns to rely more on vision and the proprioceptor muscle signals in the feet and ankles. The shower is a disorienting place, and having to close eyes at all knocks my balance off. I also have problems walking in the dark.

 

My experience is the same as Clare's. Can not close eyes in the shower. Also, I have an issue with turning around in the shower to face the shower head. I have to move very slowly as balance is completely off. And yes walking in the dark is an issue.

 

Yup I find showers wobbly and exhausting. Being a perfect lady who of course never gets stinky, I usually shower only every second day to save my energy.

I guess I could try baths more often- I do enjoy warm water!

 

I think it depends on if it’s a free standing shower or if it’s a shower in a bathtub. Free standing, the floor is flat and I’m fine. A shower that sits above a bathtub, you’re standing in the tub where the floor is a bit concave so it’s a little harder to keep my balance without widening my stance.

 

True, as an additional element. Open vs enclosed showers, too, dictate more or less visual cues.

 

I only rarely have a problem closing my eyes in the shower or walking around in the dark.

 

Huh. I have no problem at all in the shower but can’t manage to ride in the car for very long. Weird.

 

The car helps my dizziness. I'm a real weirdo.

 

I am surprised that after a VNS or a labby... one would still have issues in the dark or the shower.

That is one of the things I was hoping to get rid of by getting a VNS and or a Labby.

Guess it just shows how this syndrome is different for everyone!

10 people have the same surgery and they would have 10 different outcomes.

 

I have not had either of those procedures.

 

Subsequent to a vestibular nerve section or labyrinthectomy the brain generally receives either ≈50% less (unilateral), or ≈0% (bilateral) vestibular input, hence the brain places additional emphasis on visual & proprioceptive input to orientate itself in three dimensional space.

Dark environments, or environments lower on visual cues denny the brain of the visual input that it now leans so heavily upon—this is why, generally speaking, individuals who have had a vestibular nerve section or labyrinthectomy often struggle to maintain orientation in given environments. Particularly while moving their head as one does while showering, or while turning around as Redwing1951 mentioned.

When placed in an environment low on visual cues, or an environment devoid of visual cues, an individual who has had a vestibular nerve section or labyrinthectomy is analogous to a 3 cylinder engine running on only 1, or 1 1/2 cylinders—the engine itself representing the brain, vestibular input representing cylinder 1, visual input cylinder 2, & proprioceptive input cylinder 3.

On a side note, it would be interesting to speak with or to hear from a blind individual who has had a vestibular nerve section or labyrinthectomy.

 

I have had a laby and no issues in the shower, eyes open or closed. The brain compensates and is an amazing thing.

 

The dark and in the shower are the only places I have issues. It's not a big deal. The rewards from the laby outweigh those issues.

 

I have compromised balance so i rely on my eyes a lot for balance. Learning to turn around in the shower was one of the hardest things. Eyes may be open but water coming down on your head makes for poor vision and hands and feet which also contribute to balance are in a compromised situation with slippery surfaces etc.

 

Man...that would be hell for that dude. jeez.

Just know from my surgeries...my results are so much different than others with the same exact procedure...the inner ear/brain is so unpredictable.

 

Had a laby two months ago, no problems in the shower but I don't do well in the dark. Purchased cheap LED night lights and that helps a lot.

 

How is your recovery going??

 

Doing quite well, the first few days were tough just to walk to regain my balance. I would walk about 3-5 miles a day. I was back to work in 9 days and working on ladders within two weeks. I still have some minor balance issues, but ZERO vertigo!
Edit: I still can't walk a straight line.