My husband had surgery yesterday which finished at 1pm. After surgery he had mild dizziness and nausea. Since then it has got worse. He is having spins every time he moves and at least one an hour. Hard spins like before surgery. He can not keep anything down and can only lay still with his eyes closed. IS this normal? Has anyone else had this experience and can shed some light on how long this may last and what if anything worked to help with these symptoms. We were under the impression that there would be no more vertigo.
Hello. His brain is adjusting and meanwhile your husband suffers. Does he have meds for the nausea? What does the surgeon say? I am sorry your husband is hurting.
Hello, I was just worried because I thought there should be no vertigo after the surgery? I had the surgery at 8 am on Thursdsy. Woke up around 1pm. Felt dizzy but that was it. And then later that night, I started getting really hard spins. Whenever I would move my head would bring one on. It's now Friday evening and the vertigo has eased up a bit. I was just wondering if this was normal?
Qntario, what you describe is exactly what I went though during the first 24 hours post-laby. Miserable, absolutely, but not unexpected.
Thanks everyone for the positive messages. I am doing so much better today. I havent had a spin since last night and I can also walk around pretty good now! Yesterday, just sitting up was a real challenge. I am also off the IV as I am able to keep down my meds without throwing up. I'm going home today. What a roller coaster the past 2 days have been. I have been wanting this surgery for so long. I cant believe it's finally over. Hopefully the vertigo is gone for good now. Thanks again for the messages!
Hello! Yes this is normal. You will be off balance/dizzy until the brain adjust functioning with one labryinthe. Hang in there, things will get better. A labryinthectomy changed my life, but it does take some time to get back. You can check out the post on my journey with a labryinthectomy.
Hello all, Just wanted to let you know that I'm doing good. I havent had any vertigo since friday night. My head feels a bit woozy of course, but other than that, I'm doing great. I went home on Saturday and have been walking around quite a bit! I'm able to walk down the street and around the block without much trouble. I still lay down when I get back home, as thats when my head feels pretty much normal, but I am trying to get out every couple of hours. My doctor recommended to hold off on the vestibular rehab for a couple weeks so I'm going to just stick with walking around for now. I'm hoping that eventually I can get back to feeling normal when walking around. I know it's still very early, but that's the goal. Thanks again for the earlier replies. That first night was really scary.
That IS vestibular rehab.... Your brain is re-learning how to balance your body, so every time you walk it's adapting to the new, modified you. I have a 200' long, uneven, uphill gravel driveway, and after my laby I would just walk to the mailbox and back. It first I used a sturdy walking stick, and then gradually got to where I could walk it unaided.
I had my laby in 2018. The day after surgery the doctor in charge of recovery (not the surgeon) came in and said it would be good for me to sit up. I told him that didn’t seem like a good idea, but he said it’s important to start moving just a little. I sat up and vomited all over him. I was given anti-nausea medication to take as needed, and that was extremely helpful. The nausea resolved within a week, as I recall. The greatest improvement post-surgery was the absence of the anxiety about the next vertigo episode. I didn’t realize how much the anxiety had reduced my quality of life until it was gone and I regained confidence in going about the routine tasks of daily life. It felt like actually living. It was something like 6 months of recovery with vestibular therapy and lots of walking to get my brain to learn to balance more with vision and weight-bearing cues in place of the vestibular system. I still have some imbalance with unexpected stumbles a few times a week, but I feel confident enough on a ladder to change a light bulb or paint crown molding, which hadn’t been the case for years prior to surgery. Now four years post-surgery, the most challenging part is accommodating the social aspects of complete one-sided deafness. I had profound hearing loss in the affected ear prior to surgery, but at least heard some sound, unintelligible as it was, that enabled me to locate where it was coming from. After the surgery there was no sound at all from the laby ear, causing loss of the directional location of sound. That makes it nearly impossible to separate conversations in a situation where multiple people are talking — the frequencies all blend into one sound. So I limit my socialization to one or a few people at a time in situations without background noise. I would say this is the most significant unexpected side effect of the laby. Still, I would choose to do it over again, without a second thought. The ability to get through a day without fear of vertigo is incredible.
I'm doing great everyone! I had like, 16 gent shots in total before having the Laby so I probably didn't have a lot of vestibular function left. I'm moving around very well, and even standing/sitting upright I don't feel that off anymore. Bending over or turning my head from side/side or up/down quickly still feels very off but hopefully that will get better with time. I was almost deaf in my bad ear before as well, so I haven't noticied much change in figuring out where the sounds are coming from. I can't wait to get this bandage off my head and all the stuff in my ear out lol. I have not had any vertigo since Saturday. I hope it never comes back. Those first 2 days post surgery were hell. I would not want to go through it again but it's definitely worth it if I never have to worry again. Thanks everyone for the replies. I hope you all are doing well!
congrats!!! Welcome to the laby club. life will return to normal in the near future. Relax and enjoy slaying the beast.
Glad to hear you are recovering. I think we'd all be interested to read about your progress, so please keep posting. Can I ask a, perhaps, dumb question? Why is it not the case that your good vestibular system simply takes over with your general balance? Why is it people report severe dizziness when they still have a perfectly functioning ear, albeit on one side? I'm curious to know if anyone knows the science behind this. I think I'm a long way off considering a laby, but I am starting to get the kind of long lasting episodes of deafness whereby I think I'm almost completely deaf in the bad ear anyway, so what would I miss? I'm very interested in people's experiences of this procedure.
I remember reading that some people's brains are not able to fully compensate for the loss of balance function after having the surgery or doing the gent injections. Not quite sure why though! I've been lucky that I was able to bounce back pretty well after all the gent shots I've had in the past. I was almost deaf in my bad ear before the surgery, so I haven't noticed too much of a difference. Although sometimes I will hear a noise and I swear it'll sound like it's coming from one direction when it's really the other way. That was a little scary at first. It happens more often if it's a sound that I don't recognize. Other than that though, the recovery is going great. Turning my head quickly to the left or right is almost back to normal. Up/down feels a little off still. Walking around really busy stores can burn me out though. After walking around walmart, with all the people moving around, I think my brain gets tired? I will feel kinda groggy. I think it may be partly due to the lighting? If I wear sunglasses I don't notice it as much. It's definitely better than it was a couple weeks ago though. We went to the beach last weekend and I was completely fine. I was worried that all the waves would mess me up, but I was good. My tinnitus has definitely changed! If I jump up from the couch and run up the stairs, my tinnitus will spike and get very loud for a minute before getting quiet again. It's almost like it's tied together with my heart rate/blood pressure lol. It is defintely better than it was before the surgery. Back then, most of the time it was quiet, but when it did spike and get loud, it would last hours or most of the day. Its been a bit over a month since the surgery. I am definitely glad I had it done. I started going to the gym again and it's really nice not constantly worrying about when I'll spin out next. Take care!
Yep, that fatigue is normal. Your brain is working overtime in order to mange your balance, and to keep you walking (almost) straight.