Is it possible to have drop attacks and not actually fall?

Hello, this is my first post to this forum.

Background: I haven't been officially diagnosed with Meniere's. But I strongly suspect that's what I have.

Symptoms: Constant loud, low tone, tinnitus. A couple big attacks of vertigo, and frequent lightheadedness/dizzyness. My balance sucks, and I am using a cane these days (which helps a LOT) I'm totally unable to manage getting on or off an escalator, and haven't been able to do so in years. My ears are constantly popping or full. I've had one episode of hyperacusis that lasted a little over a week. But the most troubling symptom I have is that I will suddenly feel as if I'm falling.

But here's the thing: I scream and startle and stick my arms out to balance myself. But I don't actually fall down. This has been going on for five and a half years.
Looking back on it, I think my balance has slowly been deteriorating for years, but didn't get seriously out of whack until about three years ago.

When I first told my GP about the feeling of suddenly falling, she didn't think anything of it. A couple years after that I mentioned the tinnitus, since it had been getting worse, and she noticed the hydrops and suggested maybe I had meniere's. She sent me to an ENT, who didn't think it was Meniere's, but didn't know what it was. I suspect he thought I was malingering. But he did send me in for an MRI and a hearing test.

Well, the MRI turned up a small-ish meningioma. But it's nowhere near my ears, or any nerves that would affect my hearing or balance. And it's been stable for a year and a half now. So it's unlikely to be the cause of my balance issues.

The hearing test was done twice, and neither time was when my ears were particularly acting up. The most recent one was over a year ago, and didn't show much change from the first one. I did have some hearing loss, but mostly toward the higher end. Years of being a rock band roadie was the culprit there, I'm sure.

In late December I had a sleep study done, and that uncovered "very severe" sleep apnea. I got a CPAP, and that's helping immensely in other ways. I hoped it would clear up my balance issues, but it hasn't. I still get that scary-falling-down feeling at least a couple of times a week. But I never actually fall. So that symptom is always discounted by the doctors.

Now, here's something really interesting ... When I was a kid someone gave our family a beat-up old unicycle. And I loved that thing! I rode it daily until I could save up enough for a new one. And that shiny, new, red unicycle was the first big purchase I ever made.

I rode it for hours every day. In high school I hated gym. So I made a deal with my gym teacher that I could ride around the gym while the rest of the class played whatever boring game it was they were playing. I also rode it in the hallways between classes and during any free time I had. My vice principal told me he didn't want to ever see me riding it, because there might be an issue with insurance. So we had a deal where I could ride it, but I had to dismount if I saw him.

I could - and did - dismount and start walking the unicycle in one very smooth, swift, move. I never fell off it. So, my baseline balance had been extremely good As a young adult, I had two incidents riding my bicycle that should have left me with some serious road-rash, but in each case I found myself on my feet and my bicycle a couple yards away. In one case, under the back end of a car. Because of the unicycle riding, my ability to right myself when falling was phenomenal.

Now, what I'm thinking, is that what I'm experiencing really is drop attacks, but I'm not dropping because of my previous unicycling ability.

Thoughts? Is this even possible with meniere's?

For what it's worth, I can no longer ride the unicycle, or a bicycle. However, I do have an adult tricycle that I'm going to start riding in the spring.

 

Update of sorts.

Not very long after I posted this my husband had a heart attack. He's already got a mid-range (and progressive) dementia, so that threw my world into chaos. He had bypass surgery, and has been recovering very well. But the STRESS! OMG! So, of course, my symptoms got worse.

Last week I had some pretty bad days. Lots of dizziness, and non-stop nausea. No vomiting, but always thinking it was a real possibility. So I called my GP and asked for some anti nausea meds. She prescribed them, and then asked me to come in and discuss symptoms.

Turns out the ENT had written the Meniere's DX in my chart. He had told me to my face that he didn't think it was Meniere's before he sent me to the MRI. But at some point he wrote it in my chart and no one noticed because of all the fuss over discovering the menengioma. I was turned over to a neuro surgeon at that point. And when the menengioma turned out to be no big deal (after a couple of MRIs) I didn't have a follow up with the ENT. And, what with my husband's dementia, some other family drama, and life in general, I avoided MORE Dr visits for myself (We already see Dr's all the bleeping time for my husband's illnesses.)

The GP put me on hydrochlorothiazide, and I'll be starting PT in June.

So, anyhow, I think what I'm experiencing is related in some way to drop attacks. Maybe they're not drop attacks, specifically, but... except for the fact that I don't actually hit the deck, my experience of them correlates pretty tightly to the experiences others have written about.

There wouldn't by any chance be another former unicyclist somewhere who could chime in on this?

 

Another update!

Just got back from a new ENT. And guess what? I didn't even know this when I made the appointment. HE RIDES A UNICYCLE! I kid you not..... Anyhow. He agreed with me. What I'm experiencing ARE drop attacks.
But... in the time between my last update and this one, I started PT. AND then I fell hard enough on my cane that I tore my rotator cuff. So I'm doing PT for that, as well as the vestibular stuff.

The new ENT says 90% sure it's Meniere's. I'm still not showing any low-end hearing loss. But, not everyone looses their hearing. All other symptoms fit exactly, so we're going to stick with calling it Meniere's. And yes. If your balance is extremely good before symptoms begin, it is possible to have drop attacks and not hit the floor. Note: Pre-Meniere's balance must be unicycle expert good before this can be true. But, it IS true.

 

OH! I forgot to add, my PT wanted me to start using a walker. We have one hanging around that my husband used while he was recovering from his heart surgery. But I just didn't want to use it... So. ... I got myself some Leki carbon fiber trekking poles.

LOVE them. Love LOVE LOVVVVE THEM!!!

 

It's been a long time since I've updated.

Symptoms have been very stable since I've been using tincture of cannabis.

One thing that is new is that I now have a very VERY slight hearing loss at the low end. And I am also loosing high end hearing, but not so much in the mid range. I've been fitted with some basic hearing aids, and they do seem to help.

The low end hearing loss is a 20DB drop at 250 HZ from normal three years ago to 35 DB now. Yeah... It's not much. Lucky me. But I'm thinking it might point more towards Menieres than not.