Hello All
During my 3 month stay in Sydney from August to October, I took VRT sessions from Ross Black, an occupational therapist at the Prince of Wales Hospital. I was recommended to see him by Dr Ron Granot and it was a wise decision that I did. I can tell you that he is a gentleman!!!. Extremely nice man with a great sense of humour. He makes you feel extremely comfortable and will spend plenty of time explaining things to you about the tests he performs on you and gives great advice on how to cope with a balance and dizziness disorder.
When I first went to see him, he performed a number of tests on me, I do not remember what those tests were called but he did them basically to determine the extent of disability caused by my dizziness. On the basis of his tests, he worked out a strategy and plan of action. I attended VRT sessions with him every week. He was very experienced in this field and his exercises comprised static and dynamic balance tasks as well as head rotation activities designed to challenge my symptoms and to promote, strength, balance and confidence. He made me play balance games on the Nintendo Wii which btw is great fun. There are different balance games to choose from with levels ranging from easy to difficult and you can choose and work your way up as you get better at the game. This promotes mental thinking, builds confidence in you as you get better in the games, and overall is a fun activity you can enjoy with your family and at the same time helps in brain compensation. It also makes you sweat and its like doing exercise in front of your television without having to go to the gym. He explained the importance of maintenance of regular sleep, physical activity levels (as much as possible) and stress management, in the control of migrainious vertigo.
Whilst the vestibular rehabilitation exercises assisted me with building confidence in my balance abilities and general functioning, it did little to control the MAV. The combination of cymbalta and VRT has helped me fight this illness to a manageable level now where I can continue with my life as long as I avoid the triggers.
For those of you considering VRT, I strongly recommend Ross Black whom you can contact at the Prince of Wales Hospital for your sessions but you will need a referral from your Doctor for it. Its free of charge as long as you have medicare and a doctor’s referral.