Hi everyone. Hope all is good with you.
Does anyone suffer with balance? I’m 5 months in and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
It’s like I’m walking on springs. Not to mention the fullness and constant ringing in my ears.
Please tell me it gets better over time.
Take care all.
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Hi @Seeney
The simple answer for me is yes. I struggle with balance every day. I am 10 months in and have hemianopia.
I have to be careful in unfamiliar situations and I often use a friend to hold their shoulder and follow literally their footsteps…
However, it is defititely better than it was.
I have some weird things like leaning over / bending down makes me very faint and if I bend down for longer than 5s to wash my legs in the shower I can faint.
I never used to but now fear heights and I like to hold on to things.
I have found that I can do it if I think about it a bit more now but thats just me. I look for hand holds - what ever that is - people - rails - bannisters, walls , fences etc etc and I stay stable as much as I can but I do often get wobbly and floaty but it does pass generaly now and it is less.
So keep going and try and stay cool 
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yes!!! 100% its weird!! buti’m less springy now!
Oh and I have to blow out my ears 10 times a day
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Yes, most stroke survivors do have balance issues in the early months along with the fullness in the head and ringing in ears. I’ve had tinnitus most my life so that’s no different for me. It does ease up in the first year post stroke. I actually go to strength & balance classes once a week which has helped enormously with my balance, but I’m coming up to 3yrs post stroke now. Age UK run these classes around the country, some might have a different name but essentially the same thing, and they cost £2. Well worth the effort, and you do a search for a branch in your area by click on the blue link Age UK services in your area
You said in your first post in August that you lost some peripheral vision left eye, this too could be affecting your balance.
But I’m afraid all recovery is slower than what initially hope against hope for I’m afraid. Have you read through the Welcome-what-we-wish-wed-heard-at-the-start post several of us helped put together. It answers many of the most asked questions medical staff never thought to tell us about…including balance issues. Just click the blue link here: Welcome - what we wish we'd heard at the start
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Hi @Seeney
I hope your recovery is going well. I gues balance has remained the issue that it was for you at the beginning but you’re still early days so it may recover some .
My balance is affected to the extent that attempts to use steps requires I make some contact with a handrail or a wall to give my vestibular system a point of reference. I’m ok on smooth ground now, like Kieran my tolerance of heights has remarkably decreased.
If I stumble I have good but not pre-stroke reactions to recover
I can’t manage a 4-in step without being very wobbly so it’s perceptual. Long flights and flights of steep stairs and circular stairs are v. hard
You may have balance issues through muscle tendon and nerve control or through visual vestibular processing.
Not too hard to find ways to do exercises. Some are strength-based like a marching on the spot and sit to stand with one leg slightly in front and one slightly behind, imaginary walking of a tightrope both forwards and backwards then with eyes closed also a balance board - fairly cheap on Amazon eBay etc which is a hemisphere attached to a board you stand up. There are others and there are online classes as well as face-to-face
If you search Elyse on here you’ll turn up her YouTube channel and also Tara’s.
if you search for balance exercises you’ll find more than 50 posts Which will certainly show you you’re not alone and may even contain some strategies and advice 
Ciao
Simon
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Hi, thanks for the info. I too have hemianopia, having both that and unsteadiness is not fun.
they keep telling me its a long journey.
Take care best of luck on your recovery.
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That’s interesting. Thank you.
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Hi Simon. my balance is bad but I try to most things, DIY, washing car, gardening etc. (mowing lawn is fun, especially going backwards) I try to fight it and look normal but I bet I look strange to others. I try fighting but my peripheral vision problem doesn’t help either. Always bumping my head. Lol.
Take care.
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Normally, balance problems happen if your Cerebellum (towards the back of the brain) was hit by the stroke. Mine wasn’t, I don’t think, but I have balance issues if it gets late (11pm for me) and I haven’t gone to bed. I also have balance issues because of lack of proprioception, but that’s unlikely to be your problem.
I have a modest amount of tinnitus, or ringing in ears, which improved after my stroke because the hospital spent 3 weeks lowering my blood pressure. It improved with the lower BP
Good luck, and let us know how it’s going,
ciao, Roland
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That’s interesting that you say tinnitus and blood pressure because my tinnitus comes and goes and gets worse at this times and I’ve never measured my blood pressure as a experiment in correlation with my tinnitus.
Another factor you talk about is the site of damage.
I believe now this is categorised in research circles by the voxels that are affected voxal being like a pixel but three-dimensional - but the subject matter that voxels get discussed in is to do with brain networks .
There are I believe a not entirely understood number of, of which about seven are identified primary ones.
A brain network describes interlinked parts of processing that are material to brain functions. So for example there is the: sensorimotor system, visual system, limbic system, central executive network (CEN), default mode network (DMN), salience network and dorsal attention network (DAN). I further believe that there is still work to be done to understand networks that include sensory & motor neurones of the peripheral and central nervous system
So I ignorantly postulate that one could have damage in any one of a number of physical areas and it would affect for example balance because it would interrupt some part of the network or networks needed for full functional competence
I think in part this is why we see that we have similar symptoms within our complete symptoms set even though we had a different locations that were damaged and so our complete symptoms set is not matched by anybody else’s complete symptoms set.
I think it’s depressing that apparently the medical staff in frontline therapies are not at the same level of discussion 
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Thanks for that. I’ve heard that blood pressure meds can cause/add to balance and ringing in ears. I’m on Ramipril and clopydogrel atm. Wonder if anyone has changed meds to combat it?
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I’m on the same two and have no issues; everyone is different though aren’t they, some are more prone than others 
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@Seeney i too had major balance issues at the start. I had an occipital lobe stroke. I still have balance issues & dizziness but balance is better than it was…or maybe i have found ways of compensating. I am currently waiting to see ENT - on a never ending waiting lust I think. I feel like i’m on a boat a lot & trip & stumble quite a lot. Some of that is mobility based though.
I also have tinnitus which came on with my stroke. Sadly that hasn’t improved. I use an app to manage it (GN Resound) when it’s bothering me the most. I don’t have high blood pressure so mine isn’t related to that.
You are still early on yet so plenty of time for improvements for you.
Best wishes
Ann x
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Yes Simon,
This correlation was pointed out to me years ago by my Chinese Doc. Since then I have observed they are indeed linked. Since my stroke my tinnitus improved, mainly because they drastically lowered my BP, which has remained under control. Let me add that many many seemingly unrelated medications end their list of side effects with tinnitus.
Again, I postulated my cerebellum was to blame for my poor balance, late at night (walking felt like I was drunk) and my Chinese Doc rejected that. Fair enough, but we do not know enough about the brain to stipulate how the interlinked network interacts, but your theory sounds highly plausible to me.
I think we folks think outside the box because we are outside the box. My Radiologist friend said that my questions sounded like his teenage daughter (now also a Radiologist) who would come home after school with all sorts of outside-the-box concepts and connections, some of which amounted to valid original thinking.
ciao, ciao, Roland
ps. I agree it’s silly to have a daily cap on the number of likes. If someone reads 10x more posts than the average visitor, he should be allowed to give 10x more likes. Why the cap?
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Thank you Ann. That’s exactly how i explain it to people. like standing in a canoe on water trying to stop it going over! I’ve been on a waiting list since May to see the hospital eye specialist. They keep cancelling it.
Onwards we go.
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Hi, its funny but the slightest touch on something solid helps me keep my balance.
I can now put my pants trousers and shoes on while standing, but i have to do it quick. LOL.
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That really resonates with me!! I also just touch a wall or anything with a finger or hand and suddenly I get less unsteady!
We must be in some ways stroke twins 
That is exactly my situation! but I cant do it standing sitting as I have to bend down a bit and that can only be 5s! But if I have to put on a shoe for example I can hold a wall lift my leg use my grabber for the shoe and just about do it!!
I think you are cool @Seeney
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My mother had excellent balance and reflexes 5 months or so after her stroke. She was just like a normal person her age, or better, in these matters. But, sadly, the stroke affected her emotional state so much so that she was very mentally ill afterwards. She got progressively worse over time. Strangely, she didn’t have a lot of the physical issues that many of you have. Her speech and memory were excellent, too, but many aspects of her previous mind left her. Very sad. I sometimes wish she had had more physical issues than mental, but… None of its good. You just don’t win with strokes, do you?
You can always improve your balance once you’re up and walking. You might never be like a normal person, but you can always get better. A lot of “normal” people have bad balance anyways. LOL. Keep that in mind.
Take good care.
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Sorry to hear that, so sad. I was walking pretty quick. Started with a frame.
Funnily enough the quicker I walk the better. Seem to struggle more at home.