Hanging & Vestibular Issues

[barefoot]

How do you go at home with the lights out? I suspect by the fact that you always have lights on at home that you've learned from experience that you have trouble in the dark - in general, not only in the forest.
That makes sense; our balance system relies on vestibular (inner ear balance organs), visual and proprioception (our inate awareness of body position - what makes us able to touch our nose with eyes closed). If one system is degraded, the others take up some slack... while they can.
Often when the vestibular system is compromised, the brain learns to ignore the vestibular signals and instead relies on visual input to identify up from down, and whether you are rotating in space (which are the sensations we usually get from the inner ear structures). Works acceptably well when vision is working. Not good in darkness.
In many cases, only one ear is compromised. Most of the sensory input is by comparing left and right signals; if one side is zero signal (or constant or random), the brain gives up and ignores them both.
It's possible to train your brainstem balance system to ignore only the broken side of your vestibular organs. That's a specialised branch of physiotherapy. If you have unilateral deficit, it should be possible to get close to normal function back again (there will always be some weird effects with sudden movements that overwhelm the compensated system, but gentle movements you should be okay).
Bilateral deficit makes things trickier, but again, not common.
First step is a proper vestibular assessment to figure out which sensors are broken, on which side. I don't know about your country, but in mine that would require a referral to a specialist vestibular audiologist by your doctor - if there's a specialised eye and ear hospital anywhere nearby, they would be a good place to start. A thorough assessment should be about a 3 hour session. They may also want to refer you on to an otolaryngologist - mainly to make sure whatever has caused you damage has stopped.
A diagnostic clinic should then know where to find a vestibular physiotherapist.

[credentials: I'm an audiologist. I have trained in vestibular assessment, but I don't currently practice in that area]

[Streetsurfer]

I cured my dizziness, nausea and motion sickness thru the use of a hammock. It’s been gone for nearly two years. I stayed in the hammock each night until I got motion sick then retired to a bed. Through much prayer and effort, it eventually stopped. I would focus on one point on the farthest wall and gently swing as I laid down. Forcing myself through it each night. Some nights for an hour, some formfive minutes. Some nights were too bad to try. In about four to six months it subsided to where I could spend a night in the hammock. I beleive it is because the brain is plastic that it was able to rewire whatever mechanism or flaw it was causing the motion sickness. But it took deliberate exposure to that which has plagued me for all my life, and thinking along the way of what my end goal was.

[creativeKayt]

IRONFISH - DFabulous and I are so very sorry to hear about the loss of your sweet, helper dog. While I can't offer any advice due to a lack of knowledge here, I sure do hope you get some relief, soon.

Thinking of you and sending much positive energy your way.

[SilvrSurfr]

My mother-in-law had vertigo issues for 30 years - luckily, the issue was intermittent rather than persistent. She lived in a 3-story condo and could not negotiate the stairs, sometimes for weeks. Eventually, it went away for her, but it came back from time to time.

My 20-year-old son is currently suffering anxiety issues - basically a panic disorder. I also went through this for a month or two. However, when I discovered that panic disorders were basically self-perpetuating (the fear of a panic attack would cause a panic attack), I was able to gain control of the situation, and haven't had a panic attack in 20 years. Yes, I went to mental health professionals to help me gain a perspective on what was happening, but in the end, I felt that it was my responsibility to overcome the problem, and I did.

To this day, I can feel when my mind is slipping into panic, but nowadays, I can halt that before it escalates. I don't know if vestibular issues are similar, but I would expect that one could at some point gain control of the issue.

[22gdsmwheezy]

What about movement controlled lights
I sleep in the pitch black but have a mr beams light that runs on 4 AA btys that lights up as soon as I move very bright and stays on for about 20secs, if no movement goes off
Bought them from Amazon.
Don't know whether it will help but I hope so

[piscator]

First off lt me say l hope you find a solution it sounds very troubling and you have my sympathy
I fish rivers at night and sometimes wade deep so balance is important.
I my experience keeping good balance is helped by focusing on distant objects as aposed to something close to you. So when you exit the hammock if you can see a light further away could be better than one right close by.
I wish I could help more but that's all I can think off.

[dkurfiss]

Closed thread at the request of the OP