@vdm happy new year my fellow Canadian, I could not agree with you more. Makes me consider to learn physiotherapist and change my ever-demanding IT work.
@Isaiah_40_31 I am surprised how dependent we become to smart-phones in such short time. I think studies need to be conducted how this is altering health, socialization, Privacy, EnvironmentâŚetc. In general, there are all kinds of risks associated with these devices that many folks are not aware of.
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@KoolDude - With all youâve taught yourself, Iâm sure you already know more than many PTs! Youâd be great at it, but then thereâs the years of required schoolingâŚâWhere thereâs a will, thereâs a way!â Maybe you & @vdm could collaborate! You two would make an AWESOME team!!
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@Isaiah_40_31 Thanks but I really do not know more than anyone here. I just apply research/analytical skills which I gained when I was in university decades ago to any subject of interest. Since I studied computer science & physics, I sometimes I apply those skills to my current research on medical issues regarding vascular system. With my 3 young kids and demanding job, I am fully occupied lately but use some of my spare time in reading science and computing literature to stay updated. With impaired concentration due to my current IJVS issues, it is becoming a daunting task to do it lately.
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WOW! Your schedule is definitely full! I think youâre doing an amazing job juggling being a husband, father, keeping a full-time job & doing the research you share here all while dealing w/ brain fog & other bad ES symptoms. I donât know that I could have âjuggledâ that many balls when my children were young! I was a stay at home mom & it felt overwhelming all the time, but now my kids are adults, & I wonder where the time went!
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Wow VDM and Kooldude and everyone,
Thanks for all of this information. Between my adolescent whiplash incident, my late 20âs the Accutane treatment for 6 months, carrying a backpack from grade school till now (Iâm 48), and using a microscope and computer for work daily since 2000 and using the cell phone, it seems that these could all add up to explain my development of ES. I might add that I did a ton of reading (and still do) with similar head position to cell phone use starting in teen years (very bookish kid) and also had and still have a whole host of hobbies that also have similar downward head positioning. I have noticed a seasonal difference in my jugular vascular symptoms pre-surgery with symptoms worsening as the weather turns cooler here in Canada (around October) and improvement in spring. It seems the seasonal differences were due to my more favourable head/neck positioning in the spring and summer months with more bike riding and swimming, walks etc. versus the winter months which are dominated by reading and crafting in my off time. I noticed much relief of symptoms from bike riding pre-surgery, which was surprising at first since youâd think a dizzy person biking would be awful, but the head and neck positioning (extended instead of looking down) was optimal for me and many times I would feel symptom free when riding. These rides and feeling of normality were such a needed break from the torture of vascular ES as I waited fro months to have surgery. I hope everyone can find some relief and start to feel better.
Thanks for sharing this super interesting and helpful info. Iâm definitely going to have to pay more attention to ergonomics!
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Dizzy,
I think you are on to something. I had a flair of vertigo and tinnutitis a couple months ago along with sudden hearing loss in one ear which is new for me. Bouncing around in a school bus triggered it however I have noticed it being triggered recently by looking down and looking up at the extreme extensions of my neck. Come to think of it, the bouncing in the bus may have caused me to try and stabilize my neck more (re: bad posture) triggering more tension in my neck. I live in Seattle and not getting out much due to the weather and tend to get more sedentary in the winter months and doing the exact thing as you. This worsens if I donât have regular body work. I am still having ear pain issues although they are mild but I do think it is related to posture and level of neck tension.
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Glad you find cycling better! Unfortunately for me I had to stop as the neck position with a racing bike was what caused the slipped disc C5-C6, which I think contributed to the vascular symptomsâŚ
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@Jules, how did you find out about the slipped disc in the neck? Is there any specific test/scan for that? I have dessicated disc at the same spot, but it âfeelsâ moving forward-backward with various tension exercises, and obv. either makes me feel better or worse. Wondering if that could be another hot spot to checkâŚ
Upd: I assume the slipped disc=cervical spondylisthesis
@vdm, a slipped disc = a herniated disc = a bulging disc.
Cervical spondylosis is the natural wearing down of cartilage, disks, ligaments and bones in your neck so itâs a bit different, & yet, kind of the same as what Jules is talking about.
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Ahh, I see. I thought we were talking about spondylolisthesis, e.g. literally slipped disc when one vertebrae slides ahead of the level below https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spondylolisthesis, just the cervical variation
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You can get just the disc bulge/ slip, rather than the actual vertebra slipping, this is a definition I found on the UK NHS site:
Spondylolisthesis is where one of the bones in your spine, known as a vertebra, slips out of position.
Itâs most common in the lower back, but it can also happen in the mid to upper back or at the top of the spine at the back of your neck.
âSpondylolisthesis is not the same as a slipped disc. A slipped disc is when a disc (the tissue between the bones in your spine) moves out of place.â
I had an MRI when my ES symptoms got worse to check if anything else was going on, I was getting tingling in my neck & arms, & it showed up then. I saw a physiotherapist, & was given some gentle exercises to do, which helped alot.
Definitely worth checking out for youâŚ
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Hi Jules, Iâm sorry to hear that! My bike is a cruiser bike, so my head is extended, but just a tad - not as much as a racing bike. I do have a couple bulging discs at C6 and C7, but they are not yet causing enhancement of my spinal cord and therefore fortunately no symptoms. They thought this was from degenerative changes (likely genetic, since my mother has the same) but they did recommend not going into any super extended positioning - like painting a ceiling or anything. I had warned Dr. Samji and his team about this, since this is the position they need to put your head in for the ES surgery. There was no way around it, but they were careful and fortunately I did not notice any soreness or problems due to this.
Jules, I was curious if with your vascular dizziness, did you have a rocking feeling of dizziness? Also, I have had and still have post-surgery the strange sense of dizziness when stopping at a light driving my car. I donât feel dizzy when moving, but suddenly notice it on stopping. Did you ever have that type of sensation?
Thanks a million for all of your support and help over these many months!
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I used to feel constantly off-balance, wobbly, a bit drunk really, it would be when I was walking, especially going round a corner! But I also had the whole room spinning sort of dizziness, whether I was laying down, sitting etc.
Hopefully your dizziness will go completely with timeâŚit could be that nerves are still irritated or the brainâs still not used to the change in pressureâŚ
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We also have to remember anything heavy, purses, boxes, etc, anything that is repetitive carrying around, I dont use a purse anymore, just a hipsack. It helps my shoulders a lot. I had many years at computers and always looking down as a massage therapist for 17 years, takes it tollâŚ
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How are you doing these days, @Greatpersun? Iâm glad youâve found a good solution to help you w/ neck & shoulder pain. Thank you for sharing it here.
Hanging in here waiting for surgery may 18 with Hepworth did have a shooting pain up back of my neck then random shocks in my right ear urgent care said TN but one does steroid helped it also I read TN can be caused by low B12 b6 and b1 so started taking those it heppened Tues no more zaps since then âŚthank you for asking hugs
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Good you have a date, shame itâs a way awayâŚgood that the steroids helped & hope the supplements do too 
Thank you Jules I got that date in November lol even farther away .I am so looking forward to my surgery. Hugs
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Thank you for the update. Iâm also glad the steroid dose helped & good job researching supplement options to help. I hope the time till your surgery seems to go by quickly & you donât get any more shooting pains.
I put your surgery date on my calendar & will pray for you on that in particular.