When I’m alone and being mobile, my balance and equilibrium is not so good but when I’m with other healthy folks and being mobile, I’m not “normal” but my balance and equilibrium is not too bad.
Last night I had dinner with friends at an outdoor restaurant. It started to rain and I was able to move pretty good.
Believe me, I’m not complaining at all. Actually I’m feeling pretty good about it! What do you think? Why? @ModSupport
There’s no way to explain this
I don’t think that’s crazy! Maybe the distraction of having your friends around makes you think less about (or be less conscious of) your balance issues.
Your friends leave, and there’s nothing to distract you from your balance problem. So (like a lot of things like this) it seems worse to you.
Seenie
You could just be right. I was thinking along the same lines.
Well if you’re crazy, so am I. I’ve just asked a question about slipping. As you know, I’ve just been talking about being outside. There’s no logical reason for these things that I can see except the psychology of it all. Perhaps I’m crazy. On the other hand, being with others doesn’t make it easier, it makes it harder, because I don’t want to stumble into them (which has happened).
Yesterday, I spent time helping out with my baby granddaughter. She’s just at the crawling/standing stage and you can hardly take your eyes off her. It was lovely being there but I soon found I felt exhausted, my balance/coordination and speech took a turn for the worse, I felt stressed with the concentration.
This doesn’t happen when I’m relaxed. So, for me, whether or not I feel ‘near normal’ can very much depend on the circumstances.
That’s interesting, Beryl. I don’t have Ataxia but I have found that my pain levels are much worse when I’m tired. There’s such an interplay between fatigue and distraction and stress and … oh my.
Seenie from Modsupport & Admin
When next to someone with regular, smooth motion, we can use them as a reference and move in tune with them.
A toddler is moving somewhat like us, so we have the opposite effect. Ever go for a walk with another ataxia? Turns into a bumper car situation.
I think your peripheral vision acts like a third hand responding to motion input.
I have always attributed this to adrenaline pumping when with friends and family, especially grandchildren. I get so ‘high’ on it, sometimes it leads to anxiety and sleepless nights [especially if away from home] but since a course of CBT, I can usually control it with meditation. It was a CBT counsellor who suggested it to me,