Our Rehab Patients Say It Best

May 4, 2017 Reporting from Niles, MI

Spinning in Circles - Ruth Thornton

https://www.spectrumhealthlakeland.org/medical-services/rehabilitation/our-rehab-patients-say-it-best/Detail/spinning-in-circles/?utm_source=Spinning_in_Circles_&utm_medium=PatientStory_Landing&utm_campaign=InternalPages

May 4, 2017

May 4, 2017

SpectrumHealth Lakeland

Vertigo Patient Searches for Diagnosis for Years Imagine you’re out to dinner at your favorite restaurant. You stand up from the table and everything around you begins to spin. You try to walk and it feels like you’re being pushed into a crowd of p

Spinning in Circles - Ruth Thornton

SpectrumHealth Lakeland

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Spinning in Circles - Ruth Thornton

May, 2017

Physicians: Shannon Logsdon, PT

Vertigo Patient Searches for Diagnosis for Years

Imagine you’re out to dinner at your favorite restaurant. You stand up from the table and everything around you begins to spin. You try to walk and it feels like you’re being pushed into a crowd of people. The noises around you become deafening. Someone has to catch you before you fall to the ground.

Although it would only last a few minutes, over the past three years, “episodes” like this had become the norm for Ruth Thornton of Watervliet. There was no guarantee of when the next one would happen and she lived in constant fear of falling or passing out.

 “It was a very weird feeling – I felt like I wasn’t in control of my body,” she said. “I had trouble walking very short distances and had to start using a cane.”

In order to combat her symptoms Ruth tried taking dizziness medication. She had multiple MRI’s for fear she was having a stroke. She even went as far as to have her knees x-rayed because it often felt like they were giving out on her. All the tests came back normal. No one was able to give her answers.

That was until she visited the Walk-In Clinic at Lakeland Hospital, Watevliet for a sinus infection and happened to mention some of the symptoms she had been facing. The physician on staff shared that his mother suffered from a similar condition and suggested that Ruth talk to her primary care provider about using physical therapy as a treatment option.

Still reluctant that anyone could solve her problem, Ruth scheduled an appointment with Lakeland Rehabilitation Services, Coloma. Upon her initial visit, physical therapist, Shannon Logsdon, PT, performed a thorough evaluation. After looking into Ruth’s eyes and having her move them back and forth in different directions, Shannon immediately knew what was wrong. Ruth had vertigo.

The body relies on the inner ear in order to keep its balance. Within the ear are many tiny parts – one of which contains calcium crystals. For some people with vertigo, the crystals move out of place. When this happens, the system no longer works as it should and the inner ear fails to sense head and body position and motion.

After putting a name to her condition, Ruth began working with Shannon two to three times a week over the course of a few months. Some of her treatment involved bending her head and neck in different ways to move the crystals back in place. Ruth also worked on balance and movement exercises such as walking down the hall, stepping up and over boxes, and walking around cones – all things that in the past would have triggered an episode for her.

“Physical therapy worked wonders – it’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Ruth. “Very seldom do I have episodes anymore. I don’t want them to come back, so I continue to work on the exercises Shannon taught me even after I completed physical therapy.”

Although Ruth’s world seemed to be spinning out of control before she was able to put a name to her condition, she encourages others who may be facing similar symptoms to get checked for vertigo.

“My physical therapists were all very caring and professional – they really knew what they were doing,” she said. “I have control of my life again.”