Tumbling

I have to face the fact that I am a fall risk.  I came to the realization today that I have a perfect storm of symptoms that combine at inopportune moments causing me to loose my balance.  Basically, due to the CFS, I can't multitask, I get distracted easily, I get dizzy easily, I can loose my orientation in space if I move my head quickly.  So each time I have almost fallen, I got distracted by something while I was trying to stand/turn/walk down steps, snapped my head around and blamo a good case of the dizzies where I had to grab onto something to steady myself.  The only difference Sunday was there was nothing to grab on to stop my fall.

I am normally very careful when moving around.  I sit up slowly.  I stand up slowly.  I move slowly.  However, all the times I can remember stumbling, almost falling or falling I got distracted first.  Whether it was a spider, someone talking to me or something shiny that caught my attention, and suddenly I wasn't paying attention to how my body was moving through space.  Often I snapped my head around to look at the distraction causing lightheadedness only adding to the disorientation.  So I'm not sure I can fix this.  I'm not sure I can be more careful than I already am.  These falls always occur when I'm not doing very well, when the neuro symptoms are coming on, so I'm not confident that I can avoid these incidents.  I'm seriously worried that I'll get a concussion.  I've had a few already (not CFS related) and they are NOT pleasant and can be deadly.

I've made an appointment with my CFS doctor to see if he has any suggestions.  The prescription meds for the OI jacked my blood pressure through the roof so those aren't an option.  I've increased my salt intake but probably not as much as I really need particularly in this hot weather.  I need to invent my own Gatorade to replace salts in my system.  I have been eating french fries more often lately since I have been craving salty food.  But I digress.....  I need some help on this one.  My regular doc is kind of ignoring the whole thing.  Hopefully my CFS doc will be more helpful.