My Balance Disorder

It took over 10 years for my doctors to understand this. 

It started when I was running downhill in a wilderness area in 1999. All of a sudden, I had no legs, and I fell to the ground. Two men on their b\icycles saw me fall and rode off to notify the ranger. 

I managed to get back on my feet again and staggered off towards the trailhead, where I met a fire engine (In California they are the first responders). They gave me some oxygen that made me feel much better. They called an ambulance, that took me to a hospital. 

I am not sure what happened next, but soon I could not talk, only make strange noises. I passed out and woke up the next day, tied down to a hospital bed. This was frustrating!

But eventually, I could talk and demanded to be released, which they did. I went back to my usual life, which included working out at a fitness center. Where I passed out again. 

They called an ambulance, that took me back to the same hospital. This time, the doctors were determined to find out what was wrong with me, and they did many tests on me. And told me "You have low blood sodium."

I kept falling down but could tell when this was about to happen, and just stopped and rested. 

I moved to Costa Rica, where I kept falling down and going to the hospital in ambulances. 

My doctor told me I was having a TIA (temporary ischemic disorder) and told me to rest. But could not tell me how this happened, or how to cure it. 

This is caused by an insufficient blood supply to the brain. which has several parts. The effect is different depending on the part affected. It took a while for my doctors to understand this. 

My last doctor was a neurologist, who could tell my problems were with my brainstem, and he prescribed some pills (Expansia) to control this.