Post by eliuri on Apr 4, 2015 16:11:15 GMT -5
Hello:
I had posted the following to another forum a while ago. I was hesitant to recommend it here because it seemed overpriced. But I now see that this device is selling for $99 which is only a third of its usual cost. So I'll simply cut n paste my post from back in August of 2013.
You can find the product at:
www.resperate.com/
Other than cost, it can't hurt , but might help to some degree. Would love to hear if it helps anyone here.
The following is my post at Dizzy Times Forum back in August 2013:
~eli
**************************************
Hi people:
I've had that floating type of dizziness- ground moving up and down sensations- for almost a year now. There's been some notable improvement in past two months after making some simple changes in my daily life.
One of these changes involves a biofeedback breathing modification device called Resperate. It's fairly easy to use, but unfortunately is overpriced (~$300). I splurged on it because they offered a $100 discount. I think that discount is still applicable.
The Resperate device was developed and marketed to help lower blood pressure, but I purchased it because my insomnia was getting out of control, and the company claimed it can help with this. Ironically, it's done little for the insomnia, but I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that soon after a session the rocking boat sensation was gone -temporarily. So for me at least, it can abort a bad episode of those floating sensations. I can't honestly say if this is having an all-around improvement in my dizziness, apart from this attenutation of symptoms directly after use. My condition has in fact improved, but I'm doing other things besides this.
There's a stance called the Sharpened Romberg, which entails standing heel to toe with eyes closed. This almost always brings on those sensations for me if I hold it for a while or if I walk like that keeping eyes closed. I was pleasantly surprised when this balance exercise no longer provoked those floating boat sensation immediately after using the device. I've also noticed that I can now do the one balance stand I couldn't do before: Namely: Standing on one leg with eyes closed. What's interesting about this latter stance is that I can now do it even not directly after a Resperate session, though I cant seem to hold it very long. Balance is not really my issue, it's those sensations. But this does show that in my own case at least, it has helped improve this aspect of my balance.
The device works by measuring your breathing rate using a sensor belt and very gradually guides the user down to lower and lower rates by using tones. Since its interactive, it senses how well you're keeping up with the changing pace and then imperceptibly lowers it even more. You can see what your breathing rate is at any given moment, so it's biofeedback in this sense, or you can even choose to not watch the screen. It's done by tones for inhale and exhale. This is quite different from the deeper breathing such as is used in Yoga and Tai Chi where you deliberately slow down the breath. Or the technique used with the app at the breathing-zone which uses pre-set breath rates. Here, the device gradually guides you down, It seems more effective this way, much to my surprise. It's also a subjectively different experience. I find that Tai Chi feels more "flowing" once my breath is slowed using this guided method. Otherwise, it feels a bit spastic or rigid when I'm stressed, so it's helpful for this as well.
One thing this device did show me is just how high my baseline breathing rate actually is. I would've thought it to be low if I had to guess, but it's somewhere between 20-25 breaths/minute which is quite high. One 15 minute session however does bring it down to 5-6 breaths/minute. Once there, the rocking sensations do seem to attenuate when I get up and walk or do the Sharpened Romberg.
Here are a few shortcomings:
1) The product is somewhat overpriced. But if it does have some long term benefit, it might be worth it. See if you can still get that $100 discount and also be aware that (supposedly) you can return it within six weeks if not satisfied.
2) Breathing rate goes back up too soon. The real trick would be to get a slower baseline breathing rate, which it seems this device does not do. At least not right away. I am noticing that overall my initial breathing rate is a bit lower than it was when I first started. Like average ~17 bpm instead of 20-25 but it still doesn't remain in the "therapeutic zone". Perhaps the other lifestyle changes and better sleep, if I ever master that hurdle, will eventually help me to achieve this..
3) The sensor belt doesn't have a long enough cord to use while walking. This is very important to me, since those sensations generally come on while I'm walking, and I'd like to use this biofeedback approach while actually walking. The connecting plug is such that a standard extension doesn't fit. I asked the customer support for the company about getting an extension so it can be used while walking. Their response was that the sensor belt is intended for seated or reclining positions only and might not be all that sensitive if worn while standing/walking. Nor would they suggest or sell an extension to the cord.
I have asked them to look into possible uses for dizziness and sent reference from the medical literature which shows use of metronome to slow breathing rate in VRT and suggested they look into tweaking their product to accommodate this, but they've not responded to me.I don't have contact info for their R&D dept, only for customer support.
4) I had noticed some transient light-headedness immediately after a session. At first this alarmed me some, since by now I'm dizziness-phobic, but I soon found I could prevent that by using shorter sessions or by using the reset /refresh button if the breath rate goes down too low and it starts to feel a bit forced. It does take some tweaking, but it's fairly simple to prevent. Another thing you can do is not get up right away after a session. For me it goes away if I continue reclining for a few minutes after and even less time after long term use... I'm finding those light-headed reactions to be much shorter in duration lately, so I no longer feel a need to tweak it for this. It's possibly due to the precipitous drop in breath rate and then the rise again when session is over. Or perhaps even drop in blood pressure, which is what this product is meant to do in the first place. It assures the user that it will not lower blood pressure below the norm, but I gather BP fluctuations might give such a side-effect.
All in all, I'm glad I splurged on this one even though it's not giving me the restorative sleep I bought if for. It does help with the dizziness Hopefully, others here can find it useful for dizziness sensations as well or even balance.
Would be interesting to know....
~eliuri
I had posted the following to another forum a while ago. I was hesitant to recommend it here because it seemed overpriced. But I now see that this device is selling for $99 which is only a third of its usual cost. So I'll simply cut n paste my post from back in August of 2013.
You can find the product at:
www.resperate.com/
Other than cost, it can't hurt , but might help to some degree. Would love to hear if it helps anyone here.
The following is my post at Dizzy Times Forum back in August 2013:
~eli
**************************************
Hi people:
I've had that floating type of dizziness- ground moving up and down sensations- for almost a year now. There's been some notable improvement in past two months after making some simple changes in my daily life.
One of these changes involves a biofeedback breathing modification device called Resperate. It's fairly easy to use, but unfortunately is overpriced (~$300). I splurged on it because they offered a $100 discount. I think that discount is still applicable.
The Resperate device was developed and marketed to help lower blood pressure, but I purchased it because my insomnia was getting out of control, and the company claimed it can help with this. Ironically, it's done little for the insomnia, but I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that soon after a session the rocking boat sensation was gone -temporarily. So for me at least, it can abort a bad episode of those floating sensations. I can't honestly say if this is having an all-around improvement in my dizziness, apart from this attenutation of symptoms directly after use. My condition has in fact improved, but I'm doing other things besides this.
There's a stance called the Sharpened Romberg, which entails standing heel to toe with eyes closed. This almost always brings on those sensations for me if I hold it for a while or if I walk like that keeping eyes closed. I was pleasantly surprised when this balance exercise no longer provoked those floating boat sensation immediately after using the device. I've also noticed that I can now do the one balance stand I couldn't do before: Namely: Standing on one leg with eyes closed. What's interesting about this latter stance is that I can now do it even not directly after a Resperate session, though I cant seem to hold it very long. Balance is not really my issue, it's those sensations. But this does show that in my own case at least, it has helped improve this aspect of my balance.
The device works by measuring your breathing rate using a sensor belt and very gradually guides the user down to lower and lower rates by using tones. Since its interactive, it senses how well you're keeping up with the changing pace and then imperceptibly lowers it even more. You can see what your breathing rate is at any given moment, so it's biofeedback in this sense, or you can even choose to not watch the screen. It's done by tones for inhale and exhale. This is quite different from the deeper breathing such as is used in Yoga and Tai Chi where you deliberately slow down the breath. Or the technique used with the app at the breathing-zone which uses pre-set breath rates. Here, the device gradually guides you down, It seems more effective this way, much to my surprise. It's also a subjectively different experience. I find that Tai Chi feels more "flowing" once my breath is slowed using this guided method. Otherwise, it feels a bit spastic or rigid when I'm stressed, so it's helpful for this as well.
One thing this device did show me is just how high my baseline breathing rate actually is. I would've thought it to be low if I had to guess, but it's somewhere between 20-25 breaths/minute which is quite high. One 15 minute session however does bring it down to 5-6 breaths/minute. Once there, the rocking sensations do seem to attenuate when I get up and walk or do the Sharpened Romberg.
Here are a few shortcomings:
1) The product is somewhat overpriced. But if it does have some long term benefit, it might be worth it. See if you can still get that $100 discount and also be aware that (supposedly) you can return it within six weeks if not satisfied.
2) Breathing rate goes back up too soon. The real trick would be to get a slower baseline breathing rate, which it seems this device does not do. At least not right away. I am noticing that overall my initial breathing rate is a bit lower than it was when I first started. Like average ~17 bpm instead of 20-25 but it still doesn't remain in the "therapeutic zone". Perhaps the other lifestyle changes and better sleep, if I ever master that hurdle, will eventually help me to achieve this..
3) The sensor belt doesn't have a long enough cord to use while walking. This is very important to me, since those sensations generally come on while I'm walking, and I'd like to use this biofeedback approach while actually walking. The connecting plug is such that a standard extension doesn't fit. I asked the customer support for the company about getting an extension so it can be used while walking. Their response was that the sensor belt is intended for seated or reclining positions only and might not be all that sensitive if worn while standing/walking. Nor would they suggest or sell an extension to the cord.
I have asked them to look into possible uses for dizziness and sent reference from the medical literature which shows use of metronome to slow breathing rate in VRT and suggested they look into tweaking their product to accommodate this, but they've not responded to me.I don't have contact info for their R&D dept, only for customer support.
4) I had noticed some transient light-headedness immediately after a session. At first this alarmed me some, since by now I'm dizziness-phobic, but I soon found I could prevent that by using shorter sessions or by using the reset /refresh button if the breath rate goes down too low and it starts to feel a bit forced. It does take some tweaking, but it's fairly simple to prevent. Another thing you can do is not get up right away after a session. For me it goes away if I continue reclining for a few minutes after and even less time after long term use... I'm finding those light-headed reactions to be much shorter in duration lately, so I no longer feel a need to tweak it for this. It's possibly due to the precipitous drop in breath rate and then the rise again when session is over. Or perhaps even drop in blood pressure, which is what this product is meant to do in the first place. It assures the user that it will not lower blood pressure below the norm, but I gather BP fluctuations might give such a side-effect.
All in all, I'm glad I splurged on this one even though it's not giving me the restorative sleep I bought if for. It does help with the dizziness Hopefully, others here can find it useful for dizziness sensations as well or even balance.
Would be interesting to know....
~eliuri