What helps your MD?

Sorry. Should have been "found to be useful"

1. salt free diet (less than 1000 mg/day)

2. NO caffeine, sugar, alcohol

3. Diuretic (water pill)....25mg -75mg a day of dyazide

4. Betahistine (capsule or liquid)....keeps the fluid flowing in the inner ear, etc.

In addition to fluid buildup, stress, inflamation and caffeine can stimulate symptoms.  As such, the following might be helpful:

1.  avoid stress....Ativan which is a mild sedative is helpful as rescue med

2.  avoid caffeine as mentioned above

3.  steroid antiinflamatory can be effective.

Misti,

I had all of the roaring symptoms for over 10 years. When I got vertigo it was not for minutes. Rather it lasted hours, some rimes for days. I had steroid injections, gentamycin injections, diet changes, beta histamine and every other thing my ENT could think of. Nothing worked for any length of time. My hearing was down to 15%.

Finally, my ENT referred me to an ENT surgeon. The surgeon and I talked extensively about my options. He would even call me at home. Ultimately we decided on surgery. On 12/13/16 I had a procedure called a Labyrinthectomy. The surgeon told me things would get very much worse before they got better. I'm glad he told me that or I would have thought the surgery was a failure.

What little hearing I had left was completely destroyed. I wear a specoal kind of hearing aid that picks up sound on the right and, by means of a wireless microphone, I hear the conversations. It is now just over 5 months since the surgery and I am starting to string together; no vertigo, no tinnitus, no vertigo or dizziness or other symptoms. So I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I wish you all the best and I pray you will find the solution that works for you.

Blessings,

Barry

I haven't eaten lunchmeat in about 3 months.  No sandwiches has reduced my sodium intake to below 1000mg per day.  Lunchmeat plus two slices of bread are almost 1000mg by themselves.  Plain yogurt with fresh or canned fruit almost every day for lunch.  No episodes since I started this.

If anyone has any tips that'd be great!!

Hi everyone.  Thanks for the replies.

A friend who has MD tried different approaches and has not had an attack since February ( touch wood please, I am very superstitious about this!) We have no idea if the changes she made in her life brought this about or if it's just spontaneous remission.

What she tried was to reduce salt, eat healthier in general, keep hydrated and spread her food intake through the day so that she doesn't go longer than about 4 hours without eating something. She now eats a lot more vegetables, salad and fruit, and has cut out most processed foods.

She uses an anti histamine, ginkgo, pine bark extract and vitamin d3.

The thing that she thinks helped the most was trying to deal with stress and her response to problems.  She meditates and does vagus nerve stimulation breathing exercises.

I don't know if any of this will help anyone but there it is.

Wishing you all good health and freedom from MD.

Hi Misti,

I don't know why I missed this thread!  I'm happy to share more details for anyone who wants them, but for me,  intratympanic steroid injections are the only way I've been able to control my very severe case of MD.  I began on 10mg of Dexamethason Intratympanically, every 4 weeks.  Over a few months, my symptoms gradually decreased in frequency and intensity, until they finally diminished altogether.  Once they were gone, my doctor gradually increased the intervals between injections.  

Four months after stopping the injections being 100% symptom free, I caught the flu and developed sinusitus and pneumonia.  During this time, my symptoms began to return,  I'll never know if it was the respirator infection that triggered them, or if I simply get 4 months maximum out of an injection.  But I did have a second round of injections, which happily resulted not only in once again getting rid of the vertigo, vomiting, dizziness, loss of balance, brain fog, etc...but it also reduced my crazy, roaring tinnitus significantly....so much so, that I would say that my hearing has improved by at at least 50%.  I'm amazed. 

I also maintain a low sodium diet (1500mg or less) and take a Maxzide 37.5 mg/day, potassium sparing diuretic.

My go-to rescue meds that I carry with me at all times, just in case are:

Meclazine 25mg for dizzines

Clonazepam 1mg for dizziness and anxiety

Glycopyrrolate 1 mg for nausea and vomiting

These rescue meds really got me through the initial stages of my steroid regimen, when I was still experiencing episodes.

Thanks for the opportunity to share what has helped me to manage this disease.

Take good care,

J-

Hi Misti,

I'm very worried since hearing about the fire. I hope you and your friend are safe. It's a horrible, horrible thing. I'm so sorry!

💗

J-