80% of sufferers go into natural remission

Discussion in 'Your Living Room' started by sirlanc, Jan 31, 2014.

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  1. Juz

    Juz New Member

    Completely agree. No one makes the decision to have relatively major and essentially destructive surgery on a whim. Surely they do so because living with the vertigo (or perhaps I should say "not living due to vertigo") just isn't an option. With 2 little ones who need their dad right now, my perspective is vastly different than it would be if I was, for example, on my own.

    I surely won't be rushing into a surgical treatment but if all other avenues are exhausted, I don't see how I can around waiting to see if I'm part of Team Remission.
     
  2. Vicki615

    Vicki615 New Member

    My thoughts exactly
     
  3. Intrepid

    Intrepid New Member

    But it may not be time as much as the medication you are taking. Several people on this forum have had much success with Verapamil.
     
  4. FadedRose

    FadedRose New Member

    i think I have experienced remission from vertigo. It had been 5.5 years since my last vertigo which was a doozy. It happened about 6 months after I went off SERC, dyazide and valium. The only medication I was one was lorzepam on a as needed bais to stop and attack. I rarely had to use the ativan as the vertigo has stopped.

    So I have no idea why the attacks stopped as the only change I made was to not take any medication regularly. I quit worrying about was was causing the vertigo. I stopped worrying about low sodium, I re introduced caffeine with no ill effects.

    There must be a cause of my remission, but I have no idea what as I stopped ally daily meds and quit being so anal about salt and started drinking coffee again. Who Knows?

    Other than hearing loss in one in ear, life is good again and there was mostly certainly a time when it was not.
     
  5. sirlanc

    sirlanc New Member

    this is true, that is why I always say I do not know what if anything worked for me.
     
  6. Joanne5170

    Joanne5170 New Member

    Everyone seems to have different experience with the disease.

    For those of us who suffer with disabling vertigo which ends your normal life
    surgery is the way to go.

    I personally was not willing to wait around for a miracle I wanted the vertigo to end
    I remember speaking to Dr. Brackman before surgery and he said Joan after the VNS you will not spin in the operated ear.
    The menieres never went into my right ear. Normal hearing in right ear

    12 years later I am still vertigo and dizzy free with some hearing loss. Life is Good

    I wish to encourage patients on this site who suffered like I did not to be afraid of
    a VNS. I never have to worry about my remission ending. If it ever spread to my
    good ear he could fix it.

    Joan NY P.S. I am completely med free and no diet restrictions.
    The best candidates for a VNS are only patients with extreme vertigo who have
    classic menieres like I did.
     
  7. Cheryl

    Cheryl New Member

    Joanne,

    If it ever goes to your good ear, how is he going to fix it? Twenty years since my VNS and I'm now bilateral.

    Cheryl
     
  8. jaypr

    jaypr New Member

    Faded Rose

    My belief is that you and I are two of the lucky ones where the price we have paid for the vertigo ceasing as part of menieres is the loss of hearing in one ear. I feel fortunate that the vertigo has stopped for me when it could have continued to the other ear and a repeat vertigo cycle. That could still happen of course.

    My only way to counter that possibility is to try and stay healthy, exercise and eat the right foods, stay as stress free as possible and get enough sleep. I may go back on a daily maintainance intake of Llysine for protection as I believe the original cause was viral.
     
  9. Vicki615

    Vicki615 New Member

    So sorry to hear that Cheryl, what are you options at this point?
     
  10. Dizzy Little Piggy

    Dizzy Little Piggy OINK OINK

    Going bi-lateral is not the end of the world, it's just more of the same. Learning to live with Meniere's is not always easy but once you accept it, living with Meniere's is a lot easier. Be willing to try different Meds, surgeries, etc., but don't get disappointed when something you try doesn't work. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!!!!! I never have high expectations when trying something and I never get disappointed. Love your life, in spite of Meniere's. OINK, OINK!!!!!!!


    Piggy
     
  11. sirlanc

    sirlanc New Member


    Amazing... Now I finally know, pigs can fly!
     
  12. June-

    June- New Member

    Cheryl, I had only one hearing and balance nerve due to a previous surgery when I developed cochlear hydrops in the good ear. I also developed ch or menieres in the bad ear but that is irrelevant since the nerve, both hearing and balance, was severed years earlier.

    I have been fortunate to have great success with antivirals and allergy shots. There are other means to cope besides surgery. Still, I understand the question because if that quits working, I will be in a pickle.
     
  13. Intrepid

    Intrepid New Member

    Ken,

    Were you working and raising kids when you went bilateral or did you go on disability almost immediately? How was your lifestyle, finances, family situation like? By that I mean did you have to continue being the sole provider despite your disease?

    I ask because there are several people who have to get up every day and work 10 hour days despite their condition and, often times, their place of work is not sympathetic. I think these are the people who opt for surgery as their first choice. There is no possibility to sit back and accept this condition when the cloud of foreclosure, marriage break up, needy small kids, a full time job, money issues, etc. loom over their heads on a daily basis......plus vertigo.

    i don't see "waiting it out" as being a realistic option. I do see cultivating a positive mindset as being one.
     
  14. daBronx

    daBronx New Member

    It's been almost 13 years since I was first diagnosed with Meniere's.I remember on two separate occasions eating pizza and afterward having a vertigo attack.So I stopped eating pizza.Then on Feb.23rd,2014 a group of us from church had lunch at a pizza restaurant in town.I was a little reluctant to go because I had not eaten any pizza in nearly 13 years but I went anyways.I had 2 slices but I don't remember what they were.I know they were not anchovies.Anyways to my surprise I had no vertigo attacks afterward.But I'm still reluctant to have any more pizza even though I like the taste.
     
  15. sirlanc

    sirlanc New Member

    for me its lack of sleep that was the number one trigger... salt was never a factor. This condition has so many manifestations
     
  16. Vicki615

    Vicki615 New Member

    lack of sleep for me too, and stress, getting sick and allergies are my biggest triggers. I have a cold or allergies right now plus some sinus congestion, I added one dose of the 400 mg of acyclovir for the last couple of days, so far so good.
     
  17. Dizzy Little Piggy

    Dizzy Little Piggy OINK OINK

    I first got Meniere's in 1985 in my right ear. In 1993 I got it in the left ear. At my worst I was getting dizzy over 40 times a month. I was the primary bread winner in the family and the only bread winner when we lived in Brazil and Venezuela for 4 years from 1989-93. I continued working until 2002 which was 17 years after I first was diagnosed. For me the dizziness was the worst part but it was the hearing loss that caused me to have to give up working. I had many surguries, tried many different meds, meniett device, etc. We had a very extravagant lifestyle because I was in a job where I was making close to $100K a year. I had to give all that up and go on SSA Disability which meant making a lot of lifestyle changes. Since 2002 my wife is the only one working but I still get my pension from the job that I worked 30 years in, along with the SSA Disability. It wasn't a cake walk for me either but I know that I was doing all I could and I was smart enough to realize that all I could really do was treat the symptoms and I learned to accept Meniere's as part of my life. That isn't even close to giving in!!!! I had to deal with the same problems and same issues as anyone else with Meniere's. Pardon me for taking it all so well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    OINK OINK
     
  18. bulldogs

    bulldogs New Member

    Piggy,

    you are a role model to me and i appreciate all the advice you have offered to me over the years. You speak the truth from a wealth of experience with this disease

    thanks
     
  19. dolfan

    dolfan Active Member

    I believe your sense of humor has a lot to do with how you handle this. Calling yourself a pig and swine....I don't know if I could do that. :D
     
  20. FadedRose

    FadedRose New Member

    That's ok. dolfan. we'll do it for you! :D
     

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