Does this ease your Tinnitus/Fullness/Brain Fog/Constant Tiredness?

Papa Joe,

Your reasoning and assembling of diverse data and information into a cohesive, even persuasive theory is very impressive.

I would suggest two things for everyone to ponder.

First, it might be really interesting to do a poll and find out how many here with MM have had chickenpox. If that rate is higher than in the general population, that would certainly suggest a herpes zoster involvement, just as you imply.

Secondly, what might be the role of innate immunity as that's related to, or controlled by, vitamin D levels? Might there be an inverse relationship between the occurance, severity, and duration of Meniere's when compared to serum vitamin D levels? The crucial role of vitamin D levels in the support of the body's innate immune system is becoming much clearer.

If vitamin D plays a role in supporting the innate immune system, which in turn could suppress herpes viral infections, then there ought to be an inverse latitudinal relationship to Meniere's occurance. People living at high latitudes, such as the US, the UK, Canada, and most of Europe, should have higher rates of Meniere's than people living in tropical or sub-tropical latitudes, where year-long intense sunlight allows ample photosynthesis of vitamin D in the skin.

I'm certainly not suggesting that vitamin D insufficiency is the sole or main cause of Meniere's. But there is the possibility that it, like so many other factors discussed on this board, plays an important role. Again, it is very clear that high levels of vitamin D strengthen the innate immune system, while at the same time suppressing viral diseases.

--John of Ohio

 

Papajoe I read the thread carefully and I see some merit in your observations.

For one thing, no matter what, it makes sense to me to know if I have intolerances to food.
If my immune system is fighting the food I eat that could of course cause problems.

As importantly, if my immune system is busy fighting the food I eat, and I have herpes virus, it might allow the herpes to better eat my lunch and continue to destroy my ear.

Regardless if food intolerance is "the" cause of my problems or not, at least to me, it makes sense get a blood test done. By cutting out the foods I show a reaction to, there is a good possibility that it leaves more fighting men in my system to do battle with a possible herpes virus.


I tried the baking soda 1 hour and 20 minutes ago. I do have less brain fog right now and my tinnitus is quieter. My testing is contaminated though because I had also rubbed the Frankincence on my face and given my ear canal a shot of Diprolene steroid.

Even if I had not done the other things, as often as my situation changes, it is often hard for me to understand if the things I do are working or coincidence. Which might also lend some credence to the chiropractic and cervical theories. Simply changing my body posture and head position could be affecting my situation.

I usually have to do something several times under fairly controlled conditions to convince myself that I might have actually affected the situation.

This baking soda trick is an excellent idea though. I plan to continue testing it for the next few days. I use it fairly often anyway for indigestion so i'm not scared of it in the least. I don't have true rotational vertigo so i'm not scared of triggering the roller coaster. I have more the severe brain fog, general dizziness and unsteadiness, along with major burning, throbbing, seething, seemingly ischemic (blood flow problems) in my ear and temple, accompanied by cranial and facial nerve involvement and palsy.

In the past, when I have used baking soda, I didn't realize its power to interrupt an allergic reaction, so I never noticed how I felt after using it. I plan to keep playing with it under more controlled conditions and see if I can duplicate the results of tonight's test.

 

John Of Ohio also makes a good point about vitamin D. We are finding out more and more how crucial Vitamin D is to the immune system. I take a daily vitamin D supplement and I plan to boost the levels and take a higher dose.

 

Ok, I'm about to try it....I will post in 3 hrs!

 

Thank you for your kind comments folks.

I'm not sure about the role of VitD. My VitD levels have been low, probably most of my life. I do know it's thought to play a role in depression and concentration, and I was taking 125,000 iu/week to get my level up to 65 whatevers. I'm taking 5000 iu/day now. When I started taking it, my mental state improved a lot, but I was dealing with so many MM and food intolerance issues, that the improvement was transient. My levels are good, and now that I'm starting to deal with the food intolerance, my concentration and energy are better than they've been in several years. Partly due to the VitD and partly removing the causes of the "brain fog".

But I'm still dealing with the MM. Yesterday I had a moderate "pure" MM attack, where the dizziness picked up and I was feeling queasy all day. I'm a little better this morning. When I say "pure", the dizziness I'm getting due to MM feels "cleaner" - more like the onset of vertigo, than what I got from the food intolerance.

So the VitD doesn't appear to be helping with the MM, so I don't know if VitD is a big immune system component or not.

I did have a spontaneous pulmonary embolism (blood clot on the lung) a few years ago. It's too early to tell, but some studies are suggesting that low VitD can cause spontaneous blood clots.

So, I'm a big supporter of taking VitD early and often, but I'm not sure it helps with the virus.



The baking soda is generally safe unless you have fluid problems (congestive heart failure), serious hypertension, or metabolic problems. If you take too much or too often, it can mess up your ph levels, but I expect you know enough not to let that happen.



I already did a poll on the viruses, but it's estimated that 90% of the worlds population has had chicken pox:
www.herpesdoctor.com/herpes/zoster/chickenpox
so it'd be hard for our population to have a much higher incidence that the general population.

The real question, if MM is often the zoster or simplex virus, is why we get ear problem and not outbreaks of shingles (zoster) or cold sores (simplex). That would argue against a herpesvirus, but the success rate of anti-viral medications argues otherwise.



The IgE/IgA/IgG blood test is not that accurate, and my allergy doctor offered it to me, but warned me to take the results with a grain of salt. It has identified many of the foods I have reactions to, but not all. So, like me, take it for your peace of mind if you like, and to help plan your elimination diet, but not as a diagnostic tool. The "gold standard" for food intolerance is the elimination diet, and the treatment is the elimination and rotation diet.

Thanks!
Papa Joe

 

Ok, it didn't help....
It gave me a headache though....

 

Ouch, sorry about that. But it's a sign that food intolerance is probably not your problem, so you can cross that one off the list. Thanks for trying it (and did you vote?)

 

Pshaw. The MM attack I had yesterday was due to eating oatmeal. I forgot to check my food chart. Oatmeal is one of the things I'm sensitive to. I had a bigger bowl this morning, and I can feel the symptoms coming on. I'm off to take my Alka-Seltzer Gold.

 

In my on-going attempt to surf the web instead of doing real work, I found this site:

http://www.woodmed.com/FoodAllergy.htm

It does an excellent job of describing classic food allergies and food intolerance (aka delayed-onset food allergies).

It also gives a variation on the baking soda/Alka-Seltzer Gold trick. Search for "What To Do For Acute Food Sensitivity Reactions", it's toward the bottom of the page.

I have no knowledge of, or experience with, the "Woodlands Healing Research Center", other than what I see on the web page.