Mike's treatment log

Thanks June - I'll definitely keep the decaf in mind although a side benefit of not drinking coffee is missing the cream/sugar in it. And the walking stick is definitely a good idea, especially with the weaponry potential. A walking stick might have saved my fall because I could have gotten an orientation of where the heck the ground was more quickly.

Of course, if I get a walking stick, I'll have to get a fancy hat.

 

On my 4th day of no coffee (cold turkey but had only been drinking one (big) cup drip home brew per day) - substituting an herbal tea; it's not the same but ... I am noticing a pretty significant difference in the way my head 'feels' so I'm hopeful that this will make a real difference, along with the John of Ohio formula (main components anyway).

 

Thanks for posting your experiences. It is good to see a bit of progress. I too am starting the John regimen. Ordered the lemon bioflavonoid tonight, and have everything else on hand except vertigoheel which I will forego. I have started the vincopecinte.

Re caffeine. I used to be very heavy into it.. Coffee all am, then tea or coke in the pm through the evening. I always told everyone that it did not affect me sleeping, etc. Well, after enough vertigo bouts and heaing loss, I decided to kick it all. Decaf coffee now, but not very much, just not the same. I can drink a caffeine free coke just like a regular one, but I am trying to wean off of those to stay off the sugar. We have shiifted to decaf lipton tea at home for hot tea and good southern sweet tea. We all drink it and see no difference. Eating out I really want tea, but have gone to H2O with lemon or a lemonade. Even a restaurant with a bar now cannot make a good lemonade,they only have the prepackaged stuff like Minute Maid or something. What happened to a lemonade made at the bar? I digress. Anyway, amazingly I had no real problems getting off all that caffeine last year cold turkey. Now--a few weeks ago I had a late night and had to have a coke when leaving the building about 10. I did not sleep all night. About 2 weeks later my wife and I ate out and I broke down and ordered tea (early evening). I had 2 or 3 glasses and again no sleep. So, now I am very sensitive to it. How much is being off caffeine helping my ears? Not sure. For a long time I was pretty good, but the past 8 months have been getting rough again with two Shea treatments and still not doing very well.

Question for you is how do you do with a lo-sodium diet? I have much problem with that- eating out a lot and on the run. If I am doing anything "wrong", that is probably the thing. I read the labels and am aware of what I am getting but it is HARD to cut it back! Have you tried that?

Re Shea treatments--particularly perfusions. I have had 4 now, 1 right and 3 left. 3 treatments with strep and last one with dex only last week. I would say after 20 months of that that the perfusion may not be the panacea I had believed it was. I believe the dizzies are slowly creeping back. SO I am looking really hard at lifestyle again and John's plan. I hope this weeks dex will get me on top for a few months anyway until John's plan kicks in.

Let's keep up feedback on John's regimen. Maybe with the different mix of things he suggests and the different approaches folks try, it will lead to some more direct information on mechanisms.

Good luck with the market! I've been none to happy with my portfolio's performance lately. One day up a bit, another day down a lot!

 

...If you think sugar is a problem then rice, potatoes, and white breads will be a problem. White starches metabolize faster than sugar except for corn syrup sweetners. I follow a diet based on the glycemic index www.glycemicindex.com and it helped eliminate the attacks I got from hypoglycemia.
...By eliminating gluten (food allergy) and following the GI diet, I have now gone 5 years without a vertigo atack.
Rick

 

I am also not taking the vertigoheel as it works to lessen the vertigo symptoms and what I am working at is eliminating the vertigo; I don't see it as a preventative for vertigo. But, I could understand someone taking it every day if they were having significant dizziness and wanted to throw the kitchen sink at it.

As far as the sodium, I've stopped using table salt but I don't know what I'd do if I was on the road and relied on fast food - almost universally high sodium. You could bring along your own (low-sodium) whole grain bread and whatever else or hit up some salad bars at grocery stores/restaurants.

Good luck!

 

Good point - simple carbs are simple carbs and there's been plenty of studies in the last few years that have come out with good reasons to minimize them. I have a lot of them out of my diet and have replaced white with brown rice (you need a good cooker though) but the one thing I will not give up is my morning bagel. (line in sand).

 

I bet you can find a whole wheat bagel if you want.

 

....Since we're only talking about how fast a carb is metabolized, then anything you add to the bagel that will lower the glycemic response, would help. I don't eat bagels but if butter, margerine, cinamon, etc makes them taste better, then that would also lower the glycemic response.
....That may not help your cholestrol or waiste line but that's a different issue LOL.
Rick

 

Hi Mike,

I'm on John of Ohio's regimen right now and have noticed a decrease in dizziness, less ear pressure, and less inner ear itching. It definitely couldn't hurt to try it!

Also, caffiene is a huge trigger for me, but giving up coffee was horrible! I'm now drinking strictly decaf, but what about starting with the half-caff stuff and seeing if that helps?

Good luck to you and sorry you've been having such a hard time of things lately. Not the greatest way to start a new year!

Brooke

 

Been almost a month on the John of Ohio treatment (part of it anyway; Lemon bioflavonoid, Vinpocentine (with food), L-lysine (not with food), twice per day for all, am going to be adding B complex vitamin ) - time for an update. Thanks for all of the input and encouragement.

Possibly relevant personal history stuff: I'm 55, first symptoms at around 45. Smoked cigarettes and marijuana regularly/daily from about 16-31 years; quit both at 31. Had used alcohol almost daily for a # of years (generally, a shot and a beer, never more) but have recently restricted that to a shot/beer once per week during my online poker tournament (but it doesn't help me play better). Recently quit drinking coffee completely (one week now). With the low salt, low sugar, trying to do low simple carbs, jeez, what's left? Have borderline high cholesterol, take minimal Lipitor dose (5 years) that controls it. Not overweight, get exercise but not enough; trying to be regular at health club.

Developed allergies (possibly from cats) at around 40 years, started using Rhinocort inhaler at about age 47. Have deviated septum and difficult nose breathing (and more congestion) in nostril that is same side as problem ear. Recently started using breath-rights at night, to get air flowing through that nostril with the idea that that might help clear up some of the fluid build up in the ear - what the hell, worth a shot.

Prior to starting John of Ohio, I had a blowout dizzy attack on New year's eve (and increased attacks over the prior 6 months) that lasted about 10 hours (that was a record for me) - I figured maybe this was severe enough to have relieved some major pressure in there but who knows?

In the last month since beginning the program, I've had 3 very minor dizzy attacks that quickly subsided (5 minutes) and then one really sharp one out on a walk last week where the world quickly turned sideways or something, and I fell, hurting my back (may have a bruised rib). But, that attack also subsided relatively quickly, about one hour of total dizziness. I quit coffee the next day, as the fall was pretty motivating. Since quitting coffee last week, I've had one brief spell, mild and about 5 minutes.

To sum up what I'm taking:

Daily

2 Vinpocetine (with food)
2 L-lysine (as far away from food as possible)
2 Lemon bioflavonoid
1 aspirin
Rhinocort
Breath-right strip on nose at night
1 multivitamin (not mega)
1 Vitamin C (1000 mg)
Will add B complex shortly

No coffee, minimal salt (don't add table and try and avoid it whenever possible), still too much sugar via dessert, try and avoid simple carbs (eating brown rice, whole grain cereal/bread, etc) but still have a 'problem' with bagels and breads that I like. Minimal alcohol, once per week.

Main goal now is more exercise as soon as I shake off this back injury.

Anyway, I'd have to say I'm encouraged so far and also that quitting coffee has been helpful too (my head 'feels' better).

 

Sounds like you're definitely on the right track. Increasing exercise will not only help your cholesterol and keep your heart healthy, but it increases the bloodflow to your ears, helping decrease MM symptoms. Good job with the caffeine- I know how hard it is! Also congrats on quitting cigs and MJ, as well as alcohol!! Sounds like you've improved your life in a lot of improtant ways. Best of wishes to you and keep us posted.

Brooke

 

TY Brooke - yes, the extra exercise can only help and my main thought was the whole blood flow to the ear part of it. As far as the cholesterol, back in the 80's, I was pretty active, played tennis, ran, etc and also ate a 'high carb' low fat diet (we since have learned that high simple carbs have turned out to be bad for cholesterol (I think)); I'll never forget when I was tested for the first time at work and I had higher cholesterol than any of my cheesburger eating friends! I later found out that genetics is about 80% of it. But exercise is a big key in so many health areas.

The caffeine is a tough one (I'm drinking herbal tea (no sugar) instead); I'm hoping to get far enough along where I'll forget my idea of 'only' having it 2 times per week - I think not drinking it at all is the probably the way to go.

 

YW Heywally.

Yes, the no carb, high protein diets are actually raising many people's cholesterol b/c, even though they're eating less carbs and losing weight, many of these diets still allow you to eat high fat meats, such as bacon. I remember when my friend tried to get me on her Atkins diet plan. I tried it for one week and said never mind b/c the list of foods I was allowed to eat was unimpressive (pork, bacon, beef, crem sauces, sour cream, cheeses, etc...), and the list of no-no foods made me raise an eyebrow (many fruits and veggies, etc...). I wasn't surprised when she found out her stats weren't healthy... Anyway, you're doing it right, so be proud of yourself.

Brooke

 

If you are doing the John of Ohio - stick with it. I experienced a noticable difference in the tinnitus and fullness after about 1.5 months of the full regime. So keep going. Also, I don't want to start anything here, but look into finding a NUCCA practitioner in your area. There's a long long string in the data base with all the info you ever wanted to know. Just google it and see what you find. I haven't had vertigo in over a year...

As for coffee, find yourself a quality coffee place and get a good columbian decaf that's water processed or even better, steamed processed to get the caffeine out. I don't drink regular coffee any more (after the 10 to 12 cups I used to have) and I don't miss it.

Songbird.

 

...Know your Cholesterol! Total cholesterol is equal to HDL + LDL + triglycerides/5. When I started folowing the GI, my Triglycerides dropped from 350 to 97. So carbs have an effect on "total" cholesterol. It didn't have any effect on my LDL which seems to be more effected by the cholesterol and fats in my diet. So it's important to know which numbers are out of whack when trying to control cholesterol.
...I also would like to clarify that the Glycemic index is not a low carb diet.
Rick

 

The John Ohio regime and not drinking coffee really do seem to be making a difference for me and I have had some fairly significant dizziness over the last 6 months, leading up to my seeking out this information so I am encouraged. Given that I've had the symptoms on/off for 10 years and it has been worse the past 6 months, I am cautiously optimistic.


As far as the decaf, I'm trying to avoid that too as the other thing I dropped with the coffee was cream/sugar which I'm probably better off without. Am experimenting with herbal teas now.

 

Impressive with the triglyceride drop! I'm revisiting the GI stuff but things like brown rice not being that much lower than white on the GI #'s surprises me. And it looks like semolina pasta isn't that high?

 

Status report for last month - I'm taking lemon bioflavonoids (3 per day), vinpocetine (3 per day), l-lysine (2 per day), B complex vitamin, multi-vitamin, vitamin C supplement

Several minor dizzy waves that subsided after several minutes - not severe. One episode in the middle of the night that lasted for about 30 minutes, a bit more severe but nothing like the attacks of the past year before I started the John Ohio (on for 2 months now) and quit drinking coffee. Several days where I was slightly 'off' on the kilter side, but functional.

Added B complex vitamin to the mix and am drinking a lot more water as that seems to be fairly significant for me (no attacks at all since I started with more water) - maybe it dilutes salt intake into bloodstream and whatever else in food is causing me problems.

I miss coffee - more difficult than when I quit smoking 20 years ago; tempted to try drinking 1 cup 2 days per week; don't think that would make me dizzy but I might fall off the wagon. Experimenting with herbal teas. Probably good that I'm not getting the cream/sugar with the coffee - that's why I resisted decaf.

Getting more exercise since I've healed up from my drop attack fall last month; that can only help I think.

One other thing of significance, I noticed that (after going three days without it) I no longer need my Rhinocort nose inhaler (started taking for allergies 10 years ago). On my bad ear side, I have a deviated septum in that nostril and the allergic congestion over on that side was worse (always thought that was a big factor with this inner ear problem) so I would get badly plugged if I missed the Rhinochort ... no longer. I have no doubt that all of this stuff I'm taking is helping my allergic condition - it's probably the lemon bioflavonoid as it is purported to be an anti-histimine. Cautiously optimistic that all of this is making a difference for me and will continue to do so ...

One other thing, tinnitus slightly better as is my hearing (but not dramatically)

 

Mike, glad to hear your good report. How much water do yo typically drink in a day? Thanks for the info.

 

June - started with the extra water last week (after being reminded by another thread here); probably 8 glasses a day but I've been forcing myself to drink a big one right when I get up (or after the herbal tea) along with the lemon bioflavonoid, before I eat anything. I'm drinking more water with dinner now and also a big glass after dinner, before any dessert treats, the idea being, to 'dilute' anything in the food that might be causing me a problem. Of course, I have no idea if this is helping for sure but assuming there's minimal bad stuff in your water supply (ours is pretty good I think), water is good for you on a lot of levels anyway. I have a sense that it's helping, along with everything else.