Mike's treatment log

Mike,

I really appreciate your detailed and thorough accounts of what you are doing to personally knock down this disease.

And I commend you for trying things beyond just those in my regimen. Everyone needs to approach their MM treatment with an open mind, entertaining everything that seems worthy of trying.

I'm glad to convey the thought that because you've gained small but consistently continuing reductions in MM symptoms, that trend is most likely to continue. In time, in a few weeks, months, or a year or more (should be sooner), you are likely to be substantially or completely free of MM symptoms. I've got account after account of such slow but eventually complete progress with the regimen.

As I've posted before, I believe that many have tried the regimen and gave up after just a few weeks, not seeing any results. A few people get results quickly, and that's certainly wonderful. But for most, results appear slowly, mildly, and not with the frequency we'd like. But with the kind of persistence you are showing, things eventually turn out wonderfully well.

Please continue to post your progress. So many others could lead normal lives, were they to carefuly undertake the regimen. Most don't because they only read about it on my posting (at: http://www.menieresresources.org/Main/HomePage?action=download&upname=File_A%20New%20Approach%20to%20Menieres%20DiseaseThe%20John%20of%20Ohio%20Menieres%20Regimen.pdf). It's one thing for some charachter to write out such a description. It's quite another for someone, firsthand, to tell how the regimen and other approaches personally work.

My thanks. My best.

--John of Ohio

 

And thank you for your encouragement, for making this information available and for continuing to post and participate here. This is potentially life changing stuff and I am very grateful.

I'll continue to post status updates even as I approach 100%

 

Hi and welcome Mike

 

Logging my monthly update (noting progress I've made after beginning to do the things in my signature) ... this is the first month in the past year that I've gone with ZERO dizzy attacks (dizzy attacks in the past year being stuff moving around when my head moves at all, can't walk, confined to bed for several hours typically, averaging 2 attacks per week). The month before the last I had several very brief ones (20 secs or so) that quickly subsided. I did have several days of 'offness' the last week where things were 'off' with head movement - don't know if I slept wrong, had too much salt, just too much fluid built up or, if I was shaking myself up too much with the elliptical machine at the club (stopped that a few days ago and haven't been having any off days since).

Have decided to treat myself to one coffee every 5 days max simply because well, I've been a good boy - what a BUZZ! Have been able to keep to that with no ill effect (off days happened before the coffee).

I am now pretty convinced that what I am doing with the John of Ohio supplements and the other stuff in my sig is what is making the difference for me - I don't think it's a coincidence I went from several bad attacks per week to this kind of improvement after beginning this 'treatment'. Will continue to update, hopefully with just good stuff.

 

Heywally,

I'm pleased that the regimen is bringing you relief.

Like so many on the regimen, relief doesn't come quickly or completely at the start. Meniere's apparently causes degrees of microscopic tissue damage that takes some time for the body to repair. Getting rid of the excess fluids in the ear, which the lemon bioflavonoids and a few other parts of the regimen accomplish, is only the beginnig of the healling required.

And thank you for so carefully keeping everyone posted on your progress. Yes, it's slow and not yet complete. But everything is moving in the right direction. There is the distinct prospect that, in time, you will be completely free of MM symptoms. Continue to keep us posted.

[For those interested in the John of Ohio Meniere's Treatment Regimen, read and consider it carefully at:

http://www.menieresresources.org/Main/HomePage?action=download&upname=File_A%20New%20Approach%20to%20Menieres%20DiseaseThe%20John%20of%20Ohio%20Menieres%20Regimen.pdf ]

My best to all.

--John of Ohio

 

Hi there. I gave up coffee (my ear plugged one day as I drank), but drink diet coke, 1-2 a day in the morning. I also had a very hard time giving up caffeine, especially since I have other diseases that make me lose sleep a lot. The diet coke gives me that lift in the morning without the side effects to bug my mm. Good luck. Lisa

 

Thanks Lisa - don't really drink colas anymore but ... I know I'm better off without the coffee every day but having it just once every 5 days gives me something to look forward to and is a nice special treat (what the heck, I'm using heavy cream too - making it just the way I want since I don't have it everyday).

 

Update, May 17, 2008

A bit of a setback but I know that few things are straight up or down - there are usually ups and downs along the way.

Had some fullness in my bad ear side a few weeks ago, along with extra "tinniness" and some reduced hearing. Then, this last week, I had several violent but brief (under 10 secs) attacks that I guess would qualify as 'drop' attacks (but I was sitting down during all of them) - extreme movement to the point of basically not being able to see; my wife saw my eyes moving around a lot during one of the attacks. I hope to not ever have these again but if I do, I need to make a point of not driving until I'm sure they are done with. The day following the attack, I had general sense of 'offness' (low level dizziness). I am back to 'normal' now I think.

Still, I have yet to have any of the debilitating multi-hour bed ridden attacks that I had over the last year (prior to starting the John of Ohio supplements ) so I'll take it! When I started to take these supplements I realized that I might just end up with fewer and less severe attacks as opposed to never having them again but time will tell; obviously I'll gladly take any improvement.

Not sure what, if anything, I consumed that might have kicked off the attacks. I may have had more salty food but I'm not totally convinced that makes a difference though it may, in a cumulative way. Problem is, everything has salt in it. One nice alternative I found - Eden has a line of bean/brown rice combos (canned) that are very low in Sodium.

I decided to start taking Claritan-D for just a few days (maybe three times every two weeks) per month to maybe dry things out more up there - I figured that's worth a shot.

I'm stopping the Rhinocort nasal inhaler I've been taking for years (I had been using it more frequently in the days preceding the attacks); I read a post somewhere here from a woman whose doctor suggested she stop using her nasal spray because the liquid might be getting up into the inner ear area; she has a deviated septum (I do) and Eustachian 'weakness' (suspect I do - I had all kinds of problems with ear infections when I was a kid). Stopping Rhincort might be a stretch but I'm experimenting with it (I had stopped last month but went back when my nose got plugged up - now, I'll try and control that with Claritan.)

I am stepping up the amount of walking I'm doing (though have a chronic nerve injury on one foot (man, I'm a mess) but it's not terrible)) and the amount of stationary bike time at the club - I know that aerobic exercise can be a big help in this (and lots of stuff).

Shooting for a 100% positive report for the next time.

 

Good luck, I hope you get it. Nothing funny going on weather wise was there?

Even with my improvement I still have hearing fluctuations with the weather it just fluctuates in a better range now.

 

June - I've never been able to correlate weather changes (barometric pressure, precipitation, etc) with the attacks ...

 

Interesting. I am the opposite.

 

Same here, no connection to weather.

 

Somehow I think this must be such an important clue as to what 'variety' of this disease we have. I bet there will be a test one day that tests for just that.

 

What kind(s) of weather cause you a problem?

 

Approaching storms. My worst hearing correlates with barometric pressure below 29.6. I have a weather glass (thunder bottle, oldfashioned barometer) and I don't even have to look, when my hearing goes south I know the water will be up in the spout.

However, and this seems very contradictory to me, my hearing is best when I am in the mountains regardless of weather conditions. I cannot explain that.

 

Update the 'log' - 4 months later:

Over the last 4 months (May 2008 - Spet 2008):

Have experienced some periods of general offness and several periods of very brief 'spins' but still avoiding the debilitating attacks that preceded my beginning the John Ohio supplements (in Jan 2008).

Recently (last two months) have cut way back on simple carbs (eliminated bagels, potatoes, processed flour, potato chips, etc) and have added vitamin D to the B-complex, fish oil, C, multi's that I'm taking).

Using 'breathe rights' to help improve the 'air flow' in the nostril on my bad ear side, in hopes that that will help lessen fluid buildup in the inner ear (who knows, helps my breathing anyway) - besides, breathe rights are 'fun and attractive' and could catch on as a hip facial accessory.

Last two weeks - have added Niacin (Nicotinic acid kind; causes flush, not time release (have convinced myself that it's a cheap, healthy, and legal 'high')) to the ridiculous array of supplements I'm taking and in the last few days, my inner ear/ear feels as good as it has in several years and in fact, the hearing is as good as it's been in a long time (but, I'm 56, have had this for 10+ years and I don't expect the hearing to get much better than this). I don't know if the Niacin has helped but I'm definitely continuing with it, based on the increased blood flow to the capillaries aspect.

Good luck to everyone in fending off this nasty illness.

 

Overdue update -

I'm pretty darn stable now, seemingly in remission. Had a few minor brief (minutes), sharp attacks about three months ago but fine since then. I occasionally have 'off' days but I can still get around during those and expect to shed them eventually as I stabilize completely.

Am exercising more now - strengthening and aerobic.

There's some of my history earlier on in this thread if you're interested.

In short, after about 10 years of steadily worsening symptoms that included severe bed-ridden multi-hour attacks, I experienced a gradual but steady improvement that totally coincided with starting the John of Ohio supplements shortly after I had a 'blowout' 12 hour attack about 1 1/2 years ago.

I think the core info on John's plan should be planted as a sticky at the top of the Living Room page as it's helped so many people.

 

Heywally,

Thanks for posting your several and meaningful updates regarding your progress. These are extremely important for the following reason.

Even though the regimen failed to bring quick or complete relief, you elected to stay with it for a long time. Most others have tended to give up after nothing good happened in two or three months.

All along, as I've monitored regimen users for many years, it's become clear that for those who begin the regimen eraly on in the disease, say in the first year or two, the regimen is much more likely to bring rapid and complete relief. For those like yourself who had the disease for many years before trying the regimen, it's been clear that results are much slower in coming, and often are not as complete as desired. Too many, I fear, have just given up when things failed to get signficantly better, thinkng that the regimen simply would never work for them.

But you've stayed with the regimen, and are now reaped slow but sure results. You continue to see things getting better, so I think it's only a matter of time -- perhaps many more months unfortunately -- before the symptoms are finally suppressed. It's taken a long time to get things turned around, but symptoms are continuing to slowly subside. I think that trend should continue, however slowly in the future.

So again, thank you for posting this, as it can serve as a model for others. The longer one has had untreated Meniere's, the harder it is to eventually suppress. Those despicable little herpes viruses really get buried into inner ear cells over the years, and they don't then get turned off so easily.

But I'm so glad to hear that your persistence with the regimen and all the other things you are doing are continuing to pay off.

My best.

--John of Ohio

 

Thanks for the note John. I am truly grateful for your posts.

When I first researched your posts and the core bunch of supplements, I could see that even if they didn't help my Meniere's symptoms, they had other benefits and few reported side effects, and weren't that expensive. At the time I was seriously considering some of the injection solutions, which work for some people but not for others. But I knew that I wanted to give this a big try before going the more invasive/destructive routes that do help some people but not a strong majority as far as I could tell. I also have some experience seeing friends with various medical problems jump around too quickly from solution to solution without giving any of them enough of a trial - I knew that I didn't want to eliminate these supplements as being possibly successful until I gave them a big try because it would be terrible to incorrectly assume that this couldn't work.

I did have a pretty good level of immediate relief but I didn't know if that was the supplements or maybe just that the blowout attack had 'cleared things out' in my inner ear and I was more stable - that immediate relief could have been either - or a combo - and as I mentioned, it hasn't been a straight recovery - there have been bumps.

People's symptoms vary a lot but the fact that this 55 year old was able to stabilize after 10 years of periodically severe dizzy attacks should be encouraging to some. And though my hearing hasn't gotten any better in my bad ear, it hasn't gotten any worse and is as good as it's been in the last 5 years or so.

It would be very useful if someone could summarize all of the main treatments out there, ordered by least invasive to most invasive and get the mod to sticky it to the top of this forum. Because of all of the levels of experience and symptoms and numbers of posts here, it is very difficult to glean what the best solution might be for each of us - as time goes on and the posts accumulate, it becomes even more difficult to look through everything here and figure out what to do.

Anyway, will continue to update this with my experience. Thanks again ...

 

That is a great idea. Maybe with hyperlinks to some of our discussions of each one as an example. I think it might be a little hard to agree on what is least invasive just as it is hard to agree on what is most effective as it varies from person to person but aside from that quibble, I wholeheartedly support this project!