Does anyone know if a particular country is actually having more success---and/or have discovered some breakthroughs---in treating Meniere's patients compared to others?
From all the years posting on this site, the only thing that I have gleaned is that betahistine (Serc) is routinely prescribed in almost all countries except for USA. The USA FDA does not think the efficacy of this drug has been proved. I also have the feeling that surgery seems far more common in USA and that doctors in USA are more willing to prescribe valium as a method of controlling vertigo attacks. Joe
Alot of people on these boards seems to take valium, but to get valium from a doc in australia you almost need to steal the script pad ....thats from my experience anyway. Meclizine seems to be uncommon aswell The drugs of choice here seems to be diuretics, serc, and stemetil(anti emetic/vest suppressant) The first treatment offered to me was the "Salt skip diet" ....it goes beyond a low salt diet .....It's supposed be a diuretic substitue. It's not really a diet, but you're not allowed to eat any food with a sodium level greater than 120mg per 100gm. Condiments and everything included ........so when cooking form scratch, no ingredients are allowed to exceed that prerequisite ....Any food below that limit you can eat to your hearts content. The way i understand it is, its not the actual sodium level of food thats bad, its the concentration of sodium within the food that you have to watch out for. Supposedly it can be more effective than a diuretic, because it stops the "fluid shifts" in the body that can still occur whilst taking a diuretic.. I was given a pamphlet on it which says that it achieves a 98% success rate at controlling vertigo ......I'd scan it, but im not sure if thats ethical? ....there' also a book on it www.saltmatters.org Sorry if thats a bit off track ....but it just seems that sodium concentration isnt really looked into from what ive read on these boards WARNING: IF YOU ARE TAKING A DIURETIC PLEASE DONT USE THIS DIET ...IT CAN BE DANGEROUS
If there are statistics like that I wouldn't trust them anyway. (You know, lies, damn' lies, statistics). It is almost impossible that there is a country where they keep The Secret On Meniere's to themselves. On the other hand, it is good to do some shopping and go to different doctors. If you do, it is a good idea to include some doctos from different "schools" and one way to be sure that they don't have the same background is to go to different countries. Not very practical if you live in the middle of the USA, but for me, living in a small European it was easy to do. This way I could see what all of them agree about (eg avoid stress) and what not (in my case the medication and even the diagnosis).
