Well, as I sit here reading all of your posts and munching on my gluten free pizza (just delivered) I'm noticing that nobody has been mentioning the role of diet. It might be a good idea to remind all and tell the "newbies" about the powerful effect of diet. Back in May, I was having major attacks at least two times a week--between those attacks and recovery time, I was absolutely miserable. It was around then, that I found this site and a lot of valuable information about the possible relationship between diet and these symptoms. Since, I have been following certain diet restrictions, I've noticed a steady decline in number of attacks and severity of attacks. I've been very strict in avoiding gluten. And I've also cut waaay down on fast food and prepared foods. Actually, none of us are supposed to be eating anything with more than 5 ingredients on it. I've been reading about the hellish effects of additives--there are no real regulations around additives to food and many of them have known health effects. If any of us are having any kind of health problems at all, the first thing to do is to cut out additives. The next thing is to cut out highly refined foods like sugar and bleached white flour. And then, there is the whole need to add in foods low on the glycemic index--basically, my understanding of the glycemic index is that when we eat foods that convert from food to glucose too quickly--it wreaks havoc with our bodies ability to regulate histimine and various hormones. (Rick! If you're reading this, please make the necessary corrections and add your knowledge to this!!) This can lead to a whole host of symptoms and difficulties. We should be eating foods that take longer to process into energy--leading to a sustained energy release--and the body's ability to process the energy. That generally means whole grains, and vegetables, and good proteins--(ie. beans, and lentils, chemical-free meats and wild fish). In the book, "Inflammation Nation", the author suggests that the root cause of many diseases (allergy responses, asthma, diabetes, alzheimer's etc. --he doesn't specifically note mm) is dietary in nature--he suggests that we follow a low glycemic diet and that we eat a great deal of wild fish--he is specific that farmed fish will actually create more problems. Basically, though--he says that our troubles are due to eating too much processed, high protein foods. It is very possible that our MM symptoms come from our own body's inflammation response to what our bodies perceive to be threats--a while back, there were several posts linking MM to auto-immune problems. This author suggests that auto-immune problems can be dealt with from a dietary approach. I was reading a book the other day that said that conventional approaches to medicine are so based in trying to eradicate symptoms that they neglect the root causes of dis-ease. The author says that it is like seeing the overheating engine light on in your car and disconnecting the light rather than figuring out why the engine is overheating! That's why we have these multiple problems! We continue to do the things which are making us sick--while taking medicine to try to stop feeling the pain of the symptoms! Then we get the complexity of the interactions of the medicines! Okay...now back to the whole diet thing... Personally, I suspect that "Menieres" is just our body's overheating engine light flashing for a variety of reasons. The question is why is our body feeling under attack? Diet is a huge part, so would be lifestyle choices, like choosing to be stressed, overworked, overtired--this can be linked back to our thoughts--that we need to take care of everyone else before we take care of ourselves, that we need to rescue others, that we need to be "martyrs", that we need to get it all done--now! Many of the posts I've read have referred to people being at the top of their game and then being struck down by this "horrible disease"--it makes a good story, but another story could be about how we have been ignoring our own needs for many years, and our body has finally found a way to get some rest and some sleep! Before you discount this (as any muti-tasking overachiever would)--think carefully--are you doing too much? Are you pushing too hard? Are you skipping meals? Are you eating at fast food places because you are just too tired to shop, prepare food and do dishes? Are you buying prepared meals in the hopes of being able to do more work? Many have mentioned being stressed in the shoulders and neck--this seems to go hand in hand with MM. Stress--well, what kind of thoughts are we thinking to get this stressed? Once again, our body is responding to being in attack mode. Could it be that we are constantly feeling like we are under attack? How can we see the world differently so that we don't have to cope in this way? Last visit home to my parents this weekend, my mother noticed how tightly I hold myself--how consistently hard on myself I am --and this is after months of working on it!! Next thing--if any of this is true--do you think that a littany of prescriptions etc. can help? It might take months or years to dig back out of the pit. And we need to be patient. But the body does heal. One thing to note is that I might not have pure MM at all--celiac disease is under dx'd and has some of the same symptoms (dizziness) and can be helped by eliminating all gluten (oats, barley, rye and wheat). Nevertheless, I have the four classic MM symptoms and I still get the ringing in my ears. I'm not perfectly healed--but I do believe that I am on my way. Hope some of this helps Tamara
Excellent topic of conversation. For me it has been the 24/7 hard charging past 30 years and with that I developed habits that are not healthy. I lived by the 5 rule: First "5" habit: I lived in a fast forward mode and with that came the need to get everything ... now. I had to have it in 5 minutes, no longer. So stopping by McD's or popping a frozen meal in the microwave to close to 5 minutes was my mode of preparing food. Second 5 habit: Sleep, I was lucky for get 5 hours. Third 5 habit: I worked out a time table, everything had to happen in 5 minutes: washing my hair - 5 minutes drying my hair - 5 minutes elimination - 5 minutes personal hygiene - 5 minutes getting out to my car - 5 minutes eating - 5 minutes Fourth 5 habit: On-line grocery shopping - 5 minutes Fifth 5 habit: errands - 5 minutes per errand That was my personal life and it got worse on the job. My desk had 5 clocks on it, all with alarms that I preset to go off at certain intervals to get my assignments done. I wore three watches on my arm. My cell phone buzzed constantly reminding me of my time restriction and my landline called me at home to remind me of more time restrictions. So, when MM hit me, I lost myself because I could no longer live by my 5 minute rule. MM owned me, no longer could I manage my 5 minutes regimine. My life tumbled out of control. LOL, now I am trying it again at home. But in a different way. If I can bear life just 5 more minutes, I will have won getting past devastating urges and poor impulses with food. This is what living the 5 minute rule has done to my life. It has kept me from facing myself, my 5 minute rule was a bandaid over what lurked beneath the murky waters. Since coming here to Menieres.org, I have learned to have some element of control over my salt intake, learned new ways to prepare food, I no longer stop at McD's and I am reading ingredients on labels and trying to eat fresh foods, but it is a painfully difficult thing to accomplish. I can see progress and I can see positive outcomes, but I still have a long way to go. Also, support here has been tremendous and reading how others are finding ways to cope with MM has been a eye opening experience. It's all about choices, healthy choices for a diet that will support and sustain our life. Sorry if I got off topic a little. Sparrow
Pardone ~ Have you ever heard of Jack Malane? He was the fitness gureu back in the 60's. This is sort of a spin off of his way of thinking. Each year on Jack's birthday he would do repeative things according to his age. Like for example, on his 30th birthday, he would swim 30 laps, run 30 miles, do 30 push-ups. On his 75th birthday, he did 75 laps in the pool, ran 75 miles (no kidden) and so on and so forth. I like your suggestions !!! Now that I am 55 years old, perhaps I can adopt the 55 rule, LOL. Sparrow
Also, to add one more thought. National Geographic's October issue has a big article on an employee there that did all this medical testing to find out how his body was poisoned by the chemicles he ingested. It's pretty informative reading. I also feel the FDA has done a hugh disservice to consumers in the US. One example is that by allowing MSG in the processing of certain foods as long as it occurs "naturally"........... hummmmmmmmmm, wonder what that really means? The Feingold Diet (came out in the 60's) is all about eliminating dyes and eating a chemicle free diet, that book is still available. Tamara mentioned the book "Inflammation Nation" which I picked up last week. Very eye opening. I also picked up several other comparable books: The Anti-Inflammation Zone, The New Detox Diet, Get the Salt out, Get the Sugar out, C-Reactive Protein. Older books I have had are The Schwarzbein Principle and The Carbohydrate Addicts Lifespan Program. These are all eye opening books. Then there are the books on gluten free cooking. Dr. Andrew Weil has some very good books and has a good website too. His book called "Spontaneous Healing" I would recommend. It is a slow elimination diet and reintroduction of healthy alternatives. I just started ordering wild salmon from a company located in Alaska, so far, pretty impressed with their shipping and handling of frozen food. There is a difference in the taste of salmon bought in the grocery store vs this salmon I am now buying. I am trying to buy organic produce but it doesn't last but a few days in the frig and by the time I get around to thinking of cooking it, it is no longer a healthy choice. I didn't know about not having more than 5 ingredients in any product, pretty interesting. I like the number 5, so that will stick with me. As I am writing this, I have just chewed my way thru about 8 pieces of bubble gum which is a hugh no no, LOL. Sparrow
Sparrow...I had the same problem with the dying organics in the fridge...and expensive too! Like Pardonme says, there are layers upon layers here and me just trying to change diet without changing everything around it--and the whole thing can seem overwhelming. There are a series of books for creative types written by "Sark" and one of the things she talks about is tiny little micro movements...remember that we are like big ships--a few degrees of difference seems like nothing at first but with time and distance the difference becomes huge--the only thing is we cannot get disillusioned or overwhelmed and give up on those little micromovements. Well, I've gone back to giving up on cooking for now--and it'll just be fruit smoothies with ginger and yogurt (ginger seems to be very good for mm) in my kitchen for now--the rest is eaten at our restaurant (no worries there, it's all from scratch and no additives or preservatives). And now we'll either start closing at night or pay someone really good to run the kitchen at night so that we can slow down a little. Like my beautiful husband says this morning..it's been 3 months in the new location now and we are not being systematic at all--just pulling all the shifts and wearing ourselves out. Talk to you! Tamara
Diet if very important in symptoms with Meineres. I honestly think if you don't look at body as a whole from inside to out you won't fight it well. We are what we eat as they say (and drink and think and feel)! Lifestyle changes for the better equal happier people whether you have Menieres or not! Your body/mind/soul will attest to that statement as far as illnesses. Hard task but in long run pays off big time!
I'm on a food allergy diet for several things, soy, eggs, corn and bananas. I did not improve at all after being on it for... I guess almost two months for some of it. So I thought it wasn't working...tried to go off, once intentionally with soy and once I accidentally had corn-based stuff in something my mom cooked, and felt HORRIBLE....so being on it doesn't help, but going off it it DOES hurt. So I'm trapped on it for now. I would like to try gluten elimination but with all the other stuff I can't have, I'd end up in big trouble...so can't try that til I can get off the existing diet. I really had high hopes that food allergies were the problem, but at least the ones I've eliminated so far haven't seemed to be the culprit. I've lost 30 pounds since August...unintentionally. Maybe that's why I feel worse all the time.
Great post!! and great replies!!! ...I really have nothing to add except my personal experiances. I found that gluten would trigger a vertigo attack within 15 minutes after eating it, so if any of you newbies notice that a vertigo attack comes right after eating, start looking at the foods that you are eating. For a lot of us, the culprit is gluten (wheat and oats) but it could easily be any food group. There's lots of information on the internet on Elimination diets. ...I also found that if I skipped meals, I would get a vertigo attack. That's where the glycemic index has helped. Before that, I ate every two hours but that added a lot of weight and didn't address the underlying condition. The problem is insulin resistance often called Metobolic syndrome these days. A google on those words can bring up lots more info. ...The last thing I have found is that an electrolyte imbalance has caused me to get BPPV like symptoms so I eat high potassium foods and take calcium and magnesium supplements. Rick
Does anyone have any suggestions for websites concerning what contains gluten? I'm gathering recipes for Headnoise/Sherry's non-profit MM org and I need info so I know which recipes to label as gluten free. Thanks, Tracy
Tracy--anyone who has Celiac disease has to stay away from even minute amounts of gluten. Try looking up their sites--they should give you anything you need! Tamara
