So my stupid ear just won't calm down. Two steroid shots in the span of two weeks, and I am still getting severe fullness, can't hear a damn thing, and had to ward off at least two attacks with valium (one while I was giving a lecture-ironically on drug use!) So I am back into the treatment battle with the local Dr. He is hesitant to do another gent, and I texted him today and reiterated my desire for another one. The guy at Stanford says "go ahead and do it." So now I am looking at having to drive to Palo Alto to do the damn thing (200 mile drive.) I don't want a sac decompression because every review I have read on this site has stated that it's basically a short term fix or just a waste of time. And the VNS is a major league deal. My layman's opinion is "lets finish the chemical laby." Is that off?
At the end of the day, as long as he's not violating the standard of care and causing greater harm to you, the doctor really needs to respect the patient's wishes. He's done his duty by explaining to you the cons of the procedure, and you clearly understand and are accepting those risks. It shouldn't be up to him at this point.
Really? What happened after the 8 year period? Was it that the other ear acted up or the offending ear just got bad again? That might be my next stop. The Dr. at Stanford is really high on the success of his sac decompressions vs. shunt. Hard to know who to believe.
Coach M, have you tried the anti-virals yet? If not, you owe it to yourself and your family to try it before you do anything like invasive surgery. I was one of those anti-viral skeptics and boy 'o boy did they work. Before that I did the shots and the relief was very temporary, maybe 10 days at a time, then they stopped working altogether.
Coach I had 4 more gent injects since this started back in august. Knock on wood, I have not had another spin or drop for 11 days . I am dealing with the brain retraining feeling of being a little off balance,but I expect this to improve as it did last time.My hearing has not gotten any worse with the gent as yet and I am not to worried anyway.If this continues to improve I will hold off on the vns but the first sign of spins or drops the vns is on. I am also seeing a chelation specialist soon to have EDTA chelation to help with cirrculation in the ear.I also plan on having the specialist do vitamine C therapy through the vein. No stone unturned brother. Email me if you need to. Larry
It seems like trying to attack it as a virus might be productive for a couple of reasons. It may help you rule a virus in or out. Might not be able to "totally" rule it in our out but it might help you get a better idea of what is really happening. If you respond favorably to it then it may help you to better formulate a treatment regimen. Might also check out the JOH regimen. Also it is easy to do. It is not invasive. The effort expended will be minimal.
I went the anti-viral route for a while with acyclovir. It didn't work. For me, even the sac decompression (although I would try) is not the type of long term resolution I am looking for. The gent (if done right) knocks out the lightning rod of the problem, which is the nerve. I just don't want to walk around with the day to day fear of rotational vertigo. And I would hate to have to go to the VNS to accomplish that. It's probably gent and sac decompression in that order right now. It's sad because now and in the coming years, I have the chance to move on to bigger and better jobs. but I am afraid to even apply because (1) I woulld probably have to declare that I have MM which would automatically scare the crap out of any human resources dept., and (2) I would be going into a new situation without tenure and the fear of getting ill. So this disease has basically doomed us to stay where we are at forever (it's not the worst place in the world but it would be nice to have some options.)
I think you should find a doctor who agrees with your course of treatment. A doctor's reluctance might have to do with things you are not aware of. Maybe he doesn't have a good track record with something. Then you need to go to someone who does and feels he has confidence in it. Whether it is a doctor or a carpenter I have learned not to push them to do things they are reluctant to do. There's usually a reason and I regret it in the end. Make the drive. If you aren't willling to make the drive, how sure are you? Maybe it is time for another opinion. Maybe there is a third option.
I went the anti-viral route for a while with acyclovir. It didn't work. Ditto. Didn't work for me either but I gave it a shot. Don't think I tried it long enough though honestly. ------------------------------------------------ think you should find a doctor who agrees with your course of treatment. A doctor's reluctance might have to do with things you are not aware of. Maybe he doesn't have a good track record with something. Then you need to go to someone who does and feels he has confidence in it. Whether it is a doctor or a carpenter I have learned not to push them to do things they are reluctant to do. There's usually a reason and I regret it in the end. Make the drive. If you aren't willling to make the drive, how sure are you? Maybe it is time for another opinion. Maybe there is a third option. Ditto ditto ditto. Believe it or not a lot of patients know a ton more about their own conditon than their doctor does. This happens because no doctor has the time to study all maladies to a degree that he knows them inside and out. These days due to the internet it is very common for people to know more about their illness than their doctor and some doctors feel very bruised by this fact because it hurts their doctor ego and this causes them to immediately resist what patients say. Seen it a million times. I posted this in another thread. "Ponder the Yonder" I also posted the Material Safety Data Sheet on fluoride showing how toxic it is. These guys approach things in totally different manners a lot of the time. Some will let you try anything reasonable and some hold the reigns so tight they won't budge. These were dentists and that is why the topic was fluoride. But I think this example illustrates the fact that these guys are exactly like us. They do what they do because they do it. They don't do everything they do because it is based on the absolute evidence and accuracy. I watched doctors every day of my career do things totally opposite of each other simply because "their opinions" were different. So obviously they got drastically different results with peoples lives and health. If people understood how unscientific the approaches are sometimes it would hit home in the mind that a lot of what they do, just like us, is knee jerk reaction and habit. Don't get me wrong. I like doctors. Some of my best friends are doctors. Just because I know they are incorrect a ton of the time does not mean I do not like them or believe they are not useful. From thread Ponder the Yonder. My experiences in the medical field allowed me to converse with physicians on a personal level all day every day for many years. I wasn't just a rep I was their friend. Many of my friends were doctors. I hung out with a lot of them socially. They didn't consider me a just a "rep". The concepts that are terribly difficult to convey to people that have not had such an opportunity is "cognitive dissonance, ignorance, disregard." These don't apply to you, in this case, they apply to your doctors. Cognitive dissonance: condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between one's beliefs and one's actions, such as opposing the slaughter of animals and eating meat. Ignorance: The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed. Disregard: To pay no attention or heed to; ignore. To treat without proper respect or attentiveness. If you don't think animals are treated fairly then you don't eat meat. Period. End of story right? You stick to your convictions. Nope. Sorry. We eat it anyway don't we? Of course we do. Why? We leap the hurdle of cognitive dissonance, or we don't know how they are treated, or we disregard their treatment. Why? Simple. Because we need to. Doctors are no different. So many of us ordain them with a godlike all knowing status. They don't have it. They have a job just like carpenters, plumbers, engineers, architects, etc... When my plumber says something that does not mean he is the last word on plumbing just because he is a plumber. We don't mind telling him we disagree either do we? Its different with doctors. We seldom disagree with them verbally in person, and often don't disagree in our mind silently. One day for fun I took the MSDS sheet on sodium fluoride on my visits for the day and with a smile on my face said "Why do we do this"? You would be amazed at the responses. Some would say "man that makes it sound rough doesn't it". Some would say "i've wondered myself". Some didn't realize how toxic it was. There are few gurus in the world. They do what they do because they do it. And that by no means makes it safe. They are conditioned to do it. Conditioning and safety are not joined at the hip.
