It took at least a year from starting valacyclovir for my hearing to get back to what it was originally. But I could tell it was getting better. Made several trips to the ENT to get my hearing checked. By October of 2020 it was good. Then in early 2024 I decided to get hearing aids...now my hearing is better than ever!
PA Cowboy, thanks for sharing the timeline. We all know each of our paths might be/probably will be different but it is nice to hear as it gives us hope. Being 12 days straight of no vertigo/dizziness is a miracle vs.having episodes every day to every other day (using anti-virals and JOH). Hearing your story gives me hope in diminished tinnitus and hopefully some hearing coming back. At least with your experience I know not to expect it next week.
If we could all keep eachother updated in here would be great! Im starting week 3 today and so far so good for sure.
Got the the end of week 3 on 3 x day and no vertigo attacks so far! dropping to 2 x day now lets see how we go
1gm Valacyclovir twice a day along with JOH. It might be overkill doing both, but to be back to work and back to life I will happily do it till the day I die. I think I will continue with the 1gm twice a day for at least another 6 months or so. My doctor that prescribes it I am very close to and she actually listens to and is willing to help. Sad thing it’s she is not an ENT. It’s hard to get an ENT to open their minds. hearing is still poor in my bad ear and tinnitus is still strong. Fullness has stayed about the same the last few weeks. Slight feeling of fullness, but not to the level I have concern for an attack.
Sounds like you are making progress. Hearing and tinnitus will take months to recover but it will get better. I still take most of the JOH regime but a few years ago I did eliminate the lysine because it did seem redundant to take both valacyclovir and lysine. There is no reason to ever quit taking valacyclovir, why take the chance that this illness could return?
So if you had to put rough time scale on it what was in terms of hearing/fullness/tintus/vertigo all stopping/improving? And to what degree
It took 6 months for the vertigo episodes to end. Hearing/tinnitus took about 1 year to get back to normal.
My experience with taking Valacyclovir went like this. A slow but steady improvement with the vertigo...and I mean slow. Was still getting vertigo episodes but I could tell the vertigo episodes were not as severe as time went on, so I stuck with it because it was the only thing that I did that helped me. Started taking valacyclovir in March of 2019, my last vertigo was October 1st 2019. Hearing took till Summer of 2020 to get much better...again it was a slow process, about 16 months from the start of taking valacyclovir. But my hearing was back to where it was before the illness, tinnitus was gone. Because I got old my hearing did start to decline, went back to the same ENT to get hearing aids. (here in PA you need a doctors approval to get hearing aids). Saw the same Doc and told him of my success with antivirals. He actually was very interested in my story. I told him, it might not work for everybody but if he has any patients that struggle with Meiners he should prescribe valacyclovir. He did have a current patient that he would offer antivirals to. I liked that. Anyway, hearing aids work like magic to improve an old mans hearing. I can recommend Phonak.
On two doses a day Still all good Less tinnitus ear fullness in general Zero vertigo attacks Lets pray this is it
Hey everyone, I’ve also had good results recently with antivirals. I’ve been dealing with this since the summer of 2000. SSRIs helped me stay functional for a few years (I stopped them in 2019 because of the side effects) — as much as you can with the hearing loss, vertigo, anxiety and tinnitus… I’m 42 now and still managing it. Since November 2024, after a short but promising trial of the JOH protocol (especially the lysine), I’ve been taking 500 mg of valacyclovir daily, plus vitamin D3 and Coriolus Versicolor (said to help with herpes viruses). Since then, I haven’t had any rotational vertigo — which was by far the worst symptom for me. I still have hearing loss, tinnitus, some brain fog, and MdDS (that constant “still moving” feeling after being on a boat, train, or car when you’re not driving), along with a hypersensitive nervous system and high anxiety (which I guess comes with it for a lot of us here). From what I’ve read, some people seem to do better on higher doses of valacyclovir — 1 g/day or more. Has anyone managed to get rid of the other symptoms (MdDS, sensitized nervous system, …) too?