I am on day 8 of antivirals. I've been mildly better, with a few brief very stuffy ear times. A bit worried that these aren't the dramatic results (one way or the other) of someone for whom it works. One thing that has happened in this time is my right (usually my good) ear has stuffed up a few times. I had had a bad reaction to 1000 mg of lysine before the antivirals, but I decided to try that again starting gently and taken 500 mg a day for 3 of the past 4 days. Just to get those viruses on all fronts. I have not taken one today. So I just had a treat for myself--a lunch of 3 chicken tacos for Chipotle. (I wondered if they were high salt, but just went to their nutrition calculator and the combo I had was 310mg sodium, so not ridiculously high.) After eating I had a higher pitched, more ringing tinnitus. Not something I enjoy, but certainly happens. But the weird and kind of scary thing is that when I am talking my voice sounds extra loud and like it is echoing in my head. In a way it sounds very clear. I wonder is this getting hearing back? But I don't really think so. It doesn't sound right. Like I said echo-y, and too loud, and maybe a little distorted. Does that sound familiar to anyone?
Now I am noticing that when I talk my left ear (the usual problem one) rings more and I feel more pressure there. : (
When my ear has been stuffed for a while I notice that when it finally starts to clear everything sounds SO loud, especially my own voice. It sounds exactly like what you are describing. My tinnitus also gets MUCH louder for a few hours and then eventually quiets down. I think it just needs time to adjust to hearing more noise again.
Mildly better after 8 days on av's is good and promising. It takes some time, I doubt most people get any dramatic improvement after 8 days, if they do that is rare, so it sounds like you are on the right track. And if the av's do help the longer you are on them the more they help. For me if I eat something that's a trigger for me I get the same thing very loud high pitched ringing, which usually means for me, it is either food high in arginine (which promotes the virus) or a MAV food trigger. I suggest you write down foods or events that happened right before any kind of change in your ear and symptoms , you may see a pattern forming after awhile and can pinpoint your triggers better.
Thank you both. RedBird11 that used to happen to me, too. I noticed it was the loudest right before it gets better. Not for a while and never quite like this with the echoy and distortion of my own voice, but I think that's what I was. That is all calming down now, and I can hear better in my left (challenged) ear better than I have in a few weeks. Vicki, thank you for the idea, too. I'll definitely remember this food and keep on eye on that. It seems to me that for a lot of people for whom the avs work it gets worse before it gets better, and it hasn't been that much worse--so even though I don't enjoy the worse that was the dramatic thing I was most anticipating by this point more than a dramatic improvement.
I echo that any improvement in the first 8 days is a very good sign. I do not think most people get dramatic improvement in that short period. It often takes months to get the full benefit. It did in my case. As for side effects, since you are taking lysine and antiviral at the same time, you will not know which one is causing the side effect. If the antivirals are going to work they will work without the lysine. I would not muddy the water with it at this time.
Oh that's good to hear that a little improvement is a good thing. I thought that when it worked for people they had a big bout of it getting much worse before it got better, so I was worried I didn't have that (in a strange way). When I take the lysine, the light-headed feeling comes soon after I take it and wears off in a an hour or two. It was strong and accompanied by a migraine when I took two. It's very subtle and not even always happening anymore when I take one. So I don't have any question about where that side effect is coming from. My thinking is that both pills will help if this is viral and won't help if it isn't, so I might as well put all I can towards tamping down viruses and see what happens.
My 'worse' period was only one day and it was that the distortion was a little worse and a little different. That's all. I have never taken lysine and i got as near to complete improvement as anyone has i think. I dont think there is any evidence anecdotal or other that lysine with antiviral is any better than antiviral alone. Some use it who cannot get access to antivirals but lysine takes much longer to work than the antivirals.
Oh that's so great to hear, because that is just what happened yesterday. The distortion was different. Also that is helpful to know you have never taken lysine. As I recall, our symptoms are somewhat similar.
After a decade of a constant sound like wind blowing in my ear I experienced a few times of higher pitched sounds and then yesterday during an attack I had a pulsing sound which is hard to explain. So I guess there are all sorts of tinnitus sensations. I am profoundly deaf in one ear and I am guessing it may be just because I am losing the remainder of my hearing in that ear.
A good thing happened today. My ear hurt and felt tickly, and then it started clearing better. I hopehopehope this is the AVs working.