Potassium Loss & 3 Questions

Vikingman,

I certainly understand your perspective on the diuretic and low salt. I was in exactly the same position when that forced me to look for something more successful. The standard LSD (low salt/diuretic) regimen my ENT prescribed for me did absolutely nothing to stop the progression of Meniere’s symptoms. In the attitude of desperation we both share on this I started devising my regimen of over the counter elements. It took longer than five years to come to early fruition, and I’ve made a number of revisions and improvements since then.

And your quest for user accounts or experiences is very, very reasonable. We can all (and should) listen to what our doctors tell us to do. But with a disease like Meniere’s, we really want to learn if any of what is instructed or prescribed for us actually works. The doctor doesn’t have Meniere’s. It’s always nice to hear from real patients, real therapies with real results.

And there are a lot of those on this website. Not many, however, post results from my regimen; I think because once things start to turn around and Meniere’s symptoms no longer debilitate, people just go off and live normal lives once again.

The same question arises concerning antiherpetic therapy. Fortunately, a good number have posted positive results with this. And, unlike my layman-derived and unpublished regimen (not in any medical journal), there are, finally, a number of supporting medical journal articles telling of the successes of antiherpetics. Good physicians should read and positively respond to those (but many won’t, sadly).

About the lysine dose. At the start, when I was experimenting on myself, I started with just 1000 mg/day, in two 500 mg doses. That seemed to turn things around. It showed that lysine did suppress the herpes virus that causes Meniere’s, as it did at that dose for herpes cold sores.

But the cold sore people learned that 1000mg/day simply wasn’t enough, as I discovered for my Meniere’s. I hiked the dosage to 1500mg/day, in three 500 mg doses. Much, much better results. For me, that suppressed the virus so that I never had an attack of vertigo thereafter.

But, again, the cold sore people, who use lysine, figured out that 1500 mgs often didn’t stop the virus; or, if it did, it came back a good time later at that dosage. Finally, the evidence proves that 3000mg/day, in three 1000mg doses, gives (in most, but not all cases) the best suppression of the virus. If needed, one can take 4500mg (or more).

It’s best to spread the doses out over the day, to try to maintain a constant level in the blood. Ideally, one would take six 500mg doses each day. But we have to eat; so keeping those doses away from food (which negates the effectiveness of lysine against herpes viruses) is simply too complicated. A wake-up, mid afternoon, and go-to-bed dosing of 1000mg seems to work for most people.

Unfortunately, it can take weeks or even two or three months before the lysine suppresses the virus. Even worse, the virus often responds with increased activity at the start of the dosings. Instead of getting relief, the regimen (well, the lysine) actually causes symptoms to get worse for a time. Be aware of that. When that happens, almost universally it means that continuance with the regimen will bring welcome relief.

My best.

–John of Ohio