Hello, So say you're trigger is sugar. You eat something with a ton of sugar in it, how long could it take for a bout of vertigo to hit you? Ive been trying to figure out what sets mine off but it seems so totally random. Ive been keeping a journal of everything I eat or drink. Ive always had a meal within an hour or two or a vertigo attack, but its never the same food as when I had the last attack. Could it happen where I drink some coffee and then the next day I get the spins from it? Thanks!
If the disease is completely uncontrolled by other measures, then salt can be a big trigger for a lot of people. That might be why you haven't noticed a correlation to specific foods. It's not the hamburger or the sugar per say, it might be the salt content. Now, having said that, going on a low salt diet alone might help control this disease some for a while, but it is unlikely to do so indefinitely. This disease is degenerative and whatever works today, if it is not dealing with the cause/source of the disease, will probably stop working at some point in the future. For me, the onset of a specific attack can take days or hours, depending on how much salt I've eaten and am eating on an ongoing basis, IF, and that is a big if, fluid retention subsequent to salt intake was the cause. I'm convinced that fluid retention can contribute to frequency and severity of attacks, but it is not the cause of attacks. Many of the most plausible theories about this disease though indicate a cause with a mind of it's own, that doesn't necessarily follow a script. Invalidating the idea that if I don't do X, Y and Z, I'll be fine. If I can just figure out what X, Y and Z are, I'd be able to control this bastard. I've lost 75LBS in the last 6 months attempting just that, making radical dietary changes, yet I keep having vertigo attacks anyway despite trying to figure out what in my diet is causing this. Chances are good at this point, IMO, not much. I do still eat a very low salt diet, because I do think higher levels of salt, for me, contribute to the frequency and severity of attacks. But that isn't maintainable long term for most people, and me either frankly. I get very little pleasure from food anymore which detracts from my quality of life even more. You've got to either find the cause of the disease through experimentation (the database on this forum is a good source of what assumptions about cause and subsequent treatments have worked for others), or undergo destructive/invasive traditional medical procedures that will remove the symptoms, like labyrinthectomies, nerve sections and the like.
David Buchholz best answers your question in his book Heal Your Headache. He devotes a whole chapter on threshold and how something can be a trigger one day and not on another. If you haven't read the book it's well worth getting a copy. Buchholz maintains that menieres is in fact MAV and vertigo attacks can be controlled by food and drink trigger avoidance. Don't be put off by the title as you do not have to have headaches to have MAV. 6 years ago Burd (a very knowledgeable lady) suggested I read Heal Your Headache and I have never looked back. I have lived a vertigo free life since 2009.
Forgot to say that Buchholz's book has a whole list of what might be triggers for people, some are surprising. You could save yourself some time on trial and error by following his suggestions. Best of luck
Very interesting Jay. Do you have any hearing left in your bad ear? I'd be curious to hear what kinds of food you avoid, and what your diet looks like.
Hi Vikingman No unfortunately I have about 90% hearing loss in my bad ear but feel lucky that I have good hearing in the other. The only time I struggle is when driving, with the noise of the car it's difficult to hear the passenger because they are sitting to my left. It is the only time I will wear a hearing aid. Also struggle with conversations in crowded rooms, unless money is mentioned. Menieres is so confusing particularly when you also have MAV. To be honest the vertigo stopping could have coincided with the near total loss of my left ear hearing. Because if you follow the virus theory once the virus has killed the ear there is nothing left to make you dizzy.That's what I feel anyway. I don't profess to be knowledgeable about balance disorders but we tend to know our own bodies best, don't we. The food and drinks I avoided when the vertigo was raging and still do were/are alcohol, caffeine, soy sauce, msg anything fermented, aged or high in tyramine. I cannot wholeheartedly say that the trigger avoidance was the sole reason for me getting better, it could also have been this magic burnout thing. All I know is that I am very well. I eat fresh foods meat, fish, veg , salads and certain fruits and have lost 21 pounds since christmas simply by avoiding processed foods particularly bad carbs as I believe they weren't doing me or my arthritis problems any good. I could possibly have alcohol now but I don't take the chance. I used to miss it but not now. When I started the elimination/ buchholz diet Jordan who's husband was suffering at the time suggested that one should start with something simple like say egg on toast for every meal and add one item per day gradually until you had a list that was safe to eat. It is two steps forward and one back but it works. Hope this helps Frank
Did you find that any specific food would reliably cause attacks? I don't think that would work for me. Awesome that it worked for you, don't get me wrong. But right now, due to how little salt I eat(@600 MG), my diet is pretty much the same every single day. The only thing that changes is whether I'm eating chicken, pork, beef or fish, and which vegetables I'm eating. And I certainly don't have attacks every single day, yet I am still having attacks. About once every 2 weeks right now.
MSG is nearly instantaneous for me, much faster than salt. And it's not always easy to determine what foods have MSG in them. This has been a bit overwhelming to keep up with. http://www.msgtruth.org/avoid.htm