Hi there, I have to say that I am overwhelmed with all the different approaches to MD presented in this forum. The anti-virals seems promising, but I am afraid to start it immediately since if there are some side effects I might come into trouble arranging my everyday life. I just started some anti-anxiety therapy and still I am not sure if I cope with it well, so I will have to wait some time before trying anti-viral. In between, I am taking Betaserc 24mg twice a day. When I asked my neorootologist if I may increase the daily dosage she said it would lower my blood pressure. I have anyway introduced the third dose, so now I take 24mg in the morning, 12 mg in the afternoon and 24mg in the evening. I cannot say if this really lowers my blood pressure. I see some people take massive daily doses of Betaserc compared to mine. I wonder if Betaserc lowers their blood pressure? Many thanks in advance
Serbian, I haven't noticed a lowering of my blood pressure, but I am only on 16 mg, 3 times a day. I think Betahistine is helping me. Margie
It is believed it results in increased cochlear blood flow resulting from vasodilation, which suggests that yes, it could lower your blood pressure, especially when blood levels are high after taking a dose and before it is excreted. I also found an article that suggests that yes, it is lowering blood pressure via vasodilation. "Vasodilatation of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery could be involved, suggesting that the betahistine-induced increase in cochlear blood flow was associated with an increase in vascular conductivity and a decrease in systemic blood pressure." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2655085/
Hello Vikingman, In theory I agree with this, but would like to hear some practical experiences. I am taking 60mg per day atm, and see no significant impact on my blood pressure.
Hi there, I have just finished three months of Betahistine (24 mg twice per day). I already have low blood pressure, typically 90 over 60. As I'm curious about these things I was measuring my bp almost daily and found no market change over the three months. Hopefully this helps (although it's anecdotal).
I am now on 24mg Betaserc three times a day, and my blood pressure seems OK. My neurootologist follows the European orthodox practice and would not go higher than 24mg twice a day, but I feel more confident taking the higher dose. My last three attacks happened just prior to getting a scheduled dose, so I developed a theory that these happened due to the concentration of Betaserc in my blood was running low at the moments. Hope I am right and will be attacks safe for some time. I have just started taking lysine last night. The other parts of JOH regimen I cannot easily source in my country so it will take some time before I introduce lemon bioflavonoid and vinprocetine... I will start anti-virals in a couple of days, although my neuroOTO, who is a retired University professor, does not recommend it. She said she would write to a colleague in Germany (dr. Strupp) and present my case which is, in short, sudden vertigo with vestibular symptoms and increased levels of tinnitus, no hearing loss after five years (the very last audiogram showed slight loss at the highest frequencies), no fullness, no dizziness, and with apparent weakness of the right vestibular sense. Permanent tinnitus in right ear, and low tinnitus in left ear. She says we should wait for his response but I am afraid I would get no definite answer and just loose time. So, I am starting anti-virals soon...
Hallo Serbian, I started in June last year with 3x 18mg Betahistin, then 5 x 18mg, in the meantime 2 x 48 mg. No change on my blood pressure , that has always been a kind of low anyhow, 75-110. What do you expect from Betshistin on your blood pressure, to make it higher or lower? Never heard from other patients about changes on their blood pressure. Kind regards
Hello Oxygen, My NeuroOTO was reluctant regarding increasing my Betahistine from 2 x 24mg a day to 3 x 24 mg a day, since she expected it would lower my blood pressure. So I did it on my own with no tangible impact on my bp. Anyway, I am planning to start my anti-viral tomorrow and now I am hesitating. Although betahistine did not make me attack free, I feel scared to stop using it in order to start anti-viral (according to Gacek's paper, I should stop other medications)...
Hi Serbian, How long have you been taking Betahistin? It took sometimes for me before it worked! I personally would not mix too much medications at once, afterwards you dont know if/what worked for you. I live in Europe, talked to a few ENT and they were all the meaning that MM has no viral cause! Even though they know that in the US some people are successfully treated with antivirals they meant that those persons did not have mm but neuritis vestibularis. I dont know... I a m quite happy with my betahistin, no side effects and it reduced a lot my vertigos. Take care Oxygen
Hi Oxygen, I had a vertigo episode last year in May (after 13 months of a pause). I used to take betahistine before that, but not for some time before that episode. I restarted taking betahistine then, and was taking it until early August 2014, 2 x 24mg a day, without vertigo episodes. Then, in early September 2014, I had another vertigo episode. From that moment on I was taking betahistine constantly until a few days ago. First I was taking 2 x 24mg a day, than in November my neuroOTO lowered it to 1 x 24 mg (I have no symptoms between attacks beside some tinnitus). In late November I had another vertigo episode, and then I switched back to 2 x 24mg a day. In March this year, I had two episodes within 8 days although I was taking betahistine. Then, I increased my dose to 3 x 24 mg a day. I could see no difference, because I have no fullness or hearing loss during and after episodes, and my tinnitus (so load during vertigo) keeps approximately the same lower acceptable level between episodes, although I had a total of 10 vertigo episodes in five and a half years. I cannot be 100% sure, but it seems (and I hope to, so I could try to manage it) that the stress is my trigger. Approximately one half of my episodes I can definitely relate to incidental psycho stress. For some I do not remember but is also likely. This makes sense in favor of viral etiology. Stress compromises one's immune system, and if there is a latent presence of a virus in my inner ear, it could start going wild and cause vertigo and ringing. My episodes last for a few hours, that may be the time the body needs to partially recover. And I am fine afterwards... Also, incidental with my last two episodes is that I consumed a lot of peanut butter in the period. I usually do not eat it. I can read that it is abundant in arginine that is good for virus. So I started acyclovir yesterday (no valacyclovir in my country). I also take lysine. I hope I will be vertigo free in the weeks and months to come. It will be hard for me to tell if antivirals work or not since my only symptom between episodes is tinnitus.