Hi all. I've been lurking for quite a few days and what a great site this is with loads of help and info! After 18 years of MM I am starting to give JoH regime a go. The MM has left me with quite a lot of anxiety which has manifested in making me hyper aware of any little change in my body/mind. Consequently I am extremely afraid of taking any new medication/supplements. I have been taking Serc and water tablets for years. Last year I started taking 1x500mg a day of lemon flavonoid after seeing JoH regime on another site. I wimped out of taking any more of the supplements because it took me a while to adjust to the first one I started. (You wouldn't believe how strong I used to be a long time ago - now I'm just a frightened wimp haha). After a very bad few months I decided to add the L Lysine. I started it 7 days ago. I took one 500mg tablet for the first two days, two for the next two days and I've taken six a day for the last three days (two three times a day on an empty stomach). I haven't had any spins this week but the last three days I feel very light headed and as if I'm suddenly falling (that feeling you get sometimes when your just dropping off to sleep only I'm awake and it's happening loads each day). It's almost like a completely new form of instability - though preferable to spinning! I'm sorry for stressing but has anyone else experienced this with the Lysine? I really want to stick with it but the anxious part of me is getting scared that I'm reacting badly to the tablets.
Many have increased, not decreased, Meniere's symptoms when starting either/or lysine or prescription antiherpetics. In both cases, it appears that the herpes virus becomes more active when first being suppressed by the lysine or the antiherpetics. Understandably, it can then be perceived that either of these two agents is failing; that the virus is getting the upper hand. But in the majority of cases, this is actually a positive indication that the substances are actually beginning to work, that the virus is actually being suppressed. In time, in a few days or weeks, the virus loses and the substances have gained control, suppressing viral activity. But one must persist, to allow the agents to do their jobs. Nothing with Meniere's turns around quickly or completely at the start. And be sure (if you you are not) to be following the most recent, most successful version of the regimen, here:
Here it is: http://www.zoominternet.net/~kcshop/JOH.pdf And you may get the best results combining the regimen with antiherpetics. Info here: http://menieres.org/talk/index.php?topic=557.0 --John of Ohio
Thanks so much for your quick reply - and from the great man himself Thanks for the links. Yes, I already have the details of your latest regime and as soon as I've plucked up the courage I'm going to print off the antiherpetics info and take it to my doctor. I'm in the UK and I don't foresee a problem in getting my local GP to prescribe it. I stopped seeing my ENT consultant 15 years ago after him telling me there was nothing else they could do. After reading a lot of the info on this site over the last few days I realise that that isn't the case! i was coming to the end of my rope but I feel quite hopeful now, and I'm grateful to you for giving me that if nothing else.
Since you are in the UK, investigate getting a prescription for betahistine, (SERC). It's a Meniere's drug of choice in most of the world (but not US, where our Food and Drug Administration thinks -- erroneously -- that it has no treatment value). It, too, can be another useful treatment component. --John of Ohio
I got the same feeling when taking lysine I got extremely light headed from it. I wont take it again, it was a horrible feeling. I asked my pharmacist and he said not to take it and yes hes heard of light headedness from lysine.
Hi Vicki, thanks for your reply. Yes, this lightheadedness is horrible! Did you also have a very dry mouth and the occasional rapid heartbeat too? I'm really not sure about what to do now. If these are just symptoms of the Lysine attacking the virus then I'd rather stick with it in the hope that the symptoms will pass - but I can't help but feel it's more than this what with the general feeling of being unwell (quite different from my normal MM unwell). I'm not sure whether to stop taking them or not. I take it you were ok with the antiherpetics? I seem to be sensitive to most medication which makes me very anxious when I have to take something new. John: I've been on Serc and water tablets continuously for about 17 years. The water tablets definitely make a difference, as for the Serc I really cannot tell. I continue to take them just in case. The first three years I was on them my MM continued without any improvement, then I went into remission for ten long lovely years. The last four years have been bad and getting worse with each year. I'm convinced these last bad four years are somehow linked to menopause...maybe because my body is under stress and/or the drop in oestrogen.