I know that some people who get menieres symptoms actually have either an environment, food or substance allergy. In fact I spoke to a Harvard graduate who is an Optometrist with Meniere's and he had this to say: "....most people with Meniere's disease have latent food allergies, in particular to corn. The latter is so close to ubiquitous in our food supply that it is hard to avoid it. That doc connected me with another ENT in our area (now retired, sadly), who tested me for delayed hypersensitivities and--sure-enough--allergies to corn, wheat, soy, eggs...a long list which included most everything I ate daily. He explained that such was typical for delayed allergies (they are an antibody-protein fragment "complex" that drifts about in the body, rather than a release of histamine). As he put it, unless you rotate your foods on a regular basis, it taking about three days for the body to process and eliminate foreign proteins (that being essentially anything you would eat), such a person will inevitably become sensitized to anything they eat, with rare exception. He put me on shots (immunotherapy) and my vertigo attacks ended then. Slowly my hearing improved and the tinnitus abated, but never totally. I get by just fine now, though still seeking to better understand and--ideally--eliminate the entire problem. I can post some more details if you are interested
Of course you want to know more, I'm just sleepy right now but wanted to post this. He also states that he no longer depends on shots rather takes sublingual (under the tongue) therapy. "For the last three years I have been using sublingual drop immunotherapy instead of shots. Much easier overall, and perhaps ultimately more effective. See www.allergychoices.com for a run-down on that." Some more snippets of info that you may find useful from our chat. "Find a Provider Want to find a provider near you who offers custom sublingual immunotherapy? Please contact us: Michelle Montét (866) 793-1680, ext. 210 [email protected] If not, they may at least be able to help your general doc order the testing (which is all done by blood sample now) for specific IgG and IgE antibodies implicated in allergies/delayed hypersensitivities. The IgG type are particularly important in that regard. They are likely the only type which specifically brings on the Meniere's symptoms, though rising IgE (the histamine-response antibody) probably acts as a trigger of sorts. Prior--when I first was tested--it did take an allergy specialist trained in delayed hypersensitivity testing to obtain the right results, but the sophistication of the blood analysis has made that no longer necessary." I really hope someone can benefit from this and end their vertigo, hearing loss etc!
Dr Derebery in California believes for some people there is a Meniere's and allergy connection. Several of our members have seen her. Here is her profile and some of her clinical trials. But besides allergy immunotherapy she prescribes antivirals as well for Meniere's, usually famvir. https://www.houseclinic.com/derebery
I have MM since I am 13 but didn't developed food and seasonal allergies until 4 years ago. I am seeing a prominent doctor/researcher who is with Mount Sinai in NYC which is the food allergy research center of the world, for my food allergies. Her protocol is investigational and she has several clinical trials on pubmed The interesting thing is her protocol is to fix the immune system starting with the gut and then lowering IGE levels. It will be 1 year I am on her protocol in April and I have seen some general health benefits. I just saw her for my monthly visit this past Saturday. I have no more seasonal allergy symptoms, I usually get sinusitis every fall and battle with it on and off until January and that did not happen last fall and so far so good to date. Baby aspirins which I am supposed to take daily causes ringing in my ears so I stopped taking it. I tried again 2 weeks ago and no ringing occurs. I am experiencing a few more changes in my health for the positive. She said these changes mean my immune system is getting better. I am scheduled for certain blood work since its has been 1 year on her protocol to test my IGE levels and other bio markers for food allergies. I can't wait to see my results. Hopefully all this will also have a positive effect on my MM even though I am symptom free taking antivirals, AV's are not a cure.
Wow, Vicki. I would love to hear what your doctor's protocol is. What is her name? I can look up what she is doing on PubMed. I definitely think my seasonal outside allergies affect my meniere's symptoms. Last Spring-Early Fall was so rough. I am on the antiviral but I am not sure if it is helping as my vertigo is always less in the Winter months. The real test will be this Spring. I really want to look into the Allergy aspect as I really feel it is related. Thanks so much for talking about this and a bigger thanks for all you do for us!!
Muff, she mainly is involved with food allergies, not seasonal allergies, since food allergy is a life threatening condition and no cure as of yet, which I have. For seasonal allergies its best to see a local allergist.
Vicki, I hate to say it but you're a bit of a thread hijacker and credit hogger. Here I come to contribute and you come in here posting something, while related, a different protocol that most people won't have access to and where attention has drifted. Another time I posted something about magnesium and it's relationship with calcium channel openers / closers and again you came in there mentioning some other thread of what you posted and getting all the credit. I'm not here to get credit etc I just want to help people but please be ware of what you are doing.
I am confused. Often people start a topic and others comment on them with their experiences. In this instance Vicki's response supported the same theory with even more detail because it is confirmed success by a sufferer known by many here. The fact that people responded to Vicki's more direct/personal summary of the same situation is not her "fault" nor should she be called a credit hog. Personally I read and appreciate everyone's input and people who take the time to share their experiences.
Thanks nicmger, and the connection between allergies and MM is not new and has been discussed many times for years on these forums and usually not by me, but as nicgmer said I posted to support your original post, but ya never can predict who is overly sensitive and takes things the wrong way. But as I said you are entitled to your opinion.
What I suggested here is an actual fix with explicit details from an email chat I had with a Dr. with Meniere's in hopes that it could help someone who might be suffering from the same cause of Menieres and not a protocol with unknown procedures to realize it's benefits. I'd imagine anyone who is suffering would want as immediate relief as possible with greater accessibility than going through one doctor and all that involves in clinical trials. @Vicki But I see now I'm labelled a troll on the "Props to Vicki" thread which is very ignorant, because last time I checked I have either asked questions or gave my input wherever or as much as possible to help someone. Just because not everyone agrees with you doesn't make them a troll. In fact when I came to this forum for the first time, I saw how much you contributed and in a positive attitude, whereas some other people would be pessimistic you would be optimistic which is my personality as well, but recently I see that you have been rude to some other members here especially one that had written such a long detailed summary of his/her findings and that you gave the person no credit and all you did was cut and paste their findings on here and you accepted thanks for this thread as well on top of that. The person who originally authored that post was upset rightfully so that not even his name was mentioned and on top of that you gave him attitude for it. That's when my respect for you dwindled and now calling people trolls? Awesome. @Vicki, so if allergies has been discussed many times let's not discuss it again? There are people who don't even know how to use forums or are guests to this forum and maybe have never seen any other allergy post with regards to Menieres. If there has been proven and successful treatments for meniere's patients who's cause is allergies, why has it not been stickied? Not only that the doc states the benefits of sublingual immunotherapy and where to get them, instead of having to get shots all the time, is this old news too that you heard before? Has someone else mentioned everything I posted and this too?
you are misinformed and misguided in your accusations, but unlike you I am not here to attack people. I just respond to them on occasion, usually I do not. For someone who claims you don't want credit for your post, you sure are extremely concerned I am trying to take credit for it, which ofc I am not. But believe what you want, it does not matter to me, and I do find it ironic you are derailing your own thread with your misplaced anger.
If you call helping people attacking people or asking questions as attacking then you are the misinformed one. You can go through all my posts from the beginning of when I came here this is the first time I disagreed with you or anyone and you call me a troll and an attacker now? Anyway I can go on regarding what you just posted but it's already bad enough we have Meniere's so I don't want to chat anymore regarding this, end of story.