I live in Northern NJ and last November my husband age 31 came down suddenly with severe vertigo, couldn't walk, vomiting. The episode lasted about 3 hours and he had minor ones for about 12 days that followed. It went away for about 4 months and came back this month. He is now receiving Valtrex among steroid injections, prednisone, Betahistine, and following the JOH regimen. At the ENT both our doctor and the nurse told us that since January they have seen 8 patients come in with these symptoms. He has been an ENT for 41 years and prior to recently, he said he has never seen so many cases. I was just at the salon and began talking to my hairdresser about our recent problems. Turns out her boyfriend has also been suffering from the same exact symptoms! I couldn't believe it. Also, she said that THREE other of her clients have told her about having the same problems recently. Her boyfriend's ENT told him that all he could do was steroid injections and diuretics/low salt diet. Typical response from what I've read. She had never heard about the Herpes connection, Lysine, Antiviral meds, etc. I gave her lots of information that she had never heard before. I was glad to spread the information. Could this be an epidemic in areas?
If you're in Northern NJ you may want to see Dr. Laura Downey in West Orange. She's the best Menieres specialist. I've been seeing her since 2000. They do the Audiograms and the other Menieres diagnostic tests right on site. I don't think it's an epidemic as I can't imagine what the cause would be but I'm sure you'll receive many other responses. Good luck finding a treatment that helps.
I am not sure it's an epidemic, but I think that many people get vertigo for a variety of reasons. You should be proud that you help some one. Just like Vicky did and JOH and numerous others. Taking something as awful as Menieres and paying it forward. Very nice.
I am proud. It makes me feel really good to pay it forward as others have done for me. The most important thing here is to give people the necessary information to improve their quality of life. Thank-you.
Thanks imback, I appreciate that I agree with you Titanium about finding out more people have it than we thought. In Japan they are seeing an onslaught of people going to the ER for vertigo. I also agree with imback that vertigo occurs for several reasons all not necessarily being Meniere's. But I went for root canal just after I started antivirals, so I wasn't completely stable balance and vertigo wise and I told the endodontist how I need to be positioned in the chair and he told me he has Meneire's too. Then I went to see a cardiologist a few years back and his assistant's husband has Meniere's. My brother bought an apartment in NYC and one of his neighbors in the building is a well known Broadway actress and she has Meniere's and MAV. I doubt its an epidemic too but there seems to be a lot more people suffering with MM or MAV than we thought.
In my opinion I believe that dr David buchholz is probably right in his book heal your headache where he states that menieres is in fact Mav. With all the added preservatives modern food has they may be causing an increase in vertigo and menieres like symptoms. Don't forget ents know jack about menieres as it's idiopathic and therefore convenient to place a cover all diagnosis of menieres
the 2 reasons why I am not sure that Meniere's is MAV is I have not read any connection between an HSV and migraines. and we know many of us get symptom relief from antivirals. The other reason is, I have both and to control vertigo from MM I take antivirals and limit foods with more arginine than lysine. But will still get MAV symptoms if I don't avoid migraine food triggers. Also if one has MM I don't think Mirgriane meds help Meniere's symptoms. I think MM and MAV are somehow related or linked. But I find it hard to believe they are one in the same.
This is very interesting and documented as well. There's every chance that MM and MAV are not related at all but each a separate disease. It would be interesting to see exactly how many Vestibular disorders or diseases. Very interesting topic.
actually I did find an old study linking HSV and migraines. Jaypr your post got me curious: The Connection Between Migraines and Herpes Are migraines commonly associated with herpes? In general, migraines are not associated with herpes in the context of a symptom, however headaches may be present just before an outbreak. If you feel that your migraines are frequently occurring at the same time as your herpes outbreaks, it may be that the herpes outbreak has triggered your migraines, as opposed to the migraines being a symptom in and of themselves. However, there is some evidence that herpes can actually cause migraine disorders to develop. According to a study done by several experts on the subject, found on PubMed: “Evidence suggests that many cranial nerve syndromes, such as migraine headache, acute vestibular neuronitis, globus hystericus, carotidynia, acute facial paralysis (Bell's palsy), and Meniere's disease, are caused by the neurotropic herpes simplex virus (HSV). “ this is the study and notice they include Meniere's being caused by an HSV http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7402669 But I still am doubtful MM and MAV are the same disease since we need different treatments for each. But that could be the link for those of us that have MM and MAV..an HSV, but yet an antiviral doesn't stop my MAV symptoms, avoiding trigger foods stop them.
I forgot to add, a coworker of mine's husband is also going through this. The whole month of Feb he had severe vertigo attacks and is now left with a significant hearing loss. I'm still not convinced its not the amount of toxic EPA Superfund cleanup sites located in North Jersey. my town has 32 spots ALONE! Our drinking water is poisoned, and who knows what kind of effect this can have on the people? http://www.northjersey.com/news/traces-of-toxic-chemical-found-in-north-jersey-water-supplies-1.1530489