Not only has valacyclovir made me vertigo, aural fullness and brain fog free for 17 months. I dont get cold sores anymore. I used to get several per year. Especially it I was exposed to the sun for an extended length of time. My hearing also stopped getting worse and it hasn't fluctuated in over a year. I dont have to wear ear plugs anymore when playing rock music in my band. Now.....if I could just get rid of tinnitus!
so glad to hear this! Loud noise seems to aggravate tinnitus for me. Also caffeine and high sodium. But mostly as hearing recovered t receded. Hope yours does too.
Thanks June. Glad you are back. Your thoughts always meant a lot to me. I know I haven't been around much over the last four months.
I have often wondered if caffeine and aspartame causes tinnitus. Great news on the antiviral success, I am hoping it helps me like it did you guys.
I know it is.important to keep.hydrated when on Vacyclovior. I feel.my lips are dry and.that I am dehydrated even with drinking lots of fluids. Did.anyone.else.experience this?
That's great news, Santa! Glad to see you here, too. Valacyclovir has pretty consistently reduced my tinnitus to a more tolerable white noise kind of experience. Has it had any effect on your tinnitus? Are you able to play rock music without ear plugs because you are less bothered by loud noise?
It's been a long time, but one thing i remember is that during the periods when i took famvir, i always felt 'particularly well'. I had previously suffered from a very severe bout of mono (also a herpes virus) which caused some problems with spleen and liver enzymes. Although i thought i was over it, like mm, i am not sure we ever get completely over someof these things.
By the Bay Tinnitus was the least of my worries and now it's the only worry. And, it's not much of a worry. I had tinnitus before the MM episodes began. It was only in my left ear and at first it was a pain in the Butt. Once the MM started tinnitus worries were reduced to almost no worries. The MM noises in my ear were so loud and strange. Hammers on pipes, banging and clanging, whistling, screaming, etc. The weirdest noises came on the last day of vertigo. It was like the virus was dying, screaming in pain, so surreal. I thought it was going to be bad. The noises scared me. I thought my ear was going to explode. Then it stopped. Stopped, and I haven't heard any weird noises except the tinnitus since. The hearing ability in my left ear was saved. However; I did lose about 5 percent. I think if I hadn't started the Valacyclovir I probably would be deaf in that ear. There were many days during a nine month period when I couldn't hear my fingers rubbing together next to my ear. I dreaded noise of all kinds. Rooms full of people talking, singing ( which I do for a living, ) and playing in the Band. Driving noises, loud children ( half of my singing is with children) and I have a lot of songs which get the children singing and singing loud. I often sing with 300 children in a cafetorium and we get really loud. I resorted to wearing an ear plug in my MM ear. Playing in the band I wore ear plugs in both ears. The noises have been gone for 17 glorious months and I am not wearing ear plugs any more, even in the band.
Sounds like you are doing really great, Santa. It is so interesting because I remember that it took longer for you to know the antivirals were working for you than it did for me, but now, you are doing better. I had some significant hearing improvement after starting the antivirals, but things took a turn for the worse late last year. Now my conductive hearing loss is worse than my bone hearing loss (which isn't bad). My ENT says that kind of difference doesn't happen from Meniere's so I have something else going on now. I haven't passed the finger rub test on that ear for months. I'm experimenting with taking the brand name Valtrex now, but it doesn't seem to be doing any better for me than the Ranbaxy generic. When the noise was a problem, what happened for you? For me it makes my ear get stuffed, makes the tinnitus louder, and sometimes it actually hurts. It can make me nauseous and even get vertigo, too, but I get away way before that now. Was that similar for you?
Hi By The Bay, I don't quite understand your question. Below: When the noise was a problem, what happened for you? For me it makes my ear get stuffed, makes the tinnitus louder, and sometimes it actually hurts. It can make me nauseous and even get vertigo, too, but I get away way before that now. Was that similar for you? I'll try to answer by saying this: The first two years of experiencing MM symptoms all I had was two or three bouts of vertigo about six weeks apart. Both times the first bout was in January/February. Each bout put me straight to bed or I would have been throwing up. I stumbled/wobbled to the bed and slept it off. The third year after the first bout I got aural fullness. Some were saying glue ear. But, it wouldn't go away. No matter what I tried. I went ENT and he said I had MM. I did have a couple of days in the third year when I heard loud cracking sounds and hammers on pipes sounds. It was the third year when I discovered an article from Joe the Piano Man who said he had discovered a cure for MM. His article mentioned that it was a fungus. But, he also mentioned JOH. So, I researched JOH. I started some of his regimen and antivirals and anti fungal meds. By golly my ear felt better and the aural fullness went away. I didn't know if it was the anti fungal or anti viral meds, so I stopped taking the anti viral (acyclovir.) Went on the anti fungal for 3 weeks and in that period the aural fulness came back. I then discovered this forum and found many who were having success with anti virals. So, I started taking acyclovir and many of JOH's suggestions. I wasn't having issues with vertigo. My issue was aural fullness. I thought I was going deaf. Coincidentally or not, this is when I started having vertigo and sometimes the dizzies every day or at least every other day. The noises in my ear along with the aural fullness and now vertigo were HELL. But, I stayed on this regimen for five months when I decided to switch to Valacyclovir. Yes, the noises were still there and the aural fullness was still there. After two months I added OPC to the Valacyclovir and still took some of JOH's suggestions. The third month of this regimen is when the weirdest of all noises happened. It was like a ghost inside my ear screaming in pain. Also some loud clanging. Nicmgr had previously suggested keeping some meclizine on me at all times to help with the dizzies. I took one and continued to sing with children that day. I was feeling like a vertigo episode could happen, but it didn't. In an hour or so all the aural fullness disappeared and I haven't had vertigo since. The noises never hurt, caused pain. But, they sure were annoying. I still occasionally get a little bit of a woozy feeling. Kind of like the day after drinking too much. But, it only lasts a few minutes. Unlike the day after drinking too much. Some days I take 2 grams of valacyclovir, but usually one 1 gm. I so still take the OPC and Flonase every day. you also said, " It can make me nauseous and even get vertigo, too, but I get away way before that now. Was that similar for you?" I'm not clear on what you mean by - but I get away way before that now. Was that similar to you? I am no expert. I can only share what is working for me. Sometimes I think I should stay on 3 grams per day for another year and see if it totally wipes out even the occasional woozies I get. Good Health to You!!
"When the noise was a problem, what happened for you? For me it makes my ear get stuffed, makes the tinnitus louder, and sometimes it actually hurts. It can make me nauseous and even get vertigo, too, but I get away way before that now. Was that similar for you?" By, At my worst, some high-pitched sounds did physically hurt my ears, and certain low-pitched sounds did make me nauseous. I did not get vertigo but i was afraid it was just around the corner. The antivirals stopped this and it has never returned. I think the word you may be looking for is tulio's syndrome. I think the variation in symptoms depends on the exact spot in the inner ear where the problem is.
Since valacyclovir is a drug listed to treat cold sores this should not come as any great surprise. Conversely, the surprise should be that it works for Meniere’s. It makes you wonder why the manufacturers don’t list Meniere’s as one of the target treatable illnesses. That is unless it requires double blind clinical trials to make such a claim, and perhaps it is not worth their while to undertake such a trial? Discuss.
Been free of hearing and balance issues for 8 years. Do not believe there is one answer for all people with hearing or balance issues. Do not care if people believe what i say here or not and have no intention of seeking approval. Just post for the benefit of people who are really looking for ideas to get their life back from a life spoiling disorder.
Santa and June, thanks very much for your responses to me on the bottom of the previous page. I'm sorry it took so long for me to get back here and respond. I'm glad you have both had so much relief. I have had relief on a lot, but this sensitivity to noise and air pressure changes continues. It is one of the frustrating things about this condition that I haven't found people that have quite the same issues I have with that.
Santa, it is probably a hoax judging by the advertisement for it, but have you (or anyone) ever tried Tinnitus Terminator? The reviews online are predominantly negative and the positive ones could be plants by the perpetrators, eh, I mean suppliers.