Hi, I confess that I am not in a good place right now. I had a 4 hour vertigo attack yesterday. This is the first attack I have had in 10 years! I honestly thought the Meniere's had "burnt out" (not sure such a thing is possible). The attack was troubling enough, but now I have an anxiety that is quite painful. I can divert my mind for periods (playing with my dog, for example), but it is like a cold rushing river underneath the surface. The disease is one thing, but the anxiety is what is so scary right now. I was diagnosed in 2007 and immediately began a very low salt diet. This seemed to work and the attacks stopped quickly and never returned, although I have had tinnitus off and on. I've had tinnitus for about a month and should have noticed the full feeling in the left ear and what ti might mean, but 10 years is a long time. I had become very careless about my diet. In fact (this might be amusing), the attack came right after I ate half a bag of Tostitos chips with a big bowl of Salsa. AND the air pressure was really heavy because for the first time this year we (phoenix) had cloudly weather and a rain storm. So perhaps I set myself up for this? Anyway, I have no one to talk to about this. I found a new ENT but can't get in until 7-10-18. I know the drill of no salt, no caffeine, no alcohol and have to trust that will work. But what do I do with this anxiety? It just washes over me. Some part of my mind is terrified.
I am sorry to hear this. While you wait for you appointment, you can have a talk with yourself to try to deal with the free floating anxiety. Of course it is normal to be upset, uncertain, afraid of what this all means. But also remember, there are many ways of dealing with this in addition to diet. Many people inrecent years have had good success with antiviral medicarions such as acyclovir, valtrex and famvir. You can read a lot about that on this forum and find information to ask your doctor about if you want to see if that will work for you. If that doesnt work for you, there is surgery such as a labyrinthectomy (laby) which will correct it permanently. Although you would lose th hearing and balance nerve in one ear, it is quite possible to operate on one ear, assuming you are not an ironworker. I have for twenty years and my life is quite normal. There are other approaches as well. Of course you want to consult your specialist to make sure this attack is indeed from Menieres and not some other disorder or migraine so you are sure what you are dealing with, but there are ways to get in control and get your life back. Good luck, do not despair, keep dealing with this one step at a time.
For anyone reading this, how do you deal with the anxiety. I have tried reasoning with it (self-talk about how everything will be fine because I've been through this before but I broke all the rules for keeping the attacks at bay). I have tried diversion (but being retired, it can be hard to constantly be busy). I can deal with unpleasant feelings, but they are impacting my digestive system. It is as if some visceral wild animal is terrified within me and won't settle down, like a spooked horse. Meditation and exercise do help but the impacts fade away. Maybe if I establish some distance between the attack and my "now", I will calm down somewhat. I had an attack in 2015 and saw my ENT immediately. His words of reassurance seemed to convince that scared animal inside to calm down (authority figure?). But now he is in the Mayo Clinic and is booked 4 months in advance! So he is too successful for practical help with immediate issues. Life goes on. I hope I just reach an equilibrium with this. The vertigo is bad enough, but this anxiety is nerve wracking LOL
Yoga helped me a lot. It calmed me anough that i was able to talk to my doctor in a calm way which made her non defensive and eventually led to finding the right solution for me. I had a private yoga teacher i saw every other week and i practiced at home an hour a day.
Yes, the anxiety is over the top. I think the attack invoked issues much larger than just the attack itself. I am 66 and worry about being all alone someday, and I think there is a lot of fear about this. I had my thyroid removed in March and had a whole sequence of medical issues that show me how vulnerable I can be outside my regular "rugged individualist". I had a brief chat with a psychiatrist that I already know, and he suggested we have weekly sessions. He is expensive, but I believe it will be worth it. So I won't be handling this totally on my own.
Therapy will definitely be beneficial for anxiety. Have you also considered medication? In addition to traditional tranquilizers, there are other drugs such as serotonin inhibitors which can help. If you're planning on seeing the psychiatrist, he can also prescribe meds. Another thing you might want to try to relieve anxiety is meditation.
Dylansdad, you are doing the right thing by seeing a psychiatrist who can assess whether medications may be beneficial to interrupt the anxiety. Funny thing, I was in a severe flare-up from January to the end of May. It was made worse in March when the audiologist punctured my eardrum during balance testing with water. Vertigo attacks ranged from multiple per day to several per week, and I was an anxious mess, which in turn made me more vulnerable to vertigo. I couldn't face going back to the same clinic where I had been harmed. It wasn't until I got confirmation of an appointment at Mayo that I stabilized. For the last three weeks I've been vertigo-free and low-stress, and my first Mayo visit is on Monday. I think the hopefulness of good treatment played a role in settling down symptoms. Perhaps it is worthwhile to go ahead an make an appointment with Mayo and the doctor whom you trust to be helpful.
How’s it going now with the anxiety? I got into that awful state at the beginning of my Menieres adventures. I’m one of the rare ones that get worse in SSRIs (Prozac, Trintellix). I couldn’t eat, diarrhea, had early morning awakening and felt like I was separate from everyone, in near state of panic. Things that helped: Remeron. Mindfulness meditation book “Full Catastrophe Living” by Jon karat zinn. Doing anything to get me into flow - colouring books, weeding my garden, sudoku. Tramadol - this is a mild narcotic like codeine. Obviously not a long term fix but sometimes one dose can nip an anxiety flare in the bud. Amino acids 5htp, gaba and tryptophan and dietary and lifestyle (book “The Mood Cure” by Julia ?). Quitting alcohol- much as it feels nice for an hour, it increases our stress hormones for a couple days. I needed AA to keep me going with this, and the support seems to be ongoing medicine for depression and anxiety for me. “The Happiness Trap” a book about ACT, Action and Commitment Therapy. Acupuncture. Massage. Reflexology. Yoga. Tai chi (Taiflow modules free on YouTube - 5 minutes gives me a quick mood boost!). So yeah, a lot of work. But I’m now off antidepressants (including the remeron) for the first time in 20 years, in spite of a bad vertigo year. I still get occasional anxiety flares, usually when I’m too free and unscheduled. I’m trying a bit of CBD oil (for not just anxiety but Menieres and chronic pain stuff too).
Update: the days I triedCBD oil, I got vertigo. May not have been related, but now I’m gun shy of it. Aaaand... back in anxiety. (With good reason - I’m not driving because of vertigo, dropped my art classes, trying to get into a specialist, supposed to be travelling next week.) Good to read this a remind myself what might help. Maybe I’ll go back on the remeron (mirtazipine) to help me sleep, eat and get through this tough time.
Dylansdad, Some mild relief was achieved when I would get what you are describing from taking taurine or theanine. takes about 45 minutes to kickin but does alleviate the frazzled feeling a bit. in Europe they still sell picamilon which is even better. (Gaba and niacin bonded to get through blood brain barrier) kind of like valium cept no danger of addiction or overdose..truthfully though once you reach the higher states of treatment these can for many go away permanently. are you on an antiviral program?