A little background. So August 2020. Yes. 2020. That was my last attack.... ...until June 30, of 2022. Between June 30 and July 22, I had 4. That's when I started the JOH regimen. Basically, started with 500mg of L-Lysine three times a day. I know. Not the recommended dose. But I wanted to test it first. No side effects, so I added the other elements. Between July 22 and August 8, I added the remaining elements. August 8, I had a vertigo attack. So I decided to go ahead and up the L-Lysine to the recommended 3000mg. August 15 through August 21, I had an attack EVERY day. Except for Wednesday and Saturday. No triggers. No strange foods. This was at work or home. Usually around midday, except Sunday at 7:30 at night. Anyway, the ONLY thing I started doing when my attacks increased to a daily thing was increasing the L-Lysine to 1000mg three times a day. Now I thought I read on here somewhere that sometimes that can actually trigger the virus to fight back? The whole "it will get worse before it gets better"? That's all I got. I'm at a loss otherwise. I am clinging to the hope that it is indeed working. And I just have to stick it out.
That must be horrible. You have all my compassion a)How long are your attacks? b)Do they nail you down? c)Do you have labial Herpes? As I am concerned I was diagnosed in June 2020 after a very serious attack (not the first one but this one thought i was going to die). Then nothing for two years (apart from almost total hearing loss on left hear, tinitus etc) Caught covid in mid May 2022 Then in the beginning of June (3 weeks after covid), out of nowhere came an attack. Two years almost day for days after my last attack in 2020. Since then, for now over two months i am having an attack every week. Most of them last 17 hours which is very long. These attacks literally nail me down. And i am not speaking about how I feel between attacks. I am desperate. Last week i have started the JOH regimen+low sodium diet concerning sodium: I have never abused of salt in my diet, may be was I already short of sodium, so not quite sure whether this is relevant. Heard that among the symptoms of too low sodium levels it can lead to dizziness and vertigos. d) has anyone experienced vertigos due to too low level of sodium? Are they as strong as Meniere vertigos? I am keeping below 1000mg but have read too low sodium could be as harmful as too much. Not clear below which value sodium diet becomes dangerous. I know this depends upon your weight and the quantity of water you drink every day but an order of magnitude would be fine. e)roughly for 60kg person what is the minimum daily sodium intake under which you take risks for your health on both short and long term? Concerning JOH regimen i have just started the Lysine so far f)can the Lysine be useful for people not having labial herpes? Can it help against other viral infections (including covid) or other herpes viruses such HSV IV/mononucleosis (caught a long time ago (decades ago))? g)heard that on the long run high level of lysine supplement can damage kidneys. 3 000mg every day should not be taken for years. JOH suggested to even increase to 5000mg/day in case 3000mg would reveal unsuccessful. Is this very worth the risk/useful if not having labial herpes? I think that when (because I am afraid it will happen) the next attack comes I will add the next ingredient of JOH regimen instead of increasing daily lysing intake
Fortunately, the attacks are not long. Only an hour or two. But yes, I just need to lay down and try to focus on not throwing up. I cannot do anything else. I've even tried sitting at my desk and recording what was happening, but I couldn't "see" the screen nor the keys well enough to type. They were moving around too much. So I just try to lay down and hope it passes soon. And I've never had cold sores to my knowledge. Oddly, I just watched a YouTube video about a guy who responded very well to antivirals despite having no trace of the virus. At least none they could find. I will be asking my ENT to prescribe me some tomorrow. If he doesn't, I'll go begging to my GP.
If you have read JOH and his explanations, you would already know that what you have told fits with his protocol and that they are the expected effects.
Had an appt yesterday and convinced my ENT to prescribe me valacyclovir before we resort to surgery. It's a 7-day course of 2000mg a day. He said it won't kill me, so he was ok with me trying it. The funny thing was, he's read about all this stuff. The anit-virals. The betahistines. All of it. And of course, he said it was all anecdotal, which I get. But he gave me a shot in the ear and told me up front that there's a 50% chance it will work. So I suppose the only difference is there's evidence it probably won't work vs no evidence that an anti-viral will.
I have read that the body needs a minimum of 500mg of sodium a day. The kidneys become very adept at keeping sodium in the body when you switch to a low salt diet. Since there is sodium in apples, beets and other vegetables it would be difficult to get below 500mg a day with a balanced diet.
I'm not sure how much sodium I'm eating all day. I've always had a pretty low sodium diet even before my diagnosis so I don't really think about it.