I have seen a few references throughout the forum that reactions can really vary widely for those initiating antiviral therapy for the first time. Anyone who cares to share what their physiological response has been would be appreciated. My husband is on day 11 of Valtrex, 3 per day. He has noticed some improvements but also some exacerbation of symptoms and changes in how his head/ears feel (he is more debilitated by MM in left ear, but recently has had some symptoms tied to right ear). He has not seen much improvement with aural fullness or tinnitus, but has had improvement in general nasal breathing. Since antivirals being used for MM is not yet considered mainstream medical protocol (although apparently gaining more and more acceptance), I have not been able to find much documented about individual reactions when initiating the antivirals. Thanks to anyone who shares their experiences.
I have never taken valtrex except for shingles. I do not recall any symptom from it but it was for a short time and I was pretty miserable anyway. I did take both acyclovir and famvir for etended periods (about 3 month each). Although I am the queen of side effects when medicines are involved, I had no side effects at all. I do tend to drink a lot of water all the time. I did experience the 'worse before it gets better' thing when I took acyclovir. That is my hearing symptom-particularly distortion- got worse and different before improvement came. It took me a month before I got very definite lasting improvement and more months before I got the max improvement. It ws worth the wait though. I did also get final 'complete' improvement when I also took allergy shots. It seems like both things were contributing to the problem. I have heard others say valtrex is harder to tolerate than the other two antiviral.
I have been taking acyclovir for a year and 6 months, but at one point tried valcyclovir, I took 1 pill and felt horrible on it. I won't try it again. I have no side effects from acyclovir.
I'm on the Acyclovir as well. I've never tried anything else. As June said, it does take awhile for maximum results. I never experienced any side effects that I could attribute to the Acyclovir.
I have now received a prescription for Valacyclovir, and was told by my doctor it is a better drug than acyclovir as it has better "bioavailability" in the blood. He indicated that Acyclovir was the first generation drug, and Valacyclovir came later and was considered to be better. To my understanding, this is similar to other extended release supplements and medications. I looked up Valacyclovir in a Physicians Desk Reference while at Barnes and Nobel last night and it says in a nut shell that the body converts this drug over a period of time into Acyclovir, which then goes through a few more conversions before being circulated throughout the body and getting absorbed. With straight Acyclovir the same thing happens, except the first step is skipped. This causes Acyclovir to be processed faster and it dissipates quicker, which is why it's important to spread dosages of Acyclovir as evenly as possible, in order to maintain the proper level in the blood. I haven't tried it yet, but was not expecting any additional side effects. After all, it just becomes Acyclovir.
Good day to all....I had initiated this thread/conversation. One of the things I was trying to get at is the amount of time it took for individuals to start to see results. I have seen comments as disparate as the gentleman from Seattle who took two acyclovir (1600 mg total) as initial dose one night before he went to bed and virtually all symptoms (with exception of hearing loss) mitigated substantially the next morning. This gentleman's disease history/course of progression had been very similar to my husband's. I have also seem some commentary which seemed to indicate for some individuals that it took weeks, maybe months, to experience substantial relief. My husband is on day 14 of Valtrex and is seeing some improvement, but also initially experience some exacerbation of certain symptoms and some improvement in others. He is also introducing John of Ohio's regimen as additional support. Thanks everyone for the comments you have contributed to this question.
I was started on 3x/day for 2 months; then go down to 2x/day for a month; then 1x/day. By the end of the 2nd month my ear pressure was lower (although mine always was up/down) and the ringing was much less. And most important, no vertigo. I have experienced a couple of "off" stretches of a few days but haven't gone dizzy at all. I do think how quickly the response is probably is connected to the length of time that the situation has been present. I would recommend staying on it - knowing that with this thing there really is no miracle cure. Even if it "did" fix everything overnight anyone with Meniere's would still have that question in their mind if it was coming back. Good luck
This is an update to some prior posts. My husband is on day 36 of combo Valtrex (for first few weeks taking three per day; last couple of weeks, one per day prior to bedtime) with John of Ohio's regiment (2014 updated version). My husband is 65 and was initially diagnosed in 2003. Told the usual -- no cure; progressive; given steroids initially back then but no other meds since 2003. He had always endured the tinnitus, aural fullness and progressive hearing loss but in the last two years, and particularly the last 3 months, the return of sudden onset vertigo with vomiting really knocked him through a loop. Am pleased to report for him, that this course of treatment is producing amazing results at this time. For first few weeks of this combo therapy/regimen, he felt like it was two steps forward and one step back. However, the past 10 days or so, he has had consistent and marked improvement. The aural fullness is less; the tinnitus is less; he can smell and breathe through his nose better than he has in years and years. His left side is the more affected side of his head, although before starting this regiment he also felt that he was starting to experience symptoms in the right side of his head. The right side of his head is great; the left is showing the marked improvement. He says he feels all kinds of "movement" in the left side of his head with intermittent snap, crackle, pop types of sensations. As things stand today, day 36 of this regimen, he is convinced of the efficacy of this program for him. As a child he had the standard diseases of that time -- chicken pox, measles, mumps, whooping cough. We know that due to chicken pox he is positive for herpes virus. So in my husband's case, it would seem that herpes the likely root cause of his MM and that for him, this course of therapy providing control and relief. He has had no serious vertigo episodes since starting, although he did have some minor ones, and as he has had more blood stimulation to his head, he at times had somem "sensitivities" to light and sound over the last 5 weeks, but those have also markedly improved, and my husband's impression is that the sensitivity is related to improvement in his head/left side/left ear. This is just our anecdotal experience and hoping this may encourage and help others. The adages to allow time for the regiment to work have proved accurate and helpful. Thank you, John of Ohio, for your efforts and research that have helped my husband get some normalcy back in his life. We are retired and have loved traveling -- since my husband's situation had significantly worsened late this past May, we had put travel on hold as he didn't know for a while if he could get to the store and back, much less board a plane. Pleased to report that he has felt so improved in the last 10 days, that we have booked a trip for later in September -- wouldn't have believed this possible just a month ago.
Rosita, Thank you for your detailed report on your husband's conquest of Meniere's symptoms. This should provide hope and guidance for others. This account substantiates my contention --- founded upon the experiences of many --- that a simultaneous combination of prescription antiherpetic therapy (acyclovir, or others) along with my Meniere's Treatment Regimen (http://www.zoominternet.net/~kcshop/JOH.pdf) can in many or most cases provide the best chances of symptomatic relief. But it must be clear; there is no one (or combination) treatment that works for everyone. Treating Meniere's is a crap game. You do you due diligence, weigh all the information you can find on Meniere's Disease and its many treatments; then decide to go forward with what you believe will give the best chances of success. If that selected treatment course fails, go then to another. Importantly, symptomatic relief from Meniere's is seldom fast or immediately complete. All treatments take time, even when one has the inner ear sliced out (for which it will take a good deal of time to learn live without the signals to brain the labyrinth previously provided). So, persist. I continue to receive emails from regimen users who find that the regimen offered no relief at the start. In many, probably most cases, symptoms actually get worse when the regimen is started. If one has no persistence, the treatment can be terminated before is has its lengthy chance to begin to work. And in many cases, that's so for the antihepetics, too. Both the antiviral lysine of my regimen, and the acyclovir from a prescription, actually often cause the root-cause herpes virus to become more active, thereby increasing all of the symptoms both treatmen approaches are attempting to suppress. Regmin users have reported that it can take up to six months before the lysine is able to actually suppress the herpes virus. In most cases, relief begins in shorter periods, usually at the end of the first month or two. But, again, it's unrealistic to expect rapid and complete symptomatic relief from either the John of Ohio Meniere's Treatment Regimen, or from prescribed antiherpetic drugs. It takes time for either (or both) treatments to bring relief in most cases. Persist. (And as here, keep everyone posted on treatment progress.) --John of Ohio