The respected Dr. Timothy C. Hain from the Chicago Dizziness and Hearing clinic, says what a few others mentioned here said, that moderate salt is ok, but the most important thing is keeping the daily intake consistent. Personally, I eat poorly. Fast food in day time. Night time I eat at places like like Chili's and Outback Steak House, which means high sodium. The times I've had a severe spinning attacks, have been preceded by very high salt meals. BUT, such high sodium meals/days don't always result in such an attack. What I CAN say, is that I don't recall an attack where I had eaten properly prior to it. So it's tricky. A few instances come to mind of meals I had that I feel directly caused a spinning attack. 1. Two pork chops at Outback. 2. A big plate-full of Chinese teriyaki beef strips. 3. A entire medium pizza with pepperoni (lots of salt in pizza cheese and pepperoni). 4. Big chicken meal from El Pollo Loco (which is far too tasty not to have a lot of salt in it). So, it varies. But I do feel that not going crazy on big salt meals has helped lessen the severity and frequency of my attacks. I avoid pork chops at all cost. And don't mow down entire pizzas.
I like Hain as a person, but he really is a dinosaur in this field. He won't even consider AVs or surgery except for last resort. AVs should be available to all, and surgery should be available to anyone who asks for it. If these people could just catch this disease for one month like we have it, then they'd change their tune real f'ing fast.
Triggers come in all shapes and sizes and foodstuffs can be one of them. The book Heal Your Headache by Buchholz gives an excellent description of how the tipping point that leads to attacks can be reached and breached some days and not on others. It doesn’t make the individual trigger any less of a trigger but it is the combination of them on any given day that leads to the attack. One blindingly simple, and so often overlooked, way to halve the salt content in two pork chops is to just have one pork chop.
"If these people could just catch this disease for one month like we have it, then they'd change their tune real f'ing fast." Amen.
Salt has been a trigger for me from the beginning with this monster. But as others have pointed out, there is no shortage of triggers out there. There is a book called "It All Starts With Food" by the founders of the Whole30 diet. I've been on it for two weeks and I don't think I've ever felt better. The premise is to remove processed foods many of which cause inflammation. I'm no expert but it seems logical that removing inflammation from your body includes from your inner ear. Maybe sodium isn't that big of a deal. Maybe finding out what foods are causing you inflammation and reducing those would be more effective.
Everyone is different. No big deal for me. But give me a large Starbucks and I will have a spin attack before its finished. If low salt and diuretic does not help then ramp up treatment until you get relief. I agree with coach betz