Hi John of Ohio, thanks for being here. I just learned I most likely have Meniere’s from my ENT last week. I’ve been reading as much as one can. My symptoms (hearing loss in right ear, tinnitus, stuffed up, full ears for months) has all happened starting last fall. I’ve not had any dizziness or vertigo events. I just read your 14pg paper (updated 2014) and found it so incredibly informative and helpful in numerous ways. Are there steps you think are important for me to consider or check out before jumping into the regimen at this stage? Did you have an ENT as your primary MD physician? I’m not sure what direction is best.
Robert, i did the JOH regimen for about 3 years. I found it helpful but not curative in my case. My sitch is a bit different as i suffer from both MD and MAV. One thing for sure, the regimine has almost no chance of affecting you negatively unless u have a reaction to one of the supplements. I beleive JOH addrressed the possibility. I did a slow startup on the supplements adding two at a time with a week in between. That way, any reaction would be easier to figure out.
Thanks, Onedayatatime, it was my thought as well that it's unlikely to make things worse and might help me avoid or at least lessen dizziness or vertigo. My biggest issue at the moment it stuffed up, full ears. Somehow, I can put up with the tinnitus most of the time. It's such a crazy to disease to encounter where there is no certain diagnosis - and no definitive cure. The ambiguity creates such anxiety in trying to figure it all out. One starts to question everything like should I drive my car anymore?
I had a very competent ENT, who did all of the precise analytics and diagnoses. After several months of all of those, by elimination he determined that I had Meniere's. He then put me on the standard low-salt/diuretic treatment protocol; which after some time offered no relief whatsoever. He then indicated that "If things get worse, we can try some surgical options." Of course, I studied those, and elected to try other things; including all of the things described in my regimen. For me, after some time (many months, not weeks) I gained welcome symptomatic relief; which continues these many years to date. As someone mentioned (and as I suggest in the regimen write-up), start slowly and incrementally. With that approach, you can detect any particular elements of the regimen with which your system disagrees. But, relief takes some time; for some, many months. Very frustrating. But don't give up after three weeks. Try three months or so. In fact, for many, symptoms actually get worse at the start. If that happens, count it as what it is; a good sign, that the viruses are over-reacting to the lysine (and other elements) and are being suppressed. And, of course, keep your physicians informed of what you are doing. Let them know what you are taking. Lastly, keep readers here informed, too. Let us know how things progress. My best wishes. --John of Ohio
JOH, I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to respond and share. My relatively new ENT seems to be thoughtful and didn’t rush to my prognosis. I’ll bring all this back to him for a discussion we’ve not really had since he suggested I had MD last week. I’ll also take your advice and send him the regimen document in advance of our meeting. Again, many thanks!
Joh. We can also try the other recommendations were other brings here with your regimen? Like take serapeprase, pine bark, nac, roboiss tea, mint tea and other?
I have night lights on at night. Especially for if I have to get up in the middle of the night. I have bad balance in the dark.
I haven't had a proper sleep in about 3 years since this all started and the last year particular bad (true). I have no problem getting asleep it's staying asleep. Maybe that's why my T constantly spikes every other day. I also have trouble with burning feet syndrome during the night which no doctor has been able to diagnose - so the T and this make it almost impossible to get back to sleep once awake at 3am. I might try this
Hi everyone, and JOH, TLDR; I started the JOH regimen two weeks ago (only Lysine and LBF right now) slowly after 16 years of living with MD symptoms. I'm feeling hopeful! I don't know if it's a placebo effect but do I feel some relief in the severity of the tinnitus and aural fullness/vertigo. I also feel Hibiscus tea has been helping me (maybe due to the vitamin C or diuretic properties?). I boil some and keep a concentrate. I admit...I haven't given up coffee but I'm reducing alcohol and salt. My Meniere's started when I was 15/16 after a really bad inner ear infection and I'm 32 now. At the time, no MD knew why I had my symptoms and since I was a very obedient kid and didn't know better, I just lived with it off and on since then. I've grown accustomed to the episodes and chronic tinnitus/hypercacusis and I just assumed it was triggered by allergies. But now that I'm older and the disease is progressing, I've decided to start addressing it instead of just ignoring and enduring the episodes as I don't want tit to consume my life and to lose my hearing later on (I'm a musician). I've also noticed that my right ear has some involvement now too. It's mostly been the left. I really do suspect that herpes is at play here - it makes soooo much sense (thanks for all that info, JOH!) And I don't believe it's just allergies for me (or maybe it's not at all allergies). This latest episode is in the midst of a breakup of a 2.5 year relationship with my partner who I lived with so I know stress is also involved. I feel this latest episode is the worst it's ever been or maybe I'm just paying attention to it for the first time. I feel good about taking steps to care for my health as my family/doctors are unsympathetic or unhelpful. All I got is me!
In addition to your rountine I now also adapted this program below in link. With both of them together, still symptoms but not severe and can function. https://www.70irving.com/post/halti...3BoGphXmRnKQkjKZOEIJ9jFQnoDQMubyeixdowuedUmqg
Hi everyone, I have been struggling with MD since 2007 and I´d like to know if it´s too late to start with JOH. Thanks!
Use of the regimen when Meniere's is at early stages works faster. But it's worth trying at any stage. Because the disease has been present for some time, the causative herpes virus is strongly embedded and can take longer to suppress. Keep up with the regimen for at least six months before going off it. In cases of longstanding Meniere's, it can take many months for it to take effect. But for about 85% of those who try and persist with it, it succeeds. --John of John
I been under the JOH regimen for a year now i feel super better but the tinutus still there lower tone buy is there. Can i increase the lysine , i been using 3000 daily Should i increase for more? John please let me know. Thanks
Thanks John and Ivan for your response. Well, let me tell you about my experience. I was diagnosed with MD in May of 2007. I remember that everything started after a fight with an ex- girlfriend (bad relationship) along with my preparation for the bar exam, which made me feel very stressful. The next morning after that fight, I woke up with pulsating tinnitus and pressure on my left ear , hyperacussis and hearing loss. During the first 2 weeks, I was treated with diuretics and predisone without good results in regard to the tinnitus and hearing loss. Luckily, from 2007 until 2020 I only experienced 2 vertigo attacks, therefore, I didn’t take any medicine. Unfortunately, with the pandemic I had to deal with a lot of stress at work and I could not practice sports which was my stress therapy. So, one day in August of 2020, I started to feel a little dizzy which ended with a big vertigo attack. In that occasion , I was treated with SERC , which didn’t help me with the tinnitus, hyperacussis or hearing loss. It did help me in some way with vertigo. Sadly, sometimes I feel unbalanced when I bend my head to my left side. I read about JOH regimen and 4 weeks ago I started taking lysine (3000 mg), and now I feel less pressure in my left ear and the tinnitus is lower and not always pulsating, totally less annoying. I don´t know if it´s placebo or what, but I will keep taking the lysine and this week I will add Lemon Bioflavonoids. Regards, Andrés
Increasing the daily dosing of lysine (when at 3000mg) is not likely to hasten the reduction of the tinnitus. That can take far longer, into the second or third year it appears. The inner ear has been damaged by the viral infection. The infection may be gone (no vertigo anymore), but it can take long periods for the damaged, inflamed tissues to heal. --John of Ohio
I just want to thank you, John of Ohio, for posting your regimen and to briefly share my success suppressing Meniere's. I started having symptoms in 2007 and it escalated to the point where my vertigo nearly killed my career (I work in the medical field.) I also suffer from chronic tinnitus and left-sided hearing loss. After four tough years, twelve different physicians and three misdiagnoses, I found an oto-neurologist who confirmed I had left-sided Meniere's. He put me on a regimen that included high doses of vitamin D (5000 IU) daily. I found the JOH regimen and began taking that religiously as well. With just these supplements, I was able to achieve about 80-90% improvement in about four months. Of course, there were lifestyle changes as well-- healthier diet, better sleep, reducing stress, more exercise. I think we can all agree that there is no "one-size-fits-all" regimen that works for everyone with Meniere's. For me, personally, I continue to follow the JOH regimen + vitamin D, but I also supplement with 1 mg Diazepam twice daily. I have been doing this since 2012, and I have been about 99.9% symptom-free since then. Furthermore, I have regained a considerable amount of hearing in my left ear. However, the tinnitus remains, stubborn as ever-- I have trained myself to ignore it (most of the time, at least.) This is what I want to say to those who are looking to alleviate MD symptoms: do not expect any regimen to give you immediate results. Be patient, try it for at least a few months before deciding if it works for you or not. Furthermore, when you find something that works, keep doing it... forever. Don't ditch a regimen once you start feeling better. My supplements cost me about $750 a year, and they are well worth it for the peace of mind. I honestly believe that if I stop what I am doing, I will revert to having bad vertigo attacks. I am grateful that I found something that worked for me, because I was truly miserable. My wish for everyone here is a return to normalcy and a symptom-free life.
Thank you for posting your results with the regimen, now over many years. Nothing, including my protocol brings immediate or complete relief from Meniere's symptoms. From the several hundred user accounts of my regimen that I've received and recorded targeting the herpes virus with supplements that slow its replication, primarily lysine, that about 85% or more of Meniere's cases are caused by inflammation of a herpes virus infection of inner ear tissues. Such infections can't be quickly turned off. Takes weeks or months, for some, even years. Nonetheless, when relief comes it is welcomed. So glad to learn that you continue have reasonable levels of symptomatic relief. Hope that in time the tinnitus, too, will abate. It did for me after several years. --John of Ohio
JOH, I’ve been diagnosed with Menieres a little under three years and want to try your regimen. VitaCost doesn’t have the NSI L-lysine. Are other brands recommended? Also, is hydrochloride part of the name? I apparently have had a moderate case…not a lot of vertigo, and low salt and less sugar have helped. At one point I started having dizziness that was different than BPPV (which I have from time to time). I started vitamin B5 and B6 and I haven’t had any real dizziness since, and tinnitus is much less also. (This also helped a friend of mine who has non-Menieres vertigo problems.) However, ear fullness and accompanying loss of hearing when that is the case has been a problem. My ear doc at Johns Hopkins says that I may have vestibular migraines, but I’m not sure. We’re experimenting with diet and I’ve had some good success avoiding chocolate and nuts, at least. However, the fullness is still a problem, though it’s much better. She told me that your regimen is fine to try, but thinks I’ll get better results from the diet…adding foods back later one at a time if they don’t cause a problem. I want to do both at once, hoping that your regimen will give better results in terms of foods I can eat for the long haul and not having to be so focused on managing symptoms. I’m mostly concerned with the disease not progressing, which it has seemed to be doing gradually. In any case, thanks for your efforts in helping us. If brand names are important for any of your recommendations, please let me know. You’re a huge help. I feel much more hopeful about my future.
This Vitacost lysine works: Vitacost L-Lysine -- 1000 mg - 250 Tablets - Vitacost No problems with trying both the regimen along with dietary adjustments (whatever they might be). --John of Ohio
