Viral Labyrinthitis !

The first thing and even if it is difficult: Calm down.

The second I regret your condition, but we are not doctors to diagnose you or explain medical tests. We are sick like you and we can only share our experience.

Having a labyrinthitis means that you have an inflammation of the labyrinth of the ear and Meniere is basically that: an inflammation. The difference is that in Meniere they do not know what causes this inflammation and therefore there is no cure or treatment, but there are other labyrinths whose cause is known and that have a cure.

One of the latest theories about Meniere is that the cause is a herpes-like virus in the inner ear and that antivirals for herpes can help (valacyclovir or acyclovir), although clinical trials are not strong enough to affirm this in this forum many people has found relief and stability by taking antivirals or supplements to fight the virus. In this forum you will see lots of threads of people confirming it, it is of all the alternative treatments the one that has the most success reports.

It is your decision to try antivirals or something else, as I said above we are not doctors to tell you what to take. It is a risk that each one must assume, I have been taking valaciclovir for 10 days for example against the advice of my doctors who say it will not help me at all.

Now we are going to talk about what you are thinking and feeling right now because it is basically what I experienced since February 15 and I can imagine where your mind is going. First of all, nerves, stress and anxiety are gasoline for the Meniere and they worsen the symptoms (a lot) and slow down (a lot) the recovery so your first "medicine" should be to calm you down, it is difficult I was crying for 4 -5 months every day with hardly any sleep. Now I wonder if I would not have recovered in 1 or 2 months if I had been calm.

For the next few weeks or even months you will be sick with dizziness and dizziness, maybe headaches and a lot of fatigue. It is normal, be patient and rest a lot, in the few moments that you will have to be half well try to do something soft that you like (read, watch a movie, play video games, sunbathe, etc). Don't force yourself to get back to normal soon, you will only get frustrated thinking that you will never live normal again. This is not the case, the recovery will be VERY VERY slow, but there will be recovery and you will be normal again (or almost normal), you will have to learn to live with tinnitus because that is something that remains forever, but believe me you will get used to it You will only notice it when you lie down and little else.

When you start to feel a little better, go for short walks, start for a few minutes and work your way up very slowly until 30 minutes.

About drugs, betahistine is a drug whose effect is long-term, take it for at least 6 months. And I don't know what dose you take, I found that my effective dose was 24mg every 12h on my good days and every 8h when I had severe dizziness.

Finally, each Meniere is unique, but don't rule out other symptoms appearing before you start to recover. I first had vertigo and dizziness for about two months, then I had dizziness, severe headaches and hyperacusis (the sounds bothered me a lot), finally I began to only have dizziness sometimes strong and other mild, now I have only had two months sometimes the feeling that I'm going to get dizzy, but I never get dizzy.


Now a little extra information that invites optimism that I would have liked to know when I got sick and they told me that this had no cure, there are two promising treatments in phase 3:
-OTOVIDEX: Injections of a new type of steroids in the inner ear that would reduce inflammation and therefore stop vertigo and dizziness. Something similar already exists today, the difference here is that this steroid lasts 3 months after injecting (currently it lasts only a day or two) and that, it seems, has a greater effectiveness. Error C3% A9ni% C3% A8re-s-Disease.html

-SPI-1005: This I think is an oral pill of a new anti-inflammatory that has potential for various diseases. It looks better than the previous one since in phase 2 they reported improvement in tinnitus and hearing loss apart from stopping the vertigo and dizziness. https://soundpharma.com/soundpharma...005-phase-2b-menieres-disease-clinical-trial/

Both phase 3 clinical trials end in 2021 and we will know more. But for now it is a small hope for all of us. As a character from an anime that I see said (One Piece that you may also know): If you live one more day you will see what tomorrow holds for you.

I remember that phrase because I started One Piece just after my first vertigo attack and it was when I was at the worst both from the disease and psychologically, but that phrase made me realize that it was worth enduring and having hope for the future.

Lots of courage and strength.

 

Ah I forgot, the symptoms of herpes in the ear are not the same as genital or oral herpes. You will not get canker sores that you can see in a mirror since if you have a virus that causes vertigo it will be in the inner ear and that cannot be seen, to date nor the best medical science can observe the inner ear without killing the patient, it is one of the problems of the inner ear that cannot be biopsied to observe in the microscope and in an MRI one can see malformations, tumors, degenerated tissues, etc. But microscopic viruses and bacteria don't.