Success Stories

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With all due respect to the literature reviews, I would like to put in my two cents worth. Prior to my developing the debilitating symptoms of Meniere’s “disease”, as a family physician, I never gave much thought to the use of supplements including anti-oxidants. As my condition deteriorated to the point of almost throwing in the towel and going on disability and realizing rather quickly that there is no effective pharmaceutical treatment for this condition, I quickly sought out alternative treatments. I learned that sufferers of this condition would improve if they initiated a specific regimen of high quality nutritional supplements. It turns out in this much unregulated industry that not all supplements are the same and in fact many supplements are total garbage, which do not contain what they are supposed to contain. I personally approached the concept of supplements for myself with extreme skepticism.

However I had nothing to lose (except for a little money) and a lot to gain (I begged for my health back). Within approximately 8 weeks on the supplements, I had complete resolution of my symptoms. I previously was so ill that I felt life was not worth living and now, I am back on my bicycle able to cycle for hours, and all other activities of daily living, without the continuous threat of brain “fog”, severe vestibular imbalance, vertigo, tinnitus all of which I was living with virtually 24/7 for a four month period.
Quite frankly, I couldn’t care less what all these “scientific” meta-analyses show. I’m staying on my supplements. They gave me back my life and no one will convince me that this is placebo effect. So will anyone else with this condition who has taken the same formula and healed just the same.

I wouldn’t be fooled by cafeteria signage either. As long as you believe that supplements are not all the same, no different than say different anti-hypertensives or different diabetic medications. We all know now that certain products in the latter category can kill you despite their claims of benefit for years.

Dr. B.

I saw my primary care Doctor on Friday for cholesterol check my LDL has been very high past few years in the 120's to 130 range he started me on a statin and it came down BUT I stopped it 3 months ago when starting the vitamins. I told what I was taking and he pitched a fit. Ask me why I choose a vitamin over prescription meds that make keep me from having a heart attack I ask him if he had rather have ringing in the ear 24/7 or high cholesterol. He stated he guess he had rather have a cholesterol problem but begged me to take statin. About 3 hours later I got a call from his nurse my LDL is 107 better than its ever been and the doctor wanted me to continue whatever it is I'm doing.

Thought you would love it.

Thanks. Linda

Hello Karin!

I am doing very well. My dizzy spells have gone away. I have been
taking my supplements more consistently. I have definitely noticed a
significant benefit from the supplements. Thank you very much for your
advice and concern.

Hi Karin,

I just want to wish you a Happy New Year and thank you for your help with Tommy's Meniere's. He's doing pretty well. A couple of set backs , but learned from them. He can look back in the past and see where he's had attacks before but wrote it off as the flu or food poisoning etc.
 

Dear Karin and Steve,

I wanted to give you an update on my condition.

If you remember, Karin, I first contacted you in mid-June of this year after having developed symptoms of endolymphatic hydrops (albeit only with lightheadedness; no vertigo). The first ENT doctor I went to was of little value. Remember, he advocated histamine shots into the thigh muscle? In any event, I subscribed to your regimen instead and followed the classic hydrops diet: to wit, I boosted my vitamin intake per your recommendation; steamed my sinuses; dropped caffeine, nicotine and alcohol from my diet; dropped sodium intake to under 2 grams per day; got more sleep; kept exercising; moderated stress; and tried to be mindful of Steve’s admonition that healing takes time and is fraught with uncertainty as one takes one step backward for every two forward. I also had all the mercury removed from my mouth. And, one more thing: I dropped NSAIDS and aspirin from my diet and to this day never take either for any reason. For that matter, I abstain from all over-the-counter medications.

Well, over the next 2 ½ months, things began to roll around inside my head. I went through permutations of symptoms where fullness would be expansive or tinnitus overwhelming (to the extent that it would wake me up at night). Lightheadedness came and went in terms of severity but never left completely. Hearing loss became significant in the left ear accompanied by a most unpleasant distortion (particularly for a piano player). I could no longer hear a telephone conversation with my left ear and jumped three feet every time someone dropped a spoon or slammed a door. All classic manifestations, I know.

And then, two weeks ago today, I found myself driving home and unwittingly holding the phone to my left ear. I went to another ENT for a hearing test (which I had done four weeks prior). My hearing was improving remarkably. Two days later it was better yet, and two days after that, it had returned to normal. No distortion, no loss, very little tinnitus, no lightheadedness, no fullness (except for a small amount that appears to be ever-receding).

The new ENT I go to is quite good because he admits that much of what they know about this kind of thing is voodoo and that when doctors don’t know, they say “caused by a virus” and give you a steroid shot and send you on your way. He is as amazed by the remission as I.

Was it your regimen or was this going to happen on its own? I have no idea. But I do know that I owe you and Steve a profound debt of gratitude. I was always pretty disciplined about eating habits and exercise, but now have become even more so in the respect of protecting my immune system. I know I may well develop symptoms again in the near or distant future such as those I had, but it won’t be for want of repeating past errors.

Thanks again to both of you. Mine is a happy tale to relate. I hope others experience similar success. Please feel free to share this email with anyone you’d like.

Best regards,

Peter

Mary’s Meniere’s Story

I was diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease (MM) in mid-2003, but the onset of it was at least three years before that in 2000. Only my left ear is affected. I also have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, osteoporosis and a number of food intolerances. My mother had MM, but it never occurred to me that I had the same thing until I had the diagnosis.

The first symptoms that I noticed were: blocked hearing in the affected ear – that would come and go; ear pain and a feeling of fullness in the ear. Some months later I had my first vertigo attacks. These episodes initially passed rather quickly – a few minutes to a half hour in length. However, I felt weak and generally unwell for a number of days afterwards.

Initially, I didn’t know what was happening to me. I went to the GP to see about my hearing – yes, it was impaired. I had the wax cleared from my ears – didn’t help and in fact the treatment brought on another vertigo attack. Later that doctor said the dizziness was due to high blood pressure. Of course when you are in the middle of an MM attack, your BP would rise a tad, wouldn’t it? (Later, checking my BP at home, it was normal.) Another doctor told me I had labyrinthitis, likely caused by a virus of some type, and that it would likely pass in weeks or months.

Then the attacks went away and outside of the fact that my hearing was somewhat dodgy and that I had some noise in my ear (sometimes worse than at other times), I was asymptomatic for many months. It was in the November 2002 that I had my first full blown vertigo attack which lasted for a number of hours and ended with my falling into an exhausted sleep.

Then no more attacks for approximately 18 months. However from time to time I felt dizzy or unstable or just generally unwell. In June 2003, after a few dizzy spells, a new doctor prescribed Stemetil (Prochlorperazine) and sent me to an ear/nose/throat specialist, who ordered an MRI to rule out an acoustic tumour. He said that, barring a tumour (there was none), I most likely had MM. He had nothing positive to offer except the bare-bones advice: maintain a low sodium diet and avoid caffeine. Basically, he said, there was nothing more he could do. In effect he was saying, “Goodbye and have a nice (dizzy) life.”

In the next few months I had mild attacks and a number of days that I felt unwell and where my balance was affected. It was during that period that I sought help from an acupuncturist who also prescribed Chinese herbal remedies. I did get better: the attacks stopped, my tinnitus improved and my hearing improved. I continued this treatment with good results until January 2005.

Then came the season of rolling attacks. This was at least four years from noticing the first symptoms of the disease. Beginning in January 2005 and over several months, I had daily vertigo attacks which normally involved vomiting, most often in the afternoon. I was taking Stemetil daily, which only sometimes stopped the vertigo and vomiting.

I was now truly incapacitated. I could make no plans, was afraid to drive or leave the house and lost all confidence that I would ever again lead a normal life. I rarely had any okay days. Okay to me at that time meant no vertigo attacks. I might in other ways be feeling unwell: tired, headachy, mildly nauseous, neck soreness. Nearly anything would bring on vertigo and vomiting: turning my head in certain directions, certain foods especially strongly flavoured ones or rich foods, wine, stress, hard physical labour (e.g. heavy gardening). The list goes on.

Somehow, and I don’t know how, I managed to do my very part-time job, though I had no idea what I’d do if I had an attack on the job. Luckily the job only took a few days a month to do, although I did get a vertigo attack once as I was heading back to my car from a meeting. I remember sitting in my car in a cold sweat, swallowing a Stemetil and hoping and praying for the attack to end so that I could drive home. I sat there for an hour until I could drive and then I virtually inched my car home and collapsed into bed.

At this stage, I was also in charge of my grandchildren in the afternoons as my daughter had returned to full-time study. I truly doubted that I could be relied on to care for my grandkids and was worried about their and my safety. I was barely holding it together. There were times when I had to phone my daughter to come home or ask my husband to come home from work to look after me and the kids. I was very, very frightened.

It was at this point that I started to look for more help. I had stopped the acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, because the rolling attacks started while I was still on that treatment. So like you, I went to the internet for answers and came upon Karin Henderson’s site. I read the case histories and put through a request for information on the ‘System’. Within a couple of days I got a response from Denise, who works with Karin. She offered to call me here in Australia (she lives in Rhode Island, so that is dedication for you!). We spoke a few times about my symptoms and she told me her story. We talked about the System and how it is helping so many MM sufferers. Of course I was sceptical, but I was also desperate and scared and I knew I had to do something to help myself, because crossing my fingers and hoping for the best was not going to do it.

With Denise’s help, I completed my first order for the supplements which comprise the System and they arrived on 18 March 2005, within days of ordering. Denise and I had discussed my likely reaction to the supplements and I was fully prepared that I would more than likely go through a detoxification period in which I would not be feeling all that well. And that is what occurred for fully two months. During that time I felt weak and unwell, but strangely enough the occurrence of MM attacks was reducing. How do I know this? I had begun to chart my symptoms and keep a journal. [*] I was still very vulnerable to tummy upsets, neck aches and headaches, but I had two MM episodes only and that was in the early days of taking the supplements. By the end of the two months I was starting to feel better – more energetic and more confident and definitely no vertigo attacks.

During the detoxification period, I was sorely tempted to give up a number of times. I found that talking with Denise and Karin helped me through this period by their encouraging me and giving me hope that I would be better. Also the journal and charted information helped me. The important message here is that improvement does not come over night. After all, it took years to develop this condition.

Karin, during a phone call with her, tried to help me to uncover the triggers for my MM attacks and for the underlying condition that causes them. I also read Karin’s article on triggers and inflammation and I have thought long and hard about it. I believe that inflammation is at the root of it, but I still am not sure what has caused the inflammation that has triggered this disease in me. I do have a mouth full of amalgam fillings (I grew up in an area where water was not fluoridated). I have another auto-immune condition, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and it is not uncommon for people with Hashimoto’s to develop other auto-immune conditions (see http://www.aarda.org/patient_information.php ). So there must be something going on in my body, but I am still not sure what. Well, not yet anyway. One thing for sure, when I was prone to Meniere’s attacks, almost anything could set one off: certain foods, strong smells, alcohol, stress etc. I find now, since I have been on the System, that I can tolerate, at least in moderation, some of those same things that used to make me sick. I generally do watch my diet quite carefully – I try to eat fresh, natural foods and lay off caffeine, salt and sugar. But I occasionally indulge.

Something I am doing is getting rid of my amalgam fillings and I have worked out a program of removals with my dentist, working at a pace that I can afford. It is worth reading up on the issue of amalgam fillings and their removal through links that Karin provides.

What I can say is that I am truly grateful to have improved so much and to be living a normal life again. Yes, I still have the disease. I know it lurks in there somewhere. However, I do not have vertigo attacks, my hearing is better and more stable and the tinnitus in my affected ear is much reduced (now at 1-2 on a scale of 10). I just don’t dwell on the Meniere’s anymore, because I don’t need to and I am living my life to the full.

Mary
Australia

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