My journey to a vegan diet (Part 2)

In May 2018 I went to meet Ian, the husband of one of my wife’s clients. He, like me,  had suffered with all the symptoms I described in Part 1 of my blog.  Ian had kindly agreed to chat to me at his house and tell me his story….

At the time of this meeting, I was going through a rough patch, continually feeling tired and washed out and having mild attacks of dizziness or what I referred to as ‘catch up moments.’  These were basically minutes or hours when my head would feel groggy and my Tinnitus would be exceptionally loud, without leading to the full-blown burst of vertigo.  They would occur when I turned my head to either side, then back to face forward, everything would take a while to catch up before I could focus fully again. These episodes were unpleasant, and I would prefer to stay indoors as it would feel so strange and disorientating!

I set off for Ian and Aly’s house in the afternoon, keen to hear what they would have to say, a bit nervous as I did not know either of them but with the hope it would benefit me in some way.  I knocked on the front door and was greeted by such lovely smiling, friendly faces, which immediately put me at ease.  Within a few moments of meeting and speaking to Ian, I immediately warmed to him and felt I had known him for a long time.  Ian asked me to describe what I had been through over the past few years, initially just listening to my tales and nodding, as if he could totally relate to what I was describing.  When I finished speaking Ian told me his story and it was remarkably similar.  It felt amazing to be able to chat to another person who totally understood what I had been feeling and dealing with.  My family and friends have always been supportive of me and although they had an idea of what I was going through, they couldn’t know exactly, but Ian most certainly did!

After we discussed the various attacks we had both experienced, Ian told me all about a doctor he had been to see at Harley Street in London.  He was a specialist in the treatment of balance disorders and problems relating to vertigo. Ian met Dr S at the private clinic he ran once a week.  He also worked for the NHS and had had him referred to his care in Kent after this initial visit.  I discovered that although Ian had been diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease (like me!) within a few moments of meeting Ian the Dr believed this to be totally wrong!  The specialist thought that he was suffering with Vestibular Migraine, something which can be similar to Meniere’s.  He had prescribed new medication for Ian and told him of lifestyle changes he would benefit from making to help to correct the problem.  The Dr believed by making these changes the symptoms would ease after a few months, and after a couple of years may stop altogether. A big part of this change would be cutting out food types that are known to trigger the bouts of dizziness he had been dealing with.  Ian told me how he implemented these dietary recommendations, starting by cooking with fresh and healthy ingredients from scratch. He felt it had helped him a lot and although he was not fully recovered, he remained much more positive.  Ian could not recommend Dr S highly enough and passed on his contact details to me to take away.  I said thank you for all his help and waved goodbye to Ian and his wife, setting off home to ponder my next step.

When discussing it with my wife that evening, she could see the relief in my face after talking to Ian, just knowing that someone else understood how I had been feeling for so many years. We decided the best thing to do would be to make an appointment with Dr S as soon as possible to obtain his advice.  The next day I rang his office and booked an appointment for the 25^{th of} June 2018 at 9am. 

The next few weeks leading up to my consultation continued as normal with some ups and some downs.  I became more and more keen to speak to Dr S and the day I would meet him could not come soon enough.

The appointment began by discussing what had happened in the last 12 years of my life followed by an examination: making me stand in various ways on each leg one at a time to assess my balance. I explained about my Meniere’s diagnosis and my hearing loss and Tinnitus. He shook his head and said he felt they had got it wrong; it was in fact Vestibular Migraine.  Dr S said he wanted me to stop all medication that I was taking and explained they would not have been helping and prescribed me some different drugs.  He also wanted me to start taking Vitamin B2 and Magnesium which would help with the lethargy I felt during the day.  I was given a sheet which detailed all the food that I needed to immediately omit from my diet.  This is something I thought I would struggle with, as at that time there was nothing that I wouldn’t eat!  I was also told to try to exercise little and often, without doing anything extreme.  I was to try to eat at regular times and keep a food diary for the next 6 months. I needed to make sure that I had a good amount of regular sleep each night, going to bed and getting up at similar times if possible.  He told me he would write to my own GP requesting him to refer me to his practice in Kent and to prescribe me with the new tablets.  He also explained that the dizzy spells I had been experiencing had damaged a part of my brain over the years, and it may take 3 plus years to repair; it would not be a quick fix and to be patient. I left feeling confident that if I followed his advice there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

I thanked him greatly for his time and left to make the journey back to Hampshire.  The train ride home offered me time to reflect on what I had been told and plan my first steps to recovery.  I found it hard to believe that changing my diet would make such a dramatic change. The food omissions concerned me as the list was long, but I felt optimistic for the first time in a while.  Firstly speaking to Ian, and then to the specialist in London had given me hope.

 My next blog post will explain how the first year went after my visit to see the specialist in London……