I'm a big believer in meditation and using relaxation techniques to quiet my mind and calm my body. I've never really been able to tell if stress feeds my Meniere's attacks or if my Meniere's symptoms lower my resistance to stress. I've tended to always lean toward the latter. I still think that is true, but I recently read a book that resulted in a paradigm shift in how I see this.
The book is Meniere Man and the Astronaut. I hate to be critical as obviously the author put his heart and soul into writing and publishing his account of his experience with Meniere's disease, but it is a very amateurish publication. Nevertheless, he proposed the idea that listening to one's body and immediately backing away from all stressful situations at the first sign of an attack can potentially prevent a full blown episode. As evidence, he cites another author's work, Full Catastrophe Living, by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
As I'd heard about Kabat-Zinn on an Oprah show some time back and recalled being piqued by whatever it was he was saying at the time, I downloaded the book and began reading. This is a class act book which teaches meditation and coping skills to people with chronic illnesses. I've started to implement the techniques suggested by Kabat-Zinn, especially the minute I notice my ear starting to buzz or my body feeling off-kilter. So far it seems I've been able to halt my symptoms in their tracks after a brief meditation and full body relaxation session. The key seems to be to catch it early.
I'm not sure how powerful this technique will be in all cases, but either way Kabat-Zinn reminds me that the very best thing we can do when we are suffering is to acknowledge the pain or discomfort and acknowledge or embrace it. It sounds counterintuitive but, as Eckart Tolle says, "what you resist, persists." I have found this to be very true for all challenging situations and suffering I've experienced. The hard part is to see that I am suffering or ,more specificially, fighting or denying what is real so I can meet it where it is and face it. But with practice, I think I can master it.
Hi Angelea, I was not able to find your email address for this reason I am posting here.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Max and I also have meniere's since 2009. I'm at the early stages of the disease and able to handle it (so far) with diet, diuretics and no salt and alcohol.
With a friend we have created an application for Android phones that helps to keep a detail record of all food, activities and other factors like chocolate, alcohol, salt, lack of sleep that could trigger a Meniere’s attack.
If you want to see the apps for yourself the links is:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.radair.beatingmenieres
Hope that you and your followers find it useful,
Merry Christmas
Best Regards,
Max.-
Super! Thanks for sharing, Max. It looks awesome. I have been playing around with ways to do just this in various formats. Of course, I love apps so I am excited to try it out.
ReplyDeleteYes thanks for that. It's nice to read about the apps for meniere's and meditation heading off attacks. I got the meditation thing going as well.I got the Meniere Man Let's Get Better and I really like that area of positive strategies for wellness, what he has to say about that, I was in that black hole and it helped me with a way of moving on for me. Like you blog- you're out there doing something about it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteYes...for sure. The strategies for wellness in both those books were really life changing for me...I turned a big corner from where I was too.
ReplyDeleteFor me it was getting a sense of control back...by not being as freaked out during vertigo attacks. The whole thing was about getting control and losing the fear. It was something a doctor could never tell me..very internal, the feelings that went with vertigo attacks were overwhelming.