Victory Over Vestibular Migraine: The ACTION Plan for Healing & Getting Your Life Back Paperback – July 2, 2020

After 45 years of intense migraines, my migraines have reduced significantly after reading this book and following the elimination diet. I suggest also getting the cookbook he co-wrote with a patient who is a chef.It is overwhelming to figure out these dietary changes without the specific advice found in these books. Searching the internet the dietary changes were 180 degrees different between websites, I was confused.My biggest/ unusual food triggers are nuts and seeds. These are recommended diet in both books. I suggest eliminating these for 2 weeks and adding back one at a time. My allergies are most all nuts, sesame seeds (and oil) and cardamom. I would never have figured this out and seen so much relief without these books!

It's been almost twenty years since I began to have Vestibular Migraines. At that time I could find nothing about them. My doctors had nothing to offer either. Eventually I slunk away and kept spinning until I began to figure things out for myself. Even now, after all of this time, I still get them. Usually when I eat the wrong thing, or sleep wrong, or perhaps the planets are aligned in a way that ticks my brain off...This time I think it was because I dared to get a flu shot. That always ticks my brain off. As I tried to sleep sitting up, I once more searched for books on Vestibular Migraine online and found one! I've marked it up and wrote in it and tagged the heck out of it, and I've not had it very long. It's just that after all of this time, it was incredible to get some answers.Many of the triggers and suggestions for organic care I'd figured out myself after all of this time. Many other things I had no idea about, including what goes on in the brain and how there can be a dual problem, such as neck problems, Meniere's, or BPPV (how many of us have had someone insist on doing those maneuvers during a bout of vertigo? It makes it SO MUCH WORSE when that's not your problem, and I now take the mere suggestion as an act of aggression.). But the other problems mentioned made me wonder if after two decades, a neurologist might have more to offer than, "touch your thumb to each of your fingers."?Sorry, sorry, I think I have PTSD when it comes to these freaking spinning headaches.The thing is as I read this I teared up occasionally because this is the first time I've seen any useful advice or even read anything that addresses this issue. There have been times when having this has been absolutely frustrating and maddening. Especially because taking meds meant a trip to the ER with side effects worse than chronic vertigo (that's saying something). Anyone else wind up misdiagnosed with pheochromocytoma?Still, what I can say to people with it is that I think people can get used to absolutely anything, and I've not let it stop me from doing everything I've always wanted to do. Travel. Skydiving. Hiking the Grand Canyon. You just can't do those things during a flare, but at my own pace, with some careful planning, and a little bit of luck, the sky's the limit. LIFE TIP: If you do decide to hike the Grand Canyon with your Vestibular Migraine brain? Don't wear your trifocals.

This book is very informative. I was diagnosed with vestibular migraine over a year ago. The doctor I had was great except she did t go into detail with me regarding triggers and treatment. She wanted to give me antidepressants and go from there. I refuse to take meds that mess with my brain chemicals. When I found this book, it talks about alternative ways to treat. I am still navigating this illness, but this book has been a lifesaver and very eye-opening for me. I love the information it provides. Very helpful resource.

This book has an amazing amount of concise, useful info and isn't filled with useless stories about his patients. There are over 50 pages on natraceuticals and his version of the diet is more up to date than HYH and allows some key ingredients that make it bearable for me.

I have a long vestibular migraine background. I still found this book useful.I've had symptoms of vestibular migraine almost all of my life. I've had chronic, disabling and often intractable vestibular migraine since 2017. I meet all the diagnostic criteria for brain stem (basilar) aura, though the author puts most of these symptoms down to the individual vagaries of vestibular migraine attacks or interictal (between attacks) symptoms. I'm not epileptic but have had a tonic clonic (aka a grand mal seizure) and a few incidences of syncope (fainting). I've fallen down the slippery slope of medication overuse headaches and have clawed my way back up. I have several other co-morbidities of similar genetic origin (the list is embarrassingly long). So far I've tried 16 various vestibular migraine drugs (prophylactic and rescue), the Cefaly, the GammaCore VNS, Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy, Physical Therapy, Behavioral Therapy, Atlas Orthogonal Chiropractic, inside and outside pairs of Theraspecs, and about all the supplements available. I've had all the tests, seen all the specialists, am on my fifth neurologist because I kept getting passed around, met my high deductible every year for the last five years. I'm also a regular contributor to a global vestibular migraine support group (mvertigo.org). I think I can say I really understand the vestibular migraine experience.All that said, I really didn't expect to learn anything new from the book. But I did pick up a few things. I learned the medical terms for several of my hard to describe symptoms. I really appreciated the supplements section. I think the medication section is a great summary. I disagree with the author's assessment on side effects. I've had side effects with every medication ranging from annoying to disabling. Drugs that promise not to cause weight gain have never met me. Venlafaxine and amitriptyline in particular caused new and uglier wardrobe changes. A common joke in the vestibular migraine world is that neurologists only say side effects are 'nuisance' because they've never tried them - and aren't living with major medication sensitivity as most of the vestibular migraine patients are. Still, we work with what we've got and are lucky to have so many choices. It's worth plugging away at it until you find a place that is acceptable for you and allows you to thrive. That is very much possible. There are so many ways to help yourself heal.I appreciated that the author told you what you're dealing with, was very honest about this being incurable and chronic and then talked about acceptance. Acceptance is very hard to get to at first, but it's necessary to be happy and feel free again. I don't rail at God for making me too short to reach the top shelf; I get a stool or ask for help. I no longer rail at God for giving me vestibular migraine. Instead, I've learned to see it as a challenge to my character that's made me a much better person. Acceptance is a very zen place to be. It's a stable core when the world is spinning.My one complaint about the material, and this is not a reflection on the author so much as it is on the state of science, is that there is really no understanding of the cause of vestibular migraine. We've learned clues about the mechanism and we know how to hide the symptoms a lot of the time, but we don't know what causes it so we don't know how to cure it. My 18 year old son inherited vestibular migraine from me. My hope is he doesn't also have to go his whole life without a cure.I have a suggestion for a second edition, and I hope there will be one, would be to add a discussion of PCOS in Chapter 16. So many of my vestibular migraine friends also have PCOS (and high BP, and hypothyroid, and TMJD, the list is crazy). PCOS was once rare, like vestibular migraine. It isn't now. It's a common hormone issue that causes insulin resistance and often leads to Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes. It's also a metabolic, pro-inflammatory endocrine disorder that seems to be the other half of the coin from vestibular migraine, in women anyway. My suspicion is that vestibular migraine is a metabolic pro-inflammatory disorder. Recent studies have isolated vestibular migraine specific pro-inflammatory cytokines that are distinct from the general population and from Meniere's Disease (which have their own distinct cytokines). I would love to see a discussion of the suspected causes of vestibular migraine and the state of current research - particularly from the metabolic angle. If Alzheimer's is considered to be insulin resistant diabetes, vestibular migraine can't be far from that spectrum.For this edition, the Kindle editing is awful - lots and lots of missing words, sometimes key words, and sentence fragments. Whomever translated this into Kindle clearly didn't proof it.Despite my guinea pig status, I am not a doctor and am not dispensing medical advice. No one medicine works for everyone. Mileage varies on all of the various lifestyle factors. You have to work hard over a long period of time while feeling not that great until you find a mix that works for you. The author is absolutely correct that you can get there. This book can help. Education is vital. We needed this book. I very much appreciate the author's experience and willingness to share his time and knowledge.In case you're suffering and wondering, I'm currently having success (80-95% of normal a lot of the time) on a combination of Botox, Ubrelvy (when I can afford it at $100/pill), or a rescue cocktail of Fioricet, Compazine and/or Amitriptyline (when I have to budget but can afford to be sedated), and a migraine modified ketogenic diet with regular exercise, stress reduction, hydration, and decent sleep. That said, I still can't manage a 40 hour work week because it throws me backwards to a baseline that's hard to live with. I do not endorse or recommend any particular medication, therapy or device and have not been paid for my opinions. (In fact, at least one of my medications is on the author's do not use list, but once you've run through the other options without success, you end up in strange territory.) Your medical decisions need to be based on consultation with your neurologist or practitioner.