Yikes! My ears! Is it viral?
When your ears are clogged & the world is spinning, the medical community has little to offer. Whether it's Ménière's or Covid ear, these crowdsourced suggestions for viral ear problems may help.
After spending two and a half years trying to find information and relief for Ménière's disease (M.D.), a friend suggested I crowdsource for remedies. The response was (quite literally) overwhelming. Thank you to everyone who wrote in. I’m doing my best to organize your suggestions into bite sized chunks which I will continue to share.
Because M.D. is an amalgam of symptoms, these suggestions might also be useful for vertigo, tinnitus, vestibular migraine, and Covid ear. Reports of ear issues post-Covid have been on the rise. While all the posts in this series may be useful, this one, which will focus on the viral connection, might be especially so for those whose ears are suffering post-Covid.
* Here’s my initial post on my Ménière's experience which details my symptoms.
* Here is general info and holistic wellness suggestions to get you started.
There are many theories on what causes M.D. For the past few weeks, I’ve been exploring the hypothesis that it’s caused by a latent virus (such as herpes simplex or Epstein Barr, both of which linger in the body and are never fully eradicated). Because Covid is also caused by a virus, the suggestions here might be useful for Covid related ear problems as well.
Note: viruses often flare when you are under stress. “Stress” could be mental (think overload at work), or emotional (a death in the family or fight with your partner). But it can also be stress on your body like lack of sleep or the beginning of allergy season. So while addressing viral load is great, it’s only part of the picture. Note the stressors you have been experiencing around an episode so you can mitigate those to help prevent future attacks too.
Hi! I’m Maia Toll. These days I spend most of my time writing books from my home in Asheville, NC. But long ago (and far away!), I traveled to Ireland where I did a year long apprenticeship, learning herbalism from the ground up. When I returned to the States, I continued my studies, going on to teach Botanical Medicine as a guest lecturer at Pennsylvania Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania. I was adjunct faculty at West Chester University and was even the focus of a PBS Sunday Arts piece.
While this is no longer the water in which I swim on a daily basis, my own body calls me back to my studies over and over as I try to balance my own mercurial constitution. As an author, I’ve developed a wider reach than I ever had as an herbalist and I’m hoping that that reach helps get this info to those who need it.
If you want to know more about the magical circumstances that took me to Ireland, check out my memoir Letting Magic In. Purchasing this, or one of my other books, is a fabulous way to support my work.
The Viral Connection
Let’s start with what I’ve been trying for myself, then I’ll get into the crowdsourced recommendations.
Another Note: Research for yourself to make sure remedies are a good match for your particular symptoms. If you are already taking pharmaceuticals, check with your doctor or pharmacist to make sure you aren’t creating a cross reaction or diluting/heightening the effects of the drugs you are on (this is real, people, especially for anti-depressants, blood thinners, and heart meds!).
Herbs & Supplements
As an herbalist, if I were working up a protocol for shingles (a latent virus in the herpes family), I would include:
Lysine
St. John’s Wort
Lemon Balm
Olive Leaf
Lomatium
Omega 3 & 6
Zinc
So this is where I began. After a few days, I noticed an improvement. I went from feeling like I was twenty feet underwater down to eight. The pressure and brain fog subsided a bit. Perhaps I was on the right track?
IV Therapy
I mentioned my hypothesis to a reader who told me I could get lysine as an IV drip.
What??!!
Okay, two words: Game changer! Herbs can be slow to kick in. An IV is mainlined straight to the bloodstream, by passing the digestive system (and any issues there that might inhibit absorption).
There are IV “bars” where you can sit in a spa-like setting, drink coconut water, and enjoy a self-prescribed drip. Most of them are fairly basic. I had used one in the past but they didn’t have lysine. So I called around and found one here in Asheville run by an osteopath (D.O.). Both she and the nurse practitioner on staff have been great at helping me tweak my formula.
Right now, a drip carries me for about a week. As I get the IV, my energy comes back…. which might be the drip itself or the oxygen I get at the same time (through the nose, not the drip). Over 24 hours my ears clear.
Here’s my current cocktail of choice:
glutathione
vit c
B complex
B 12
selenium
magnesium
NAC
dexpanthenol
toradol
lysine
zinc
once a month, I add Engystol (which is a German homeopathic anti-viral)
If you're familiar with supplements, you’ll notice a number of anti-inflammatories in this mix. I suspect that keeping nerve inflammation down in my ears is part of what’s helping.
A few things I’ve discovered because of this intervention:
- when the pressure in my ears is down, I am very aware of what drives it back up (hello, cashews, I’m looking at you).
- discussing lysine with my acupuncturist led to speculation about my ability to digest amino acids. My digestion has always been spotty (I’ve been off gluten since before we were calling it gluten) so this has been a useful path to (re)explore. Because my ability to digest is highly suspect, I have decided to invest in IV drips instead of oral supplements.
Essential Oils
Anti-viral essential oil steams seem to help in a moderate way. I would consider this support for other things you’re doing as opposed to a primary therapy.
That said, it’s pleasant, relaxing, and super simple:
Boil water.
Pour boiling water into a batter bowl (be sure the bowl can handle the heat).
Choose 3 of the following and add ONE drop each: Cypress, Thyme linalol*, Hyssop, Basil, Clary Sage, Inula, Melissa, St. John’s Wort (I rotate through these, using different ones on different days).
Take a towel and drape it over both your head and the bowl to create a steam tent.
Hang out and breathe for 10 minutes.
If you want to get a facial at the same time, smear honey or plain yogurt on your face and let the steam sweat it off!
* Thyme essential oil is crazy strong. It can sear your lungs. Thyme linalol is the gentlest of the thyme oils.
Homeopathics
I carry Cocculus indicus in my purse—it’s one of the few things that helps if I feel vertigo coming on. So I thought I would experiment with a homeopathic anti-viral. Rhus tox is what is typically used for herpes. I got some relief with it, but it didn’t last when I stopped dosing. I mention it because it might work better for you than it did for me.
Homeopathy is very specific: the remedy must be chosen with care and knowledge. If you do well with homeopathy, working with a trained practitioner might very well turn up a remedy that will work for you.
Your Recommendations!
Let’s get into the crowdsourced info (again, huge thanks to all contributors). Note that I haven’t been able to try all of these. If I have a thought, I’ll add a note.
Spike Support by The Wellness Company: this suggestion came from a friend who has seen it help multiple people with Covid ear. The ingredients in this are interesting—nothing obscure, but at unusual combination. Because my symptoms got worse post-Covid, I’ve been giving this a try. The company’s marketing is of the type I really despise but I’m not gonna cut off my nose to spite my face, as my grandma would say. I haven’t noticed anything yet, but it’s herbal based and herbs take a bit of time to kick in.
Health Concerns Enhance Quan Yin Herbal Supplement this is my acupuncturist’s favorite anti-viral formula.
David Hoffman herbal formula: A reader suggested an herbal formula of equal parts of the tinctures of Ginkgo, Black Cohosh and Goldenseal, found in David Hoffmann's book Medical Herbalism. It has helped greatly with ringing in the ears and vertigo. Because it contains Goldenseal—an anti-viral—I think it’s worth including here.
a reader sent me information about oxidative stress which is linked to viruses, generally, and has studied links to Covid in particular. Oxidative stress has also been linked to Ménière's disease (more). Your search term here is Nrf2. Some herbs that support this channel include milk thistle (Silybum marianum), bacopa (Bacopa monnieri), ashwagandha root (Withania somnifera), green tea (Camellia sinensis), turmeric (Curcuma longa), and broccoli (Brassica oleacea italica).
**A tip for buying herbal and nutritional supplements:**
It’s all about the ingredients! It doesn’t matter what the name of the product is, it matters what the ingredients and doses are. So, a product that supports the Nrf2 channel might be way more expensive than the same ingredients labeled as a liver detox.
Finally, let’s talk about oxygen and ozone therapies.
What’s the difference? Isn’t ozone just another name for oxygen?
Apparently not: Oxygen is O2 and Ozone is O3. And the way in which these therapies is administered also differs. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves a special sealed chamber. Ozone therapy is either administered as a gas or, more effectively, intravenously.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: A reader shared that her husband had auditory nerve damage after having Covid and getting the booster a week after (he’s in the medical field, so it was required for work). He lost hearing completely in his left ear very suddenly. The ENT said there was no hope because he had auditory nerve damage. BUT he did hyperbaric chamber therapy for maybe 6-8 weeks and has 80% of his hearing restored in that ear.
This got me curious: hyperbaric oxygen therapy, according to the John’s Hopkins website, “disable the toxins of certain bacteria.” But a bacteria is not the same as a virus! So I kept digging, and found studies such as this one that argue that hyperbaric oxygen reduces viral load. (Note: that the John’s Hopkins article linked about also says that hyperbaric oxygen therapy might be contraindicated for traumatic brain injury. I mention this as some readers have reported M.D. after an accident.)
Ozone Therapy: I got a note from another reader saying that she has gotten improvement with ozone therapy.
Ozone therapy has been used for a number of conditions and has been investigated as a disinfectant. A cursory search gleaned a number of promising studies with conclusions such as “ozone has proven to be highly effective in killing bacteria, fungi, and molds and inactivating viruses…”
This clinic’s website clearly lays out the different methods of administering ozone.
That’s all I’ve got for now. More soon!
Add your experience in the comments below so we can help each other heal.
xx Maia