Have a few questions about MAV

  1. A lot of people with mav have a tendency to be dizzy 24/7, does that mean the migraine is going on 24/7? Or is it like an attack and you suffer lingering results for a while?

  2. If I went one day avoiding all the migraine food triggers and still end up being dizzy would that rule out food triggers as a cause? or is it like the above and has a longer lasting effect?

I tried many limitations on my diet but I don’t think MAV is caused by food. Maybe MSG and tyramine increases head pressure in general so is bad for us, but I just posted am article that I think supports the view that MAV is caused by a viral attack that damages and inflames the cranial nerves. That is why I think the only real thing that helps MAV is the medications best used for post herpetic nueralgia - ie nortriptyline, gabapentin , preglabin, etc - topamax is in the category of anti Seizure drugs like GAbapentin and preglabin, hence also useful by slowing down over firing nerves. Zoloft and other antidepressants mute nerve and pain signaling somehow (like nort and amitriptyline) so those can also be useful. Sometimes combos of the 2 classes of drugs increase the relief… But I want to stay on the fewest drugs (in my case gabapentin) to get relief as I suspect I’ll have to manage this with some meds long term. My MAV started w what felt like a viral attack on 2013… Most nuerological doctors are uninformed about how vzv and hsv viruses can cause neurological & vestibular problems. It’s under researched… Should be a new frontier of research in my view. Same thing goes for the theory that hsv is the cause of Ménière’s disease. I think vzv may be the cause of MAV. Best, Liv