Hey, Scott, I have had vestibular migraine since age 10 and herpes simplex 2 since age 24. I wasn’t exposed to either type of HSV until adulthood, so my infection is much more severe than others’. I’ve suffered HSV meningitis and myelitis, and now herpes likes to hang out in my ears. I was already very limited by vestibular migraine, and HSV just hosed what was left of my vestibular system. I get tons of outbreaks from the top of my head down to my fingers. I’ve even had HSV in the eye, auricle, and no doubt in the inner ear nerves. They don’t progress to breaking lesions. Instead, I have to deal with the neurological and vestibular garbage when I’d much rather have a skin lesion. If they come to the skin surface at all they look like mosquito bites, but that doesn’t tell a fraction of the story. The neurological and vestibular symptoms are just out of this world. They are so miserable. I have now just been able to sit up after a month of vestibular neuritis. I was waking up in the middle of the night from spinning vertigo. Nauseated, vomiting, blinding headache, fever, etc. I also have trigeminal neuralgia from HSV, and TN and vertigo usually go together for me.
One of my friends from college had repeated VN of “unknown etiology”. She would be down for 1-2 days with intense vertigo, vomiting, and would have to go to the infirmary for meclizine and sometimes IV fluids. She’d recover fully from each episode. This happened about 1-2x/year. She also struggled with very visible cold sores (usually multiple all over her lips and chin on one side), and I’m convinced the two were/are related.
I found some of the VN/HSV link studies cited in this article helpful (well, the ones I could get access to):
tampabayhearing.com/vestibularneuritis.php
Has anyone else experienced vertigo or worse vestibular migraine symptoms during HSV flares?
So my longwinded response is: I definitely think the VN you experienced in 2003 could have been from herpes. How often do you experience outbreaks? Do you take antivirals? I see an infectious disease doctor who just shrugs at me and tells me to take the maximum dose of antivirals, which I already do. That and a 12-day pack of steroids. There are definitely immunological and inflammatory problems at play in my case, but we (well, I, since the doctors don’t seem very interested) haven’t been able to figure out what. Perhaps you could try Valtrex or Famvir for a few months? Best wishes.