My eye doctor recommended what I am taking and it has at slowed and almost stopped my eye disease from advancing.
Probably one of the best things you can do for your ears diet wise is low salt.
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Why would that be so?
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Lower salt lower blood pressure, and my tinnitus is worst if my blood pressure is elevated any at all
Lower salt lower blood pressure in salt sensitive individuals. I can imagine that reducing hypertension would help to maintain hearing, but I’m not sure how reducing salt for someone with normal BP would work to help hearing.
the endolymph in the inner ear is particularly sensitive to salt (Na+, K+). well documented with meniere’s disease, but given the very large umbrella of “meniere’s disease” (very few patients have TRUE meniere’s disease), we see it benefit patients across the board.
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Interesting. Benefit in what way? I would expect the healthy ear to maintain homeostasis. Can you share citations? I’d thought the last thing I’d read had not supported salt restriction as being a useful intervention for Meniere’s. (Edit: Restriction of salt, caffeine and alcohol intake for the treatment of Ménière's disease or syndrome. - PubMed - NCBI)
Need to be careful what you define as useful: cure? Decrease in severity of symptoms? Decrease in frequency of symptoms? Etc
Research in the area is poor. The article you referenced notes: “MAIN RESULTS: We did not identify any studies that met the inclusion criteria for the review.“
Clinically, we have seen some patients do significantly better (less severe, less frequent attacks) with low salt and diuretics. Likewise, other similarly presenting patients don’t benefit nearly as much. Compliance on something so difficult in America (low salt) is also a major issue in determining efficacy. I can, however, speak from personal experience. I had major hearing loss in 2011 in my left ear after a bad ear infection, in addition to my congenital progressive loss. It left major damage to my inner ear. I would have fluctuating loss. My doc put me on a diuretic and I limited to less than 2g of salt a day, and I noticed a direct correlation with my fluctuating loss with my salt intake (ie, my compliance). After 6 months of a diuretic for solely this purpose, the hearing loss stabilized to what it is today.
Salt and the ear is not a fully understood relationship. However, I would be hard pressed to find any ENT with years experience who would say a high salt diet is beneficial for the inner ear. Take from this what you want. 
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I guess my feelings about this would depend on how strongly the advice/recommendations are given. I don’t think anybody suggests that a high sodium diet is good for you, but it seems like there is considerable doubt as to the benefit of strict sodium restriction. I could see suggesting to somebody that they could consider lowering their sodium consumption, but harranguing them about it would seem to have little evidence to back it up. I’ve been around long enough to see several things that we thought made sense end up being plain wrong: lidocaine for all MIs, estrogen to prevent heart disease in women and Pain as a vital sign are a few that come to mind.
I would agree with you. However, not sure this would be in the same camp as lidocaine for MI or estrogen for postmenopausal women. That would insinuate that low sodium could actually be harmful to the ear, which I don’t think there’s any case for.
I was mainly trying to make the point that we are often wrong. Regarding sodium in general however, I was reading something recently regarding hydration and extended exercise. It’s thrust was that there are multiple recorded deaths from hyponatremia from overhydrating, but none from dehydration. Too little salt in the right situation could kill you. Too much can kill you too, but that will usually only happen with out of control diabetes or with medical interventions.
Nutritional research in general is a quagmire. I look at all of it with suspicion. : P
Interesting to hear though.
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Fair enough. There’s more data for low salt helping hearing than lutein though!
Lutein is for eyes mostly
Likely. The only evidence I know of for lutein is for macular degeneration. I looked briefly at Meniere’s treatment and steroids, diuretics and low sodium seems to be hallmarks. Wasn’t able to really determine if there’s much rationale behind it beyond: Edema in the ear–diuretics and low sodium should help. It would be nice to have a better understanding of what’s going on–ie., why the edema. For example, if one treats ascites or 3rd spacing with diuretics, one can get into trouble pretty quickly since the edema is more of a consequence of low albumen or “leaky vessels” than fluid overload. Diuretics are certainly a hallmark of hypertension and chf treatment and low sodium is generally advised, but I’ve yet to see overpowering evidence that low sodium is critical. Have seen some stuff suggesting that it’s more the ratio between potassium and sodium diet that is beneficial rather than strictly restricting sodium. DASH diet is based on this.
You are correct to infer that Meniere’s is the result of a fluid pressure problem in the cochlea. I don’t think we actually know why at this point, however. Focus may know more. I believe that some of the more seemingly obvious ideas about what was causing the problem were tested and dismissed, but that was back in 2015 that I was reading about that.
Although they call Meniere’s a disease, it really sounds like a syndrome.
I once saw an article which said Acetyl-L-Carnitine is good for hearing loss…
Anybody has any luck with this supplement?
Did you try extended-release niacin? I’ve been taking super-high doses of niacin since my cardiologist prescribed it 8 years ago. I went through all the flushing, itching, and pain until I was able to get a prescription for niacin XR, and it was amazing the difference it made.
I find that it’s also available over the counter. I bought it at Costco until they stopped carrying it, and I get it from CVS now. No flushing for a long time.
Does your doctor still prescribe niacin? I thought those recommendations changed a few years ago?