Epstein Barr Virus and Hearing Loss, Menieres, Balance Disorders and Tinnitus

Happy New Year my lovelies! Wishing you all healing progress in 2018.

Today I want to talk about Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) again. I know I’ve posted about it before but It’s coming up so frequently in my natural health practice and because there is a general lack of awareness about it, especially among those with hearing and balance disorders, I wanted to provide more details to help people understand why it may be relevant to them. I believe it’s really important for people with hearing issues to take this seriously!

The source of this information is Anthony William author of Medical Medium, Life-Changing Foods and Thyroid Healing. His books make us aware that there is a silent epidemic of illnesses caused by EBV. Millions of people are suffering with health conditions, with no understanding of the cause or the solution. These people spend years going from doctor to natural health practitioner, spending all their money to find a cure, and at best they just manage to function, at worse their conditions progress. These people have all sorts of illnesses including different varieties of ear disorder – Menieres, Tinnitus, Sudden Hearing Loss, and Vestibular disorders. They are diagnosed as having autoimmune disorders, fluid balance disorders, nerve dysfunction or at most are told no-one has any idea why they are sick.

This blog is for those people who are suffering and looking for the answers. It is for everyone who has mystery ear disease. Once we understand what the cause is we can start to take the right steps to getting well again. At the very least we can stop our illnesses getting worse. We can laugh in the face of anyone who tells us that our illness is autoimmune, knowing that our bodies never work deliberately against us in that way.

History of EBV

EBV was once a harmless, herpetic, docile virus and we lived peacefully alongside each other.

It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution when we started intensifying our release of toxic heavy metals into the environment that things started to change. Arsenic and lead were diluted in water and used as pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. These were sprayed over all our gardens and used in our food production.

Mercury was being used as a natural medicine in China and USA for longevity throughout the 1700’s and 1800’s.  A mercury tonic was given for most complaints in the form of Quicksilver. The funny thing was that the patient would go insane for about a week so I’m not quite sure what they thought was happening there! maybe they thought it was some sort of religious healing experience (gone wrong)!

How did they not notice that the men working in the mercury mines died within months, or at best a few years? Or that the hat makers (mad hatters) were all dying within a few years? (Hat makers dipped the hats in a mercury solution). The exposure to mercury would make them go crazy. It would also be harmful to all those ladies and gentlemen who hat to wear hats every day to look ‘civilized’.  Add to that the arsenic face powder our grandmothers wore and it was a recipe for disaster. It’s no wonder people didn’t live past 40!

Over time EBV learned how to use these metals as a food source and started hunting it out. Maybe this would have been a good thing as it gobbled up the toxins from us, but over time these metals caused EBV to mutate and become more harmful to the body.

Around the 1940’s and 50’s, women who were born at the turn of the century started getting sick and suffering from hot flashes, aches, pains and fatigue. They were told it was all in their heads and that they must be insane. That was when the label of ‘hormonal issues’ were born. But these hormonal problems had not been seen before that. It was EBV.

Scientific Research

In 1964, two virologists discovered the virus and named it after the doctors Epstein and Barr. They began correlating the virus with some forms of cancer but it wasn’t long before funding was lost. The research didn’t continue long enough for science to understand the full action of EBV in the body. Even now, tests can only show that the virus has at some stage been active. Interestingly I see some studies, are taking place, particularly in relation to EBV links to cancer. It may be that Anthony’s books have stimulated some questioning by the medical establishment which is great.

Symptoms

Over the last 100 years the virus has mutated into 60+ different strains. Some are more aggressive than others. This is why people experience different symptoms and issues. Unfortunately it is young women now who are experiencing the most aggressive strains.

What’s worse is that because the medical establishment found high antibody’s present in persons with these illnesses they concluded that it must be the immune system that is causing the problem by attacking that organ or tissue. People’s illnesses were classed as autoimmune and patients were sent home thinking they were somehow responsible because their bodies were attacking themselves. The truth is that the body is producing these antibodies to fight EBV.

The medical community are unaware that EBV is the cause of these issues, not the immune system, which is always doing its best to protect us. Today, women and men of all ages are affected by symptoms of EBV and get labeled according to their symptoms rather than the cause. Illnesses include:

• Anxiety
• Cancers (some types, but specifically breast cancer)
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / ME
• Depression
• Digestive Issues
• Fibromyalgia
• Glaucoma
• Hashimotos Thyroiditis
• Heart Palpitations
• Hepatitis C
• Hot Flashes
• Infertility
• Insomnia
• Lyme disease (in many cases)
• Memory Loss
• Menieres
• Migraines
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Night Sweats
• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
• Post Partum Depression
• Rheumatoid arthritis (kids can get stage 4 EBV early on)
• (difficult) menopause
• Sudden Hearing Loss
• Thyroid illness, nodules
• Tinnitus
• Vertigo/Dizziness
• Weight Gain
• and many more….

There are four stages of EBV within the body:

Stage 1: Virus enters body, laying dormant and causing no symptoms as it waits for a period of stress in which to attack. This could be weeks, months or years. The stress can also result from hormonal changes such as puberty, menopause or childbirth.

Stage 2: It could take months or decades to get to this stage. When the body’s resources are low, perhaps through stress, trauma, or toxicity, the virus comes out to play in the form of glandular fever/mononucleosis/tonsillitis. This is the infamous kissing disease and at this stage people are highly contagious. The immune system does all it can to attack the virus cells and symptoms differ between people. At worse it can cause fatigue, sore throat, fever, headaches and rashes for many months. EBV creates an environment attractive to bacteria such as Streptococcus which creates its own set of problems, for example sinus, nose, throat and bladder infections. When you have an EBV test in hospital they can only see if you have active stage 2 EBV because this is when its in the bloodstream. Medical tests can only see if it is in the blood, or if it has been in the blood in the past.

Stage 3: EBV will make home in the liver, spleen, thyroid and/or other organs and can no longer be found by blood test. The immune system assumes it’s won the battle and stops seeking it out. Over time, with more stress, immune deficiency, poor diet or heavy metal toxicity, it heads to the thyroid where it makes itself home, causing inflammation, hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. In some people, the body tries to protect itself by building a wall around the virus causing thyroid nodules. EBV is one of the Herpetic viruses and these release neurotoxins which aggravates the nervous system and create inflammation. The neurotoxin create symptoms, food allergies, chemical sensitivities and byproducts that build up in liver and create heart palpitations from the gunk sticking in the mitral valve. It’s these byproducts that cause the symptoms of Lupus. They weaken digestion by reducing stomach acids. It can look like Lyme disease leading to incorrect diagnosis and is the cause of unexplained soreness, aches, pains and fatigue, even after a small accidents or trauma.

Stage 4: This is where people think they have Lyme Disease. The build up of the neuro-toxins eventually start to affect other systems in the body, particularly the nervous and neurological system. EBV latches on to damaged nerves keeping them inflamed causing issues like migraines, insomnia, night sweats, back pain, muscle pain, numbness, aches and pains, joint swelling, hot flashes, memory loss, brain fog, heart palpitations, depression, anxiety, burning feelings, neuropathy, blurry eyes, hearing loss, Menieres, vertigo/dizziness, tinnitus, loss of libido, weight gain, edema, lymphedema, swelling ankles and knees, vibrating feeling inside the body, confusion and cancers (especially breast cancer).

Now perhaps you see where some of your symptoms start to add up?

Where did I catch it from?

When someone has tonsillitis, glandular fever or Mono, people are highly contagious for EBV. That’s why it’s referred to as the ‘kissing disease’. Colleges and Universities are perfect places to catch EBV. Once the virus moves to the organs and out of the bloodstream (Stage 2) it is going to be harder to catch from other people as its tucked away in the organs and tissues. The other way of transferring it could be from mother to child and also I have heard vaccines mentioned by Anthony as a possible route of entry. Little is known quite frankly so this is mere speculation.

The link with ear issues

Anthony has stated in his books, radio shows, emails and interviews that ear issues are caused by the EBV virus, or its neuro-toxins (by products), or cofactors, affecting the hearing and balance nerve and inflaming the labyrinth of the ear. There are more than 60 different strains of EBV now so perhaps it is the particular strain, or simply where it goes in the body which creates the specific ear disorder.

Healing from EBV

It’s so important to know what is causing your problems so that you can tackle it. Otherwise you are running around blindly knocking on doors that can’t lead you anywhere. People spend decades trying to get answers, trying different approaches and healing modalities. You have to know what the problem is to solve it.

To heal from EBV and stop it doing damage we have to knock down the viral load and restore the nervous system. This could take anything from a few months to a few years to get better depending on the length of time you have had it and the severity of the symptoms.

• Knock down the viral load through the use of antivirals and by removing everything that it feeds of- foods, chemicals, metals
• Re-nourish the body to reverse any deficiencies caused by the virus and strengthen body’s natural healing capacit
• Support specific areas of weakness such as liver, thyroid and adrenals

A good place to start is reading the book Medical Medium. Then you could go on to do his free Healing Path online course.

How Can I Help?

If you are keen to take action to address EBV in your system it can help to have someone to guide you. I am now a qualified Systematic Kinesiologist and nutritional therapist. If you are concerned that your symptoms may be due to EBV I can work with you to develop a healing protocol by identifying which supplements you need and at what dose. It can be daunting at first to make these lifestyle changes so I can also help to guide and advise you on replacement products and menu ideas. I practice in St Albans and London, England.

Diet Cleansing

EBV feeds on certain substances so its important to eliminate them from your diet. I can provide advice and guidance on how to do this and what replacements you can use instead. The no no foods are:

• Gluten
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Corn/Maize
• Rapeseed Oil (this is now in more pre-packaged products form humus to stir in sauces)
• Fried and processed foods
• Pork
• MSG
• Farmed fish
• Soy

Healing Foods

We also need to nourish ourselves with fresh plant based fruit and vegetables. Anthony teaches that the health industry is wrong for suggesting that fruit sugar is bad for us.

He suggests that people will see fast results if they take part in a 28 day raw fruit and veg diet as an initial cleanse. I have managed around 3 weeks but will try again once the weather warms up.

• Wild blueberries (flush neurotoxins from liver, powerful antioxidant) – cultivated ones are not as powerful
• Celery (raises digestive enzymes in the gut, provides mineral salts to the brain to reduce brain fog)
• Sprouts (anti EBV)
• Asparagus (strengthens, inhibits EBV growth in thyroid, cleanses liver and pulls toxins out) – eat daily and juice raw
• Spinach (helps remove EBV by cleansing out toxins and colon)
• Apricots (rebuilds nervous system)Banana
• Sweet potato
• Potato
• Mango (helps spleen and liver cleanse form EBV)
• Coriander (removes heavy metals and neurotoxins).
• Parsley (robs metal from EBV)
• Raspberries (restore nervous system)
• Fennel bulb juice (cleans EBV from system)
• Cucumber juice (balances kidneys and flushes out the liver. Helps build up adrenals.)
• Figs kills EBV and grab onto toxins in GI so you can heal better from EBV.
• Avocado (helps repel EBV)
• Garlic and onions daily (slow down and injure the herpes viruses).

If you’re following the Medical Medium approach or would like more inspiration on how to create delicious raw food meals, follow my Raw Food board and other detox recipe pages on Pinterest here.

Healing Supplements and Herbs

Links to herbs and supplements for the protocol can be found here. This list is particularly useful for people in UK and Europe who cannot access Anthony’s recommended supplements. If you are working with me I will guide you to which supplements you need and what doses to take through Kinesiology testing. Not every supplement is suitable for everyone and you don’t want to overload your system by giving your body what is not helping it.

My Experience of the Protocol for Healing EBV

My entire health history can be mapped out according to the development of EBV through the stages. I can see the impact that EBV has had from early on in my life and I am determined to rewind the impacts so that I can heal the damage, and also prevent any impacts to future children that might happen if I am lucky.

It’s not an easy protocol to follow as it requires substantial lifestyle changes. This has been really hard to stick to and may likely account for why I haven’t seen the more dramatic changes that others have.

Someone contacted me through this blog after she had hearing loss and she started following all the advice straight away (on steroids and on Medical Medium approach). She also came to see me for a session to work out what supplements she needs. Well, she recently had the most fantastic news. She called me to tell me she was at her audiologist and her hearing had shot right up again nearly a year later. No more need to wear hearing aids! It really can work and we need to keep connected to these stories, rather than to the ones telling us that ears don’t heal.

Apart from a few fluctuations when I have stopped the protocol, my hearing has appeared to stay relatively stable. Given the extent of my health problems I have managed to build my health and therapy practice, study nutrition, Kinesiology and anatomy, work a near full-time job and still have energy at the weekends to go places! Generally I feel very well in my health, but I can’t yet report a dramatic improvement in my hearing or balance. I intend to get more militant about the protocol over the next 3 months. Spring is the best time to cleanse and I am planning on cleansing this little one out of my system for good!