Is there any food or drink I need to avoid? You can eat and drink normally while taking betahistine. However, some people say their Ménière's disease symptoms improve by eating a low-salt diet and avoiding caffeine (found in chocolate and drinks like tea, coffee, cola and energy drinks).
This medication may irritate the stomach, and should be taken with food. It is best to avoid coffee, spicy food or alcohol.
Avoid things like coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks, chocolate, and diet pills. Caffeine will stimulate the nervous system and make migraines and tinnitus worse. Eat a low sodium diet. Sodium causes fluid retention and can make your symptoms worse in your inner ear.
Aggravating Factors for Dizziness or Vertigo
For people with true Meniere's disease, caffeine can trigger a vertigo attack. People who are diagnosed with Meniere's disease usually cut down on salt and caffeine to reduce attacks. For some people with vestibular migraines, caffeine can be a migraine trigger.
Some medicines and betahistine affect each other and can increase your chance of side effects. Tell your pharmacist or doctor if you're taking: medicines called MAO inhibitors, used to treat depression or Parkinson's disease. antihistamines for allergies such as hay fever.
Betahistine can be taken with or without food. However, Betahistine can cause mild stomach problems (listed in section 4). Taking betahistine with food can help reduce stomach problems.
It is attributed to caffeine a diuretic and stimulant properties, which would exacerbate the dizziness and tinnitus [10] effect.
Avoid caffeine and tobacco.
By restricting blood flow, these substances can make symptoms worse.
Caffeine and alcohol intake can result in constriction of blood vessels (vasoconstriction) and could result in a reduction in the blood supply to the inner ear, which may make patients' symptoms worse.
Dosage and strength
Betahistine comes as 8mg or 16mg tablets. The usual starting dose is 16mg, taken 3 times a day. Leave 6 to 8 hours between doses. When your symptoms are under control, your doctor may reduce your dose to 8mg, taken 3 times a day.
Continued improvements in vertigo have been observed throughout betahistine treatment, and at a range of doses, for periods lasting from 45 days up to 12 months [7,11–15]; therefore, a longer duration of betahistine treatment may be required for the maximal effect of betahistine to be observed.
When you start taking betahistine, it may take a couple of weeks before you notice any improvements. Even when you start feeling better, your doctor may want you to carry on taking the tablets for some time, to stop your symptoms from coming back.
Betahistine enters the CNS and improves histaminergic neurotransmission (12). Although several studies have reported subsequent improvements in cognitive function (12–16), they have shown conflicting findings on the effects of betahistine on cognition.
Betahistine is a medicine used to treat the symptoms of Ménière's disease. These symptoms include: feeling dizzy and a spinning sensation (vertigo)
Vestibular migraine attacks, which are characterized by vertigo, can be extremely uncomfortable, though removing trigger foods may relieve symptoms. The most common dietary triggers include aged cheeses, processed meats, chocolate, coffee, MSG, and alcoholic beverages like red wine and beer.
It could be that caffeine improves transmission in the auditory and vestibular systems' central pathways. Importantly, the effects of caffeine seem to be dose-dependent.
If you feel lightheaded and/or woozy, Dr. Grossman recommends having a drink of water or orange juice and lying down. If symptoms last more than 15 minutes, he says it's time to seek medical help in an urgent or emergency care setting.
Caffeine. Caffeine (often found in coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks and supplements) can raise blood pressure which can trigger tinnitus. If you have tinnitus and consume caffeine, cut back on it to see if your tinnitus symptoms decrease.
Avoid caffeine and alcohol, which may make symptoms worse. If you smoke, quit. Quitting may help reduce symptoms. Some people find that managing allergy symptoms and avoiding allergy triggers helps decrease Meniere disease symptoms.
Drink lots of water - This may sound counterproductive as Meniere's is the result of too much fluid in the inner ear. However, if the cause of Meniere's has to do with a virus, a pathogen, or a bacteria, drinking lots of water can flush these things out of the body.
You should not drink alcohol while being treated with this medicine, because there have been reported cases of interaction between this medicine with alcohol. Betahistine should not be taken during pregnancy or breast-feeding unless your doctor has decided that it is necessary.
Alcohol and caffeine, in high concentrations, can both result in vasoconstriction and a reduction in the blood supply to the inner ear, which can exacerbate the symptoms of sufferers.
Increases in vestibular blood flow and decreases in blood pressure were observed in response to betahistine infusions.