S G Blogpost: HOW I REDUCE EAR FULLNESS AND TINNITUS

  Controlling the terrible symptoms of Migraine Associated Vertigo has come, for me, through following the Migraine Diet (mostly), avoiding or reducing triggers as much as I can, and following a 9-12 week course of Nortriptyline when needed.  But following that regimen does not consistently help ear fullness in my "bad" ear.  The fullness fluctuates and sometimes is just awful.  It can cause pain and trigger vertigo.  My right nasal passage feels clogged.  I was taking Allegra-24 Hour (at night) antihistamine every 4 days or so and that would eliminate or just reduce  pressure for a while.  So - if a simple antihistamine (second generation that does not cross the blood/brain barrier) reduces ear pressure and tinnitus, then maybe not all of the problem is with the damage in my inner ear.  Maybe there is some other aggravation.  Maybe I needed to stop eating the foods that are high in histamine - the ones that histamine sensitive people eliminate from their diet.  Guess what?  So far it is really helping.  And as I search the internet, I find others who this regimen has helped. I have cut out strawberries, tomato products (even homemade sauces), spinach, white potato, apricots, All dairy, fish and I have greatly reduced wheat products.  Many of the other high histamine foods were already avoided because they are on the headache diet.  When I do this, ear fullness and tinnitus are lessened.  When I cheat (with ice cream or too much wheat or two days of fish, etc.) the ear fullness returns.
I looked up food families to make sure I was eliminating other necessary foods: chard is in the spinach family but kale is not and all peppers (including paprika, chili powder) are in the tomato family.
  Now, of course, I have to figure out what to eat.  I will have to rotate small amounts of histamine foods and see how I do.  Maybe a small, fresh slice of tomato is okay but marinara is not.  Maybe measuring two teaspoons of cream cheese in okay but not two scoops of ice cream. Maybe a little spinach in a soup is okay but a large spinach salad is not.  As with the items on the Headache Diet -  small amounts, rotated, may work.  If you are interested, I have compared the migraine and histamine diets.  It is worth a try if you are suffering.  You will still have to respect all your other triggers. click here for diets