Meniers Disease

Meniers Disease is a disorder of the inner ear that could be related to some abnormality of the inner ear fluids. Its main symptom is vertigo that comes in attacks that vary in length, intensity and frequency. Hearing loss is also a very common result of the disease. There is no officially known cause for Meniers Disease and no cure found.

What do you do when the medications don't work?

The following symptoms are associated with Meniers Disease:

• Vertigo: attacks of spinning sensation that might lead to imbalance, nausea and vomiting.
• Hearing Loss: although hearing may return to normal between attacks, there is a substantial hearing loss over time.
• Tinnitus: A loud ringing sound in the ear.
• A feeling of fullness in the affected ear.
• In severe cases the person can suffer from sudden falls.

Attacks may vary in length, intensity and frequency and usually prevent the person for performing any normal daily activities.

It is crucial to remember that these symptoms are not unique to Meniers Disease, and might be cause by a different medical condition. Meniers Disease diagnosis is actually done by excluding all other testable options.

There is no officially known cause for Meniers Disease.

The main "suspect" for causing it is the labyrinth, an inner ear part. It is commonly believed that swelling or even a rapture in the labyrinth, causes a change in the ear's liquids volume and leads to Meniers symptoms. This swelling condition is called endolymphtic hydrops.

However, the connection between hydrops and Meniers Disease is questioned when reviewing the following statistics: not all of Meniers Disease patients are diagnosed with hydrops. And out of autopsies studies done on people who didn't suffer from Meniers Disease, 6% did have hydrops. And when you compared that with the estimate of only 0.2% of the population who suffer from Meniers Disease, it seems that hydrops might be connected to Meniers, but not necesserily a direct simple cause.

Some recent research suggests immune diseases may contribute to a substantial percentage of Meniers Disease, or even different types of viruses, but there is still not enough evidence to support that. Allergies are often associated with Meniers but it is also highly debatable.

A possible synthesis would be that Meniers Disease appears to be the final common pathway that the inner ear responds to nearly any injury, and that Meniers Disease has many separate causes.

There is no known cure for Meniers Disease, so the treatment often tries to control the symptoms.

• A rather successful way is a low-salt or salt-free and no caffeine or alcohol diet that would reduce the body's retention to fluids.
• Changes in medications that either control allergies or improve blood circulation in the inner ear may help.
• Reducing stress level is always a good way to ease the intensity or frequency of the attacks.
• There is the possibility of a chemical labyrinthectomy, which destroys vestibular tissue and done by injections into the ear.
• Labyrinthectomy surgery (removal of the inner ear sense organ) can help people with severe cases of sudden falls and effectively control vertigo, but sacrifices hearing and is reserved for patients with nonfunctional hearing in the affected ear.

What do you do when the medications don't work?