Meniere's Disease!?

Question

I've had dizziness, ringing in the ear, hearing loss and nausea and my gp suspects meniere's disease. He has referred me to an ENT specialist at my local hospital and has started me on medication (which is starting to help).

My question really is I don't know alot about Meniere's and have tried to get more info off the net, but haven't found it useful, can anyone help me with information on the disease in general and if possible what tests I might face when I see the ENT specialist?

Any help would be most useful.

Answer 1

Hi, I'm an Audiologist.

The information that was cut and pasted from the ENT website is pretty good. Just be aware that may primary Drs. put a diagnosis of Meniere's Disease for many types of dizziness because balance disorders are very complex and not easy to diagnose.

Many people live with Meniere's disease and other similar disorders, so just try to be as detailed as you can when you give your history information to the Doctor.

Anxiety often makes dizzy symptoms worse and can confound some test results. Try to relax during the testing so the results will be as accurate as possible. The procedures may make you feel dizzy, but they need to so it is possible to determine whether you get dizzy when you are supposed to and what circumstances cause you to get dizzy.

I hope you are feeling better soon!

Answer 2

Menieres disease is where the muscles around the water sacks behind the ears that are connected to the labyrinth ( the tubes inside your head that control your balance) harden making it difficult for the sacks to release the fluid steadily. The water tends to be released in spurts as pressure builds up this causes dizziness. In some cases it causes drop attacks where you fall over. Very unpleasant Ive got it also. There is no cure but with medication it can be controlled. Go to WWW.menieressociety.co.uk it is a very helpful website. The tests you will face are simply hearing and balance tests. You will find that you have degree of deafness in one ear. I am 70% deaf in my left ear with allot of tinnitus. good luck

Answer 3

What kind of benefits do you want? I work in HR and all of our disability benefits only kick in when you're not able to work at all. If you're still able to work, then I can't imagine what it is you hope to collect. Until you get to the point that you're 100% disabled and can't even work from home, I'm not sure you've got something to claim. But I would suggest you make sure you sign up for every available disabiltiy and longterm care prodct that your employer offers. Once you're fully disabled you won't be able to get them anymore.

Answer 4

Some very useful info can be found at http://www.menieresinfo.com/ from Meniere's Disease Information Center.

For tests, you can also find info at http://www.menieresinfo.com/diagnosis.html

Answer 5

Ménière’s disease, also called idiopathicendolymphatic hydrops, is a disorder of the inner ear. Although the cause is unknown, it probably results from an abnormality in the fluids of the inner ear. Ménière’s disease is one of the most common causes of dizziness originating in the inner ear. In most cases only one ear is involved, but both ears may be affected in about 15 percent of patients. Ménière’s disease typically starts between the ages of 20 and 50 years. Men and women are affected in equal numbers.


What Are The Symptoms?
The symptoms of Ménière’s disease are episodic rotational vertigo (attacks of a spinning sensation), hearing loss, tinnitus (a roaring, buzzing, or ringing sound in the ear), and a sensation of fullness in the affected ear. Tinnitus and fullness of the ear in Ménière’s disease may come and go with changes in hearing, occur during or just before attacks, or be constant. There may also be an intermittent hearing loss early in the disease, especially in the low pitches, but a fixed hearing loss involving tones of all pitches commonly develops in time. Loud sounds may be uncomfortable and seem distorted in the affected ear. From all the Ménière’s disease’s symptoms, vertigo is usually the most troublesome. It is commonly produced by disorders of the inner ear, but may also occur in central nervous system disorders. Vertigo may last for 20 minutes to two hours or longer. During attacks, patients are usually unable to perform activities normal to their work or home life. Sleepiness may follow for several hours, and the off-balance sensation may last for days. The symptoms of Ménière’s disease may be only a minor nuisance, or can become disabling, especially if the attacks of vertigo are severe, frequent, and occur without warning.


How Is A Diagnosis Made?
The physician will take a history of the frequency, duration, severity, and character of your attacks, the duration of hearing loss or whether it has been changing, and whether you have had tinnitus or fullness in either or both ears. You may be asked whether there is history of syphilis, mumps, or other serious infections in the past, inflammations of the eye, an autoimmune disorder or allergy, or ear surgery in the past. You may be asked questions about your general health, such as whether you have diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, thyroid, neurologic or emotional disorders. Tests may be ordered to look for these problems in certain cases. When the history has been completed, diagnostic tests will check your hearing and balance functions. They may include:

For Hearing

An audiometric examination (hearing test) typically indicates a sensory type of hearing loss in the affected ear. Speech discrimination (the patient’s ability to distinguish between words like “sit” and “fit”) is often diminished in the affected ear.
For Balance

An ENG (electronystagmograph) may be performed to evaluate balance function. In a darkened room, recording electrodes are placed near the eyes. Warm and cool water or air are gently introduced into each ear canal. Since the eyes and ears work in a coordination through the nervous system, measurement of eye movements can be used to test the balance system. In about 50 percent of patients, the balance function is reduced in the affected ear.
Rotational testing or balance platform, may also be performed to evaluate the balance system.
Other Tests

Electrocochleography (ECoG) may indicate increased inner ear fluid pressure in some cases of Ménière’s disease.
The auditory brain stem response (ABR), a computerized test of the hearing nerves and brain pathways, computed tomography (CT) or, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be needed to rule out a tumor occurring on the hearing and balance nerve. Such tumors are rare, but they can cause symptoms similar to Ménière’s disease.

Answer 6

My grandad had this - it is an inner ear imbalance; the ear is what gives us our sense of balance and when it's not working properly we can get dizzy spells. I think there is an operation that can be done to correct this. Sorry I don't know any more than this.

Answer 7

Hope this site is helpful to you. It is a most unpleasant illness. My husband is suffering from Labyrinthitis at the moment (sometimes the two are linked/alike in the symptoms). Various tests are usually carried out.

Hope your soon be feeling better.

http://www.patient.co.uk/DisplayConcepts.asp

Answer 8

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Answer 9

http://www.entnet.org/healthinfo/balance/meniere.cfm
Try this link.