They are also called ventilation tubes, grommets, PE tubes. Supposed to be a very simple procedure. My doctors says it helps a lot of Meniere's patients with their symptoms by alleviating air pressure. I am thinking about doing that in a month or two. There is research that shows a lot of Meniere's people also have eustachian tube dysfunction, and that is also confirmed by Stephen Spring as well.
Hi bubba, grommits were one of the first not-medicine treatments I tried in 2009. For me, it didn't do the trick. It helped a tiny bit with the fullness-feeling, but it made flying harder and you have to take care of ears a lot (avoid water in the ear, avoid too much wind on your ear) etc. The grommit will grow out after a while or fall out. Mine had to be pulled out after a while. I was lucky that it grew together without any problem. But there are cases where it needs to be stitched. Indeed, it's not a big thing and I think definitely worth trying if you have tried a lot of those non-invasive treatments before.
I had tried tubes in my eardrum, my Dr. also suggested to use air pressure pulse generator (Meniett Device), none of it helped me. In fact the air pump made my symptoms worse. However It is easy to take intratympanic steroid injection through the tubes. -MD1
wait...why did it make flying harder? i was told it makes flying easier since it allows your ears to equalize pressure..makes sense no?
I had a tube in for years. Initially for the Meniette, which I had no success with, then because I just got used to it so it became sort of psychological. I had no issues flying with it; however, it would get plugged occasionally and that was uncomfortable. For whatever reason, just being able to pinch my nose and push air through it was comforting-I know, pretty weird, right? Anyway, my doc removed it last May after my laby. I thought it would be hard to live without it, but it was no biggie to adjust. Good luck! Kevin
interesting....for you guys with the tubes, did you have obvious eustachian tube issues, or are sensitive to pressure (flying, lifting, valsalva making you dizzy)? that's what I have and doc says a tube would help. if you didn't have those symptoms then tubes alone probably wouldn't help you.
I've had eustachian tube issues for many years. Upon my request, the ENT put a hole (without the grommet) in my left eardrum as an experiment. I actually felt great, dizzy-wise, the first couple of days, but then the same old dizziness came back. I'm guessing the temporary improvement was probably just a coincidence. One thing to note, I was never able to get used to the perceived change in pressure with the hole in one ear. It felt like I do when riding in a car with only one window cracked open. Also, I had trouble hearing since my brain couldn't adapt (in the 3 weeks or so until the hole closed up) to the sound difference between the two ears with the unilateral eardrum hole. I was also quite surprised that the pressure feeling in my left ear didn't go away. My ET is constantly popping and crackling, and I really thought the sensation of fullness was because of a malfunctioning ET. Finally, I continued to have intermittent stabs of pain in that ear, which I also had suspected was due to a pressure imbalance from my ET. (I've been told that eardrum is retracted.) All in all, while it was an interesting experiment, it really did not help. I am still convinced the ET plays some kind of role in my case, but this procedure wasn't the answer for me.
Flying, yes. I haven't lifted any weights since becoming symptomatic, and I haven't tried a valsalva for fear of making anything worse.
When I had the 1st signs of going bi-lateral I refused to believe that it was really the Meniere's hitting the other ear and I had the doctor put tubes in my ears. He elected to put in T-tubes which extend past the eardrum so far that the eardrum will not grow over the ends and force them out. They lasted over 10 years but I don't think I ever got any real benefit from them. Flying never really bothered me one way or the other. There is nothing wrong with doing the velsalva to clear the ears and it actually temporarily improves the hearing. I used to do it a lot. I now have Cochlear Implants and doing the valsalva is not a good idea because the electrodes are threaded into the cochlea and the velselva could force them to come out. Piggy
interesting...I am really surprised it didn't at least help you a little bit...my doc said it helps quite a lot of people who have pressure-sensitive meniere's and ETD...which we both have. I also have a retracted eardrum even from before. how did he poke a hole without inserting a grommet? Is that even a legit procedure? I didn't know you can do that! Does that mean it heals very fast? I may give that a try. also, how are your other symptoms such as tinnitus and hearing loss, before and after the hole?
Yes, the hole without inserting a grommet is a legit procedure. It's called a myringotomy. The ENT suggested going that route instead of just putting in the tube. She said if the hole in the eardrum helped, I would know pretty quickly, and she would have time to put in the grommet before the hole closed. In other words, it takes a few weeks for the hole to close up without a tube so I would have a bit of time to evaluate whether it worked. Apparently, if she put in the tube and I didn't like it and it didn't help, there would be some pain involved if she needed to remove it. I'm also guessing (she didn't say this) that there would be a slightly greater risk of damage to the eardrum if she needed to pull out a tube. My tinnitus took a turn for the worse in mid-December, but I can't say it has any connection to the myringotomy since both ears are ringing more loudly and the hole was only put in one eardrum. I had a dip in upper hearing ranges noted in a test prior to the myringotomy and haven't been tested since. I don't believe I've had any appreciable further loss but you never know. Like I said, I really felt great for the first few days after the procedure and was sure the hole was helping. However, in hindsight, the improvement was probably just one of those things... The most negative part of the entire experience was the strange pressure difference in the ears with the unilateral tube and the difficulty I had hearing. There wasn't an actual hearing loss since I could hear just fine if I covered either ear, but together, my brain just could not adjust. Now, had the dizziness continued to improve, I would have had the ENT put in the tube and trust that my brain would adapt with time. I'm not sorry I did the experiment as the results were very interesting to me.
very interesting indeed. so you didn't get the "ahhhh" feeling of air equalizing and pressure reduction that some people with tubes claim to feel immediately?
