What do you believe CAUSED your Meniere's?

Stress (anxiety) and viruses.

 

For me it started with a tooth infection in 2017. After extracting the tooth, everything was normal until June 2021. I had the worse attack while sleeping at night. Since then, I'm dealing with dizziness, tinnitus, and bad headaches. I got my hearing back though after a steroid injection in my ear. Fatigue, stress, lack of sleep, allergies, Covid booster, flu vaccine, contact with people sick with a cold or the flu all make my symptoms worse. I forgot another one the shingles vaccine!

 

The original cause is a complete mystery for me. It wasn't a particularly stressful time. I had one vertigo attack and then nothing for over a year. Then it really started to come on strong. I do know stress, like family conflict type stress ( I have two adult (sort of) daughters ) can be a trigger along with a bunch of other things like diet, now. I suspect a viral cause as AV's are helpful, but I have no proof.

 

In my case, my sisters and I are the third generation of people with Meniere's or ear problems on my dad's side of the family.

 

During a bad attack yes. I checked with a specialist but it was negative.

 

I had been having vertigo attacks two to three times a year for about 5 years but no other symptoms. In January 2019 I woke up with roaring tinnitus and went to see an ENT. He blew it off as age related hearing loss, and told me to see an audiologist. I got hearing aids on trial, but in April of 2019 I woke up one morning and the tinnitus was gone -I was ecstatic ! Then in January 2020 I woke up again with the tinnitus and wanted to kill myself (I still do). It has only gotten worse in the last 3 years. No family history, I do have TMJ, but have worn a night guard for 11 years.

 

Tremendous stress at work

 

As far as i can tell no one has come up with a difinitive cause of Meneres. it's "idiopathic" which is doc speak for "no idea". (For the first five years of my "meniers" they just called it "Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL)". They didn't call it meniers until I got vertigo.) So all we can do is guess. I blew out my left eardrum twice while diving and I've always had dificulties with my eustasion tubes. I've also had bad allergies which are probably the reason for the eustasion tube problems and resulting damage while diving. All that said... my guess for me is the initial trigger was that damage and my ongoing allergies.

 

I think for me it was a viral infection. I have had on and off problems with my left ear for most of my life, mainly caused by narrow ear canals, wax build up and some degree of eczema in the ear canal. I have been having to have my left ear cleaned out for decades - previously by syringing and later with micro suction every six months or so. Despite using olive oil spray regularly, it just wouldn't clear by itself.

All this messing about has I believe made me more susceptible to infection, and about 7 or 8 years ago I had an infection in my left ear while on a long haul flight. I remember hearing a mild "pop" sound while on the plain and feeling fluid dribbling out of my ear. When I got off the flight, I still felt like I was moving and this was the first of the vertigo. I had several episodes of vertigo over the next week and ended up going to see an ENT consultant who diagnosed Meniere's after some testing and scans to rule out other causes.

The rest, as they say is history...

 

car accident/neck injury, or tooth infection. One of both but am pretty sure its coming from my neck, when i tilt my head to the opposite side i feel tension and tinnitus in my bad ear.

 

My Dad had it,so it is probably inherited.

 

I had some sort of infection. I did not have any symptoms at first except for really swollen and painful lymph nodes. Then a week later when the pain went away I had sudden hearing loss. It might have been labyrinthitis.
No history of menieres in my family. I am still hoping that it is secondary hydrops and it will go away on its own.

 

I'm fairly well convinced the root cause of Meniere's is different for everyone - but there are some commonalities that are apparent:

Stress - at work, at home, wherever. I never learned to handle it well and made some decidedly poor choices as a younger man to mitigate multiple stressors.

Diet - poor choices over the course of a life add up. We don't feel the weight of these choices until it is almost too late... Caffeine, alcohol, too much fat, too much wheat, way too much sodium in pretty much everything we eat here in the US, pretty much all my favorite things...

Proper Hydration - staying fully hydrated is a challenge no matter where you live and what you do.

Genetics - my grandfather had Meniere's Disease.

Proper rest - I've not ever slept normally, owing to the jobs I've worked during the day and playing music in clubs at night for most of my adult life.

Ear infections - I had multiple infections in me ears 20 years or so prior to the onset of my Meniere's symptoms.

Lifestyle - when my first episode occurred, I was 52 and never felt better. But ... I had also been playing 2-3 nights/week on average for about a year, I was working a full time job, and I was supporting 2 kids away at college. I took no time for relaxation, exercise, or anything that might have helped me avoid it.

 

For me I believe it is genetic. My grandfather had it.
My mother and a bunch of her siblings all have/had some sort of ear problems.
Theory #2 is allergies. I am a spring and fall sufferer.

Jim

 

In my case….

Genetics.

Maybe exacerbated by dental implant, and coming off Effexor.

 

The initial onset of SSNHL, tinnitus, and ear fullness all happened at age 13 for completely unknown reasons, I literally just woke up with it one day. Later vertigo was almost certainly triggered by stress during college since that is still the most definitive trigger for my vertigo. Beyond that though I have no clue since a lot of college students have stress but they certainly don't all get Meniere's because of it -- my only guess is it could be related to my family history of migraines.

 

Hi my father and grandmother (on my father's side) both had meniere's disease so this is in my family. I don't know the root cause but I believe that it is viral. I felt off balance starting as a young child and had alot of anxiety which led to depression. I was diagnosed with MD last year.

 

Hi, my father and grandmother (on my father's side) had meniere's disease so this is in my family. I'm not sure what the root cause is but I believe it may be viral. I felt off balance as a young child and had alot of anxiety which led to feeling depressed. I was diagnosed with meniere's disease last year.