I have dealt with this for 7 years. I'm 58 now. My Dad had ear issues that may have been Meniere's. I have had multiple head & neck injuries with broken mandible. 108 temp at 22 yrs old from gangrene appendicitis. And.. TMJ. Remission for almost 2 yrs from hardcore low sodium, no processed foods and 2500 mg C, 180 mg Pycnogenol, Lipo flavonoids, etc. Came back with a vengeance last month, so going to look at Lysine and anti-virals next. Also, I resumed upper cervical treatment 2 wks ago. I put my faith in the Lord to guide me. Y'all are in my prayers!
I only wish I knew, since, if I did, I'd gladly go back and do my best to avoid the activity or whatever that precipitated it! I'm told that my grandmother (on my Mom's side) used to have really bad vertigo attacks. No history of it - that I'm aware of - with any other immediate family member. Stress has often been mentioned here, so I'll go with that being that I developed spasmodic dysphonia 19 years ago - a highly stressful situation for me since I was full-time teaching and really struggled for a period of years. Have to wonder if that might have been a catalyst. Now, however, the SD has essentially become a non-factor, so if that DID have anything to do with it, maybe the meniere's will go away with it. Wishful, but likely very unrealistic thinking for sure I suppose. I was never given a fully confirmed diagnosis being that I can't make it through the VNG testing, but enough results were achieved that pretty much point to it, especially once the tinnitus came along. I didn't have that at first and so was considered to have "atypical" meniere's. What's interesting, however, is that, during my teaching career - before SD came along even - I'd often have a feeling of lightheadedness throughout the day. Went to the doctor numerous times for it but nothing ever came of that, so have to wonder if that was the beginning of what later emerged as classic meniere's symptoms. Seems like a logical connection. Interesting thread. Happy Holidays to all. Here's hoping for a Christmas with no meniere's episodes...
I never had any issues whatsoever, then 3 weeks after I had my covid booster (3rd Jab, Moderna) I got very dizzy and headaches. After a month I started getting aural fullness and tinnitus and some minor hearing loss. A year later I am still the same, but with extra brain fog. I was diagnosed with vestibular migraine my a neurologist and provided candesartan but symptoms persisted. A private ENT told me to try betahistine (serc) and it had a good effect, just not entirely. i've not been diagnosed with Menieres and I've never had full on vertigo/spinning, but I believe it has the best fit for my symptoms (so far). When I came off betahistine temporarily, I had sudden loss of half my hearing and increased tinnitus, so went right back on it! I am beginning JOH to get ahead of it if I can, whilst I wait for things to progress or by docs come up with something useful. I feel both gutted to have this, especially as I literally brought a house and moved to my favourite place in the world right before this happened, and can't enjoy it. However, I am equally thankful it is not as bad as most of you have it
Cycling accident w/ a head injury brought MD into full bloom though I potentially had symptoms several years prior to the cycling accident, first w/ roaring tinnitus & temporary hearing loss (lasted a day), then a year+ later BPV which hit me on & off over the course of a week. I had ear troubles as a child & had myringotomy tubes a couple of time prior to having my tonsils out. Have had bilateral low grade tinnitus since early childhood.
I may never have had Menieres manifest in my life, but Im positive the domino was tipped over a decade of constant emotional stress that I was not good at managing. Along with that came IBS, SIBO and most likely leaky gut, which at first I thought was the cause of all of this. Im just extra sensitive to many foods and feel the immediate inflammation from them as Menieres symptoms. Eating a clean anti-inflammatory diet is key, as well as managing my stress levels. My First symptoms - tinnitus and vertigo only when i tilted my head towards affected ear - started 2.5 years after my first was born, I was so sleep deprived those first two years with her. This was another trigger. And then 1 year postpartum with my second is when the vertigo hit, and took me down for months. I´ve always had cold sores (herpes virus) and I also have seasonal allergies, I think all these things played their role. I also get dizzier around menstruation, so hormones also play a role? Has Menieres ever been linked as autoimmune?
Since you have cold sores, it sound like anti-virals might really help you. John of Ohio suggests L-Lysine taken three times a day in between meals-- (see the JOH diet in the database here). You might also check out a cervical spine misalignment...many of us have that. And many of us have seasonal allergies. I am about to start on allergy drops tailored to my triggers (specific grasses, trees) which after 6 months of daily use are supposed to help your immune system overcome the sensitivity. I have been trying to sort it all out for several years, and I know how complicated it is, and we seem to get only partial answers. It takes a lot of persistence, as each case is somewhat different.
I would like to add that my Meniere's feels like not just an ear fullness, but a brain inflammation. My vertigo is sometimes triggered by biting down on crunchy food. Tried TMJ treatment without success....
Absolutely! See this link, which proposes the connection between Herpes viruses and inner-ear inflammation manifesting as an autoimmune condition. Absolutely to this as well, there may be something to this. We know many of the nerves responsible for hearing travel through this junction, so it's conceivable that a pressure here (or potentially in the jaw area) due to misalignment could cause issues. Overall, I am intrigued by the great number of dental cases in this thread that seemed to lead to the development of Meniere's disease. I feel this angle is often overlooked by ENTs or neurotologists, yet nearly half of these posts seem to mention it with the onset.
Dental issues totally make sense as possible causes of MD onset as the trigeminal & facial nerves can be irritated or damaged when dental work is done. I was recently diagnosed w/ Middle Ear Myoclonus (MEM) in my left ear when I began hearing an intermittent clicking. Simultaneously my left eye developed a twitch. Someone told me MEM is like an eye twitch except the muscle is in the inner ear (stapedius in my case). I had the presence of mind to look up the nerve that innervates the stapedius muscle & suprise! surprise! it's the facial nerve which is also in charge of eye twitching. I can change the pitch of my tinnitus by pressing on my SCM in my neck which leads me to believe the spinal accessory nerve may also play some role in the inner ear.
Someone had success getting rid of Meniere's by the removal of an old root canal that had become infected under the gum. I had the same issue, but removal of the old root canal (I will never consent to a root canal again) did not help.
Re. the link sent by EkkoMusic (thanks--interesting study) I would like to follow up on this sentence in the study-- "Due to the possible autoimmune pathogenesis of the disease, pharmacotherapy for Meniere's disease may include corticosteroids, etanercept and warfarin." I am not familiar with those treatments for MD. Anyone have a comment?
I used Prednisone to help stop symptoms flares in the first several years I had MD. It often took 2-3 days for the medication to work but it did make a big difference. At some point it stopped helping (as did cortisone injections through my eardrum) so I stopped taking it for the most part. I do keep it on hand in case I have a tinnitus flare where it becomes very loud. It helps tone it back down again when that happens. Etanercept & warfarin don't make sense to me.
This article is interesting from the Gluten Free Society: Gluten And Balance Meniere’s disease is a condition that manifests symptomatically as severe dizziness, ear pressure, ringing, and often times is associated with concomitant migraine headache. The symptoms can be debilitating and often lead to nausea, vomiting, and inability to stand or walk due to imbalance. Recent research has identified a connection between grain (specifically wheat) and Meniere’s disease. The study was published in the journal, Laryngoscope. The abstract is below:Wheat is one of the most common food allergens found in patients with Meniere’s disease (MD). Gluten from wheat has been identified to have a etiopathogenetic role in celiac disease, IgE hypersensitivity to wheat disease, and recently to gluten sensitivity. The aim of this study was to verify the incidence of gliadin prick test response in patients affected by MD. There were 58 adult patients with definite MD, 25 healthy volunteers, and 25 patients with grass pollen rhinoconjunctivitis tested with skin prick test to gliadin. A total of 33 MD patients (56.9%) proved to be sensitive to gliadin, eight of whom were positive to prick test after 20 minutes, 13 after 6 hours, 11 after 12 hours, and one after 24 hours. What To Do If You Have Been Diagnosed With Meniere’s Disease It is important to let your doctor rule out any type of life threatening conditions first and foremost. Beyond that, ruling out gluten intolerance is a must. I would also recommend that you rule out other food and environmental allergies as well. I have personally seen cases of Meniere’s in my clinic that were caused by a variety of foods.
I believe 2 years after both hip replacements it started also at that time I realized had sore on back side my dermatologist said it’s from herpes virus . So I believe it’s in my system and now it’s gotten a lot worst since we have extreme heat in Fla . Going try Lysine etc hope it all helps.
I am clueless. I had a very high stress job for nearly 30 years as a business trial lawyer/counselor. Normal family stuff. Worked out a lot as we had a beautiful gym in our building free for us. I noticed some slowing down in my ability to focus and put in long hours over a two year period. Then had 28 crowns put in during about a three month period, maybe 200 hours in the dentist's chair. On May 11, 2002, while painting a condo we had, I was overwhelmed with a massive attack of something, sat at an angle on a stool like a statue for 45 minutes, was finally able to get to our car with the help of my wife and two daughters, got home and in bed. Woke up 11 hours later, totally deaf in my left ear, raging tinnitus, could not stand up without immediate dizziness and collapsing. Was diagnosed with Meniere's the following week, but it progressed so fast I had to quit work as of July 1, and spent most of the next several months in bed until receiving a cochlear implant in my left ear on April 1, 2003. I got progressively worse until I hit "burnout" in December of 2014, according to Dr. Jennifer Derebery, now retired, but perhaps the best Meniere's doctor ever. That lasted until early 2017, when I started having other health issues and am shortly to have my 17th surgery, mostly orthopedic, seven quite major, in the last six years. The stress of all that has caused my Meniere's symptoms to worsen in all respects--my hearing is worse and more distorted, my tinnitus louder and more varied, my balance issues more severe, and thanks to an instance of anesthesiological malpractice in a recent operation, my eyes have suffered permanent damage and I am likely to be blind in 4 1/2 years, obviously catastrophic since we Meniere's folks use our eyes to help with balance. There is NO history of Meniere's in my extended family on either side, and I had no viral infections that could have triggered it. Maybe cumulative stress from work, maybe working out too hard in the gym, but honestly, no clue. I fear that is true for most of us. The research continues, but aside from noting an improper exchange of fluid across some inner ear membranes, as far as I know, there are no reliable answers as to what causes Meniere's. Add to that it affects each of us uniquely, and trying to get to the root of it is very difficult. We all wish there were some magic bullet that would cure it. So far, there isn't.
I've always wondered if certain things had something to do with my Meniere's. When I was around 9, Me and my cousins hauled some hay. And afterwards we went swimming in a creek. I liked swimming under water. But later that day, or maybe the next day, me and my family had to fly to Germany. I was a military brat. My dad was in the Air Force. But anyway, my ears got infected on the trip and seemed like I had ear problems often after that. I remember they would stop up and I learned how to unstop them by holding my nose and mouth shut and blowing. Seems like that I had to do that every once in a while all throughout my life. I finally started having tinnitus and light dizzy spells in my thirties. In 1998, I had the bad vertigo and vomiting and had to crawl to my house. i was diagnosed with Meniere's. The HCTZ seemed to help for years. But I think in 2012, me and my wife and some friends were drinking and went to a friends pool. I was doing flips and diving in the pool, and noticed I kept getting lost under water. Didn't know which way was up. I was dizzy and vomiting on the way home, and thought I was just drunk. The next morning I was still having vertigo and vomiting. Well it lasted for 2 months. Some how the flipping and landing in the water must have triggered something. It slowly went away and I went back to work. Anyways, those two things seemed to have something to do with it. Sorry for the long story. .