A study published in the August edition of the American Journal of Medicine, tracked 65,000 women over a period of 18 years and found that those who drank more coffee reduced their odds of developing the condition. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/drinking-coffee-may-prevent-tinnitus/
I know. Drinking 5 cups of coffee even without tinnitus would do me in! If there are any brave coffee drinkers on this forum who want to experiment...let us know how it goes.
I love coffee, have done my whole life. As a younger man, I worked as a baker getting up early morning and polishing off a pot or two of normal strength coffee before noon daily. My family always had coffee after dinner too, we quit this some years ago however. I've cut back on my consumption as my meniere's has evolved, but never quit all together. The ENT says to avoid caffeine. He did not say to eliminate it. One of these days, and it won't be long, I am going to try eliminating caffeine all together. It is an extremely difficult habit to break, but I've done it once before in my life, so I think I can do it again if I apply myself. But I digress... I have taken to brewing a very strong, dark roasted blend of half-decaf and half-regular, using fresh beans to get a really great tasting coffee that I can enjoy while taking in less caffeine. If I take more than 2 1/2 cups of this in a single day, my tinnitus will get louder and my ear will start to feel blocked. According to my records, since my diagnosis I have gone over 5 cups in one day twice. Both times I had a moderate episode of vertigo within 20 minutes. Whenever I get a vertigo, my tinnitus is always worse. My ear is ringing louder now just thinking about it... Oh wait, I see the problem - the study "... tracked 65,000 women.." - so it only works for women, I guess?
maybe the study refers to people with tinnitus but not Meniere's. Many people have tinnitus that do not have MM.
I agree, I think that the study is for people whose tinnitus is not from Meniere's. Its too bad though, I LOVE my coffee. I would be in heaven if drinking it actually helped me. LOL
Another study indicated that pycnogenol reduces or eliminates both Meniere's and tinnitus symptoms. Like coffee, pycnogenol needs no prescription (but may take some time, weeks or months to become effective): http://menieres.org/talk/index.php?topic=362.0 --John of Ohio