Curious question. About three- four years ago, I started having my first episodes of vertigo. After seeing my PCP, and audiologist I decided should actually see an ENT dr to finally put a name to all of my symptoms. I was lucky enough to find an ENT dr near by that actually deals with Menieres. Aft doing his own tests over the course of a few months, he said he was about 90% positive that based on my symptoms and the results from the tests that I had Menieres in my left ear. He gave me some information on Menieres and told me some stuff to do to help with the vertigo and if it really started to bother me a lot more again to come back and the next step would be to do injections in my ear. Over the course of the last three - four years, I would have occassionally vertigo nothing too severe. About a month ago, the vertigo came back with a vengeance. This time I would get episodes of vertigo like twice a day and about every other day. This is the worse that it has ever been. When it first started it would be a couple episodes a month and than it would go away for a month or two. So I went back to the ENT dr on Wednesday, and he redid one of the tests and asked a bunch of questions about my symptoms again. This time the test points to my right ear and he thinks it is BPPV. I go back on Feb 13 to get a hearing test, OAE, and VEMP testing done. I definitely feel that my hearing has gotten worse in my left ear. He gave me meclizine to take as needed ( I hate taking it because it makes me SUPER tired), 250 mg magnesium, and 25mg Effexor to take. Plus he gave me instructions to do the Epley maneuver at home (which i have done a few repetitions of, and haven't felt any vertigo or anything for that matter when I do them). Is it possible to have Menieres on one side and BPPV on the other? Or is it more likely that I have Menieres on both sides, but it is just my right side that is causing problems right now?
Hi CakeBaker, I had something similar happen to me back in the mid 1980s. I had bilateral Meniere's and started getting severe daily episodes of violent vertigo that would last for several hours. The only thing I could do was turn off the lights in my office and lie on the floor until the episode ended. I ended up having a right middle ear exploration done under local anesthesia and they found and patched three peri-lymphatic fistulas. I immediately felt much better and the severe vertigo stopped. Everything was fine for about 3 months and then the severe daily vertigo returned. They re-explored the right ear and found that one of the patches had blown. They repaired it and I've been vertigo free ever since. Best regards, Jim