Dear Friends, Someone who has had unilateral meniere and after having a labyrinctomy has later evolved to bilateral meniere? What do you think happens in these cases? Is the person permanently out of balance? I'm thinking doing a labyrinctomy because I've had meniere since 2009 and I'm tired of this life but I'm afraid of developing meniere in the good ear... Greetings from Portugal!
I do not know much about labyrinthectomies at the moment as I've yet to ever have vertigo. However, I did recently stumble upon this page which had the following to say on the matter: "This very aggressive treatment was recently reported by Mackeith et al (2014). The basic idea is to eliminate all inner ear function with bilateral labyrinthectomies, and use a cochlear implant to provide "bionic" hearing. We are unenthused about this idea for several reasons: First, surgical removal of the inner ear would make it impossible for hair cell regeneration to every be useful. This treatment is currently in clinical trials, and we expect that it will be eventually, be able to repair some of the "original equipment" in Meniere's disease. Second, bilateral labyrinthectomy is an irrational procedure. One can use streptomycin (see above), or just bilateral gentamicin, to eliminate bilateral vestibular function without affecting hearing. One could then still implant one ear, leaving both vestibular systems potential candidates for hair cell regeneration in the future."
Greetings Luis! If you develop menieres in your good ear and need to have another labyrinthectomy remember you still have your eyesight and your skeletal body to help keep you upright. There are people on this board who live with double labys and continue to live pretty normal lives. I have had a laby and if I had to make a choice of a second laby in order to not have vertigo I would do it. I lost a few good years to menieres and I would not go through those years again! And remember cochlear implants will help you hear. The technology improves every day.
Thanks Redwing. I think I'm going to move on to the operation. Beginning of september I have the appointment with my doctor to communicate my decision. I don't have many vertigo spells per year (it depends on the years but about 3...4... which last about 1 week) but I'm out of balance many days per year.... also heavy head... I'm fed up!