Someone had mentioned Decadron in a previous post and I found some info on it. this is a year old I will see fi I can find any more recent info about it http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/healthy-choices/article2609275.html#storylink=cpy Tamara Cardinal never knows where she’ll be when vertigo attacks. Sometimes it’s in the office, sometimes it’s on the freeway. Wherever she is, she has one crucial minute to get to stable ground before her world starts spinning. “All you can do is just sit still with your eyes closed,” she said. “You can’t imagine what it feels like. It’s so debilitating.” Cardinal, 58, suffers from the intense dizziness of vertigo as a result of her Ménière’s disease – an inner ear disorder that causes imbalance, nausea, ringing ears and hearing loss due to inflammation. The disorder affects about 600,000 people nationwide, mostly between the ages of 30 and 70. While there are currently no FDA-approved drug therapies for Ménière’s disease, Cardinal is one of nine patients locally and hundreds in North America to be receiving treatment for the condition via a clinical drug trial. The trial is live at 50 sites across the United States and Canada, including the Sacramento Ear, Nose and Throat Surgical and Medical Group Inc., a private practice employing Dr. Kevin McKennan, an expert in Ménière’s disease. “Our treatment of it in ENT has been difficult and largely unsuccessful,” McKennan said. “It really doesn’t treat the entire condition or do anything to improve the hearing ... all of us in the field are waiting for some future development that will do that.” The treatment being tested in Sacramento and elsewhere is a gel form of a steroid called Decadron, which was shown in a pilot study at the University of South Carolina to reduce symptoms in 70 percent of Ménière’s patients for up to six months. While Decadron has proved effective in reducing inflammation in other parts of the body, Ménière’s researchers have had difficulty administering it to the inner ear, where it might slosh around and cause problems in its liquid form, McKennan said. The new treatment combines Decadron with a chemical compound called poloxamer to form a gel with reverse thermal qualities, meaning it begins as a liquid and becomes a semi-solid once heated inside the body. Clinicians inject the liquid into the inner ear, where it then takes three to four weeks to dissolve into the ear drum and begin reducing inflammation, McKennan said. Cardinal said her symptoms became worse during the two weeks immediately following her injection in May, but began improving drastically after that. Now Cardinal, who lives in the Bay Area and commutes to McKennan’s office, said she has not had a vertigo attack in more than three months. “It was unbelievably better,” she said. “This is going to work for people. I was kind of skeptical at first, I didn’t know if there was anything that could make it better.” To be eligible for the trial, which opened in January and will accept participants for the next two months, patients must have a confirmed Ménière’s diagnosis and a referral from a physician. So far, there are nine participants enrolled in Sacramento, more than in any of the 50 participating sites, according to clinical trial coordinator Bryan Hughes. There are only 39 total Ménière’s-related trials being conducted internationally, said Hughes, a fraction of the number being done for more studied conditions. Hughes said the current study has been a collaborative effort among the sites, the FDA, the Institutional Review Board and Otonomy Inc., a San Diego-based drug developer specializing in ear medicine, to move the gel closer to FDA approval. In the next stage of testing, patients who received the placebo this time around will be guaranteed to receive the treatment. “It’s a ‘takes a village’ kind of thing,” Hughes said. “We’re excited about a new treatment outcome – an arrow in a quiver, if you will.” Also a video about it http://www.local10.com/news/health/new-drug-could-be-first-fdaapproved-medication-to-treat-menieres-disease/27759832
Is this any different than the Intratympanic Dexamethasone Injections? or is it the same thing just now being done in studies?
My first question would be, how do they inject it into the inner ear, since the inner ear is surrounded by rock hard bone?
I watched the video and there's no way he's injecting into the inner ear. Not possible. This whole sentence doesn't make sense: Clinicians inject the liquid into the inner ear, where it then takes three to four weeks to dissolve into the ear drum and begin reducing inflammation, McKennan said.
I had decade on injections into my inner ear. My OTO would put it a numbing agent which she vacuumed out before injecting. It didn't hurt one bit and I could feel it being shot in. The down side was a 2 minute violent spin from that much fluid going directly to the inner ear. Almost immediately I could see and hear better and could always drive myself home. I would go every other week for about a month. When we saw that it was successful, I had tubes put in so that I could do the decade on drops at home and get the same results. Three drops in each ear lying on your side and laying that way for 15 minutes. When I did get up, none of the liquid came out. It did, however, stop working for me after about 3 years. I think this may have promise. It may even be like a surgery if necessary where you are sedated for the procedure. However if it can be done in the office, as the initial decade on injections were, it would be a pice of cake with a 6 month life for the injections. Sign me up
I've also had a series of dexamethasone injections. The needle is inserted through the eardrum and the solution goes into the middle ear. A needle can not penetrate the bone surrounding the inner ear, so no solution immediately enters the inner ear. I've also had shunt surgery and a VNS. The surgeon uses a drill and a saw to get to the inner ear. I'm just saying the article is wrong where it states the solution is injected into the inner ear and takes three to four weeks to dissolve into the eardrum. It's already through the eardrum. The solution is injected through the eardrum, into the middle ear and takes three to four weeks to enter the inner ear via the round window. The only difference with this new method is that the liquid turns to gel once injected and heated by the body.
I have had 3 Decadron shots so far...... So yes - first a numbing agent into your ear - (which does drip into your throat and is kinda yucky).... then a few mins later the shot....into your eardrum - the first one I had hurt like a MF'er....not gonna lie... and it hurt really bad after -- You must not close your eyes and you must focus on one spot on the ceiling because there is about a minute where you feel like you are going into a full on vertigo attack.... then it is over with - it takes all of 5 mins start to finish -- then you have to lay in the chair for about 20-25 mins with a cottonball - and then you can go home -( or back to work). ( wear a sweater if its summer - i was freezing in the chair with the AC blasting in the office) The first few days after the shot you feel worse - but then - yes - you absolutely feel better - I haven't had an attack since April 6th. I still have my dizzy mornings but once I take my vitamins and shower and get going I am ok -- The tinnitus is for ME is drastically reduced... So for ME - these shots were a Godsend.... Now in the meantime - I also got a Minette Device.... ( back in April the same day I had my shot) and had to have a tube put in my right ear.... when I first got the machine I needed a shot because I had only had it for a week or so and had an attack ( supposedly you can tell a differnce in about 60 days which is about right because I haven't had to get a shot in months - the device seems to be working for me) - anyway - the Dr tried to drip the Decadron into the tube in my ear but it just kept backing up so we had to go with the shot - I asked him to use a little more numbing agent this time and I felt great... just that one little spot of dizzy and of course - everything you hear in there is magnified like you have bionic hearing -- but I went right back to work after..... tired for a couple of days after.... but I have really felt great since April 6th.... have been to a bunch of concerts ( had a special ear plug made by my ENT) - drag races, went jetskiing ( ear plug for water since i have the tube) - boating etc.... So as long as I am watching my sodium intake ( I stay between 1200mg and 1400mg a day) - getting enough rest - eating well -- and taking a valium if I start to feel dizzy - along with the Lipoflavanoids and 2000 mg of B-12 I feel ALMOST normal again..... I am hoping that the Meniette Device is now doing its job ( I use it 4 times a day) and that I won't need to go back for a shot - BUT - if I do have an episode I wouldn't hesitate to go - Feeling normal for 4 months at a clip is way better than 3 or 4 vertigo episodes a week....brain fog - worsening hearing loss - worsening tinnitus etc.... Just remember - with this disease - what works for one doesn't work for another -- If my regimen ever stops working for me I will absolutely try the anti-virals - so far I haven't needed to - but I gave my Dr the printouts from the forum and he is all for trying whatever I want.... I love that he is so open to this and is doing more research on his own with it.....