intratympanic steroid injection

Well, first you'll have a hole in your ear drum which you'll need to have your doctor check from time to time. Make sure they numb the area well and they don't go for right in the center. My doc made sure to pick a spot that he said wouldn't be problematic in terms of hearing in case there were issues after the procedure.

You'll have to keep prone on your side for 30 minutes or so and make sure not to swallow, cough, sneeze, etc. or the steroid will go straight down your eustachian tube, which defeats the purpose. There's a new way of doing this called OTO-something that uses a gel so the steroid keeps in contact with your inner ear and has less issues but that's not readily available yet, last I heard. I had a suction tube placed in my mouth to keep from doing anything that would cause the steroid fluid to evacuate. Make sure you're not having any allergy issues, oral problems like a tooth ache, or anything that would cause you to produce more saliva than usual. (Yeah, not sure how else to state that but ...)

The theory is that the steroid will cause the inflammation or issue in the inner ear to subside and lessen the symptoms. In my case it didn't do much of anything but there are people that have said it helped. I read a post on this board where someone said that getting their eardrum perforated - Which by itself is called a myringotomy - relieved his symptoms. If you get the steroid you'll get that to check off your list too.

Good luck.

 

I had two injections of this type and they didn’t work at all. On the first ocassion I got a vertigo attack 12 hours after the injection and on the second attack it was only after 2 hours. On the second occasion the attack was so severe and long that I just wanted to die. It never helped me with tinnitus. And the Oto- something mentioned by tmc is a trial only at least here in Europe. Last year I was invited to take part in such a clinical trial but I refused as I was awaiting my surgery.
However there are people that got relief after the injection. You will never know unless you give it a go. And the hole grew back within a week and it wasn’t an issue at all for me.
Good luck

 

CKDK, here is a lengthy post MBach made about it a while ago.

http://menieres.org/talk/index.php?topic=945.0

After my shunt surgery lessened the frequency of my major attacks, but not my daily dizziness, I opted for gent injections. I had 5 over about 7 months. I believe they too helped lessen frequency of major attacks. But I don't know for sure. The lessening of attacks may have been a combo of burnout, shunt, and gent. Or maybe just burnout, impossible to say.

Anyway. I had minor negative reactions after each injection. Bit more dizziness after a few days. Minor reduction of hearing (temporary). Fatigue.

I never had the major dizziness or funny vision problems that many others experience after each injection.

As for the actual needle injection procedure. It hurts the most the first time, then lessens each time for some reason. Maybe you just get used to it. But I'm not gonna lie, it hurts. Even with the pain deadening solution. It only last about 7 seconds though. You can handle anything for 7 seconds.

They only made me lay reclined with head turned to side for about 15 min each time. For your first time I recommend going in with a dixie cup to spit as you lay there, so it doesn't go down the your estacian tube or however you spell it. And a kleenex for you eyes, as mine watered up pretty bad. A small travel pillow for your head wouldn't hurt. My doctor gave me nothing that I just described and I was very uncomfortable.

After your first one you won't need cup or kleenex. Just my experience mind you.

Some literature says if the first two injections don't work then gent probably won't work for you.

Good luck.

 

CKDK,

I don't know if I made it clear in the above post, but the gent injections did NOT solve my daily dizziness. They just MAY have lessened the frequency of my major spinning attacks.

I recently moved on and had my bad ear nerve cut, VNS surgery.

 

Pupper - do you have an update as to how you are feeling post VNS?

 

Getting the steroid injections was a horrible decision for me. They really didn't work. I tend to heal slowly, and the hole in my ear drum never healed. It seems to be because I'm prone to anemia. The hole was minuscule, and the doctor thought it healed. I found out it didn't heal when the nurse told me I could use peroxide to clean out my ear...I screamed for an hour.

 

There seems to be a little bit of confusion here. Some of the responses pertain to gent injections, others to steroids. OP was asking about steroids.

I had a series of three steroid (dexamethasone) injections, one week apart. The aim was to restore hearing. At that time, even though I had hearing loss, tinnitus and aural fullness, I had not experienced vertigo from that ear. Two days after the dex injection, I had a horrible vertigo attack and continued to have them regularly.

It was painful, even with the numbing agent. In fact, when the numbing agent was applied, it felt as if a burning match was being held to my eardrum for a few seconds. When I went back for the second injection, the hole was still visible, so it was used for the second injection, and the third. Now, several years later, the hole is still present. When I blow my nose there is a whistling or squealing sound. Both the ENT and neurotologist say it's causing no harm being there, so it's never been patched.

The injections did nothing to help with any of my MM symptoms. In hindsight, I'm sorry I had them done, but I already have profound deafness in the opposite ear from MM, so I was grasping at straws.

 

Holy hell Cheryl you're right. I tell myself to pay extra attention to things because of the fog, and I STILL keep missing stuff. Man, I just typed out all that gentamicin stuff for nothing! Ha, ok.

 

The gentamicin stuff wasn't for nothing, Pupper. It's valuable first hand information which will be useful to anyone considering gent injections. If someone does a search on gent injections, your post will come up.

It happens to all of us, so don't give it a second thought.

 

I get this injection just about every month for years. It helps a lot.
Try NOT to take the anesthetic injection they give you before the steroid shot. It doesn't hurt. You will only feel as if someone pulled a hair off. You may get a bit dizzy for a few seconds but it's only because the steroid is cold. The only problem is that the effects are not that long. I'm sure your doctor will do a treatment of 3 shots in a week. Go for it. It will not hurt or make the Meniere's worst. It can only help. Unlike oral steroids, It doesn't go through your system because it's local.

 

Remember that steroids are a major antiflammatory. This type of injections are the most basic form of treating for Meniere's. The needle is super long but almost like a hair in thickness so the hole is super small and it closes in a few days. Like anything, you need to let the meds work and one or two shots are not the answer. You need several series of shots.

 

ckdk - I've had more injections than I can count!!! I used to go on oral steroids when I had a flare up and they eventually stopped working. I then started getting the steroid injections (3 a week apart) and they worked wonderfully! Brought back my hearing, got rid of the fullness, hyperacusis, etc. After about 4 years, they just stopped working. The doctor tried a stronger solution and tried giving them closer together, but I got no relief. I WISH they still worked because it was an easy (albeit not fun) solution.

I say it's worth a try! Every single time the hole closed up within a week or so and although dr's can still see the scars when they look in my ear, I've never had any issues with the hole. Make sure they warm the steroid to room temperature otherwise you will get super dizzy. I didn't use any numbing agent by choice because they told me that gives you a greater risk of having a perforated eardrum after the fact and I didn't want to risk it. It's not pleasant, but it is SO fast that honestly I found it less bothersome than a tetnus shot. For me, it was the pressure of the needle going in versus the pain. I had to lay on my side for 20 minutes and have someone drive me home just in case, but after that I was good to go. Sometimes I only needed one shot, other times I'd get all three. They told me if three didn't work, it wasn't going to work at all.

I honestly wish they still worked. I was in and out and had my life back - now I'm struggling daily to find a new thing to get me through! Good luck!

 

TLB,
I agree with you 100%.
Since you haven't used them for a while maybe they will work again. Give it a try again.
The tetanus shot hurts a LOT more.
In all honesty I lost count of how many shots I've had but I've never experience any complications form them. Keep in mind they are making a little hole in your ear drum so you will have a bit of a buzz or noise in that ear but most of us already have ringing so it's almost unnoticeable.
K

 

I’ve had Meniers for about 16 years. The first 10 or so I would take an oral steroid pack when I had a flare up and it always got me back to normal (about 1-2 times a year) They then quit working and really messed with me so the injections were suggested. For the next 5 years or so the steroid injection series worked as well as the oral drug, but I was needing them more frequently. Twice the first couple years, then 3-4 times etc. I had injections in March and another 3 in April of this year and got zero relief. My new insurance doesn’t cover them as well and after 6 shots in 2 months I figured like the oral steroids, they just weren’t working anymore. It’s very frustrating to say the least.

 

Unfortunately yes. Had vertigo 5 times in June and then did well for 3 months. Just got hearing aids to try out and have had it twice in the last 2 weeks. Don’t know if it’s related at all or not.