Meniere's and depression

Welcome.
I believe it is a natural progression into depression and anxiety. Many people have no idea when the next attack will strike and this can induce anxiety. We can become depressed because life is so different, so abnormal from what we once knew. It's like an emotional heaviness that descends upon us. We cannot predict the next episode and we attempt to make changes in an attempt to achieve some sense of normalcy. So yes, anxiety and depression affect many of us.

 

My depression didn’t start until I developed cochlear hydrops in my “good ear”, approx six years after the labyrinthectomy in my “bad ear”. Been on antidepressants ever since.

 

To some degree, at least, depression can be induced by low vitamin D-3 levels. Before I started supplementing with 7000IU (total) of vitamin D-3, each winter I'd get pretty severe SAD, seasonal affective disorder; the winter blues. No longer. In winter, anywhere north of 40 degrees latitude, the sun remains at a low angle, even at noon. Vitamin D is synthesized in the sun-exposed skin (of which there is little in winter) by the activity of ultraviolet B (UVB) rays. But UVB is absorbed by the atmosphere when it's at winter's low sun angles. Hence, virtually no vitamin D is synthesized in winter; the body must rely on the amounts stored in body fat; which isn't much in most cases. Hence, winter-time vitamin D deficiencies, and the resultant reduced immune system activity against viruses. That's exactly why colds and flues tend to occur in winter. Since taking my daily 7000IU of vitamin D (now for about 15 years), I've never had a cold or flu.

--John of Ohio

 

I’ve had Ménière’s for over 40 years now. I think social isolation due to hearing loss has been linked to depression. I have taken antidepressants for about 15 years. The worst depression (I call it the engulfing black tar pit) will pass. Hope your not in that bad place.

 

Ive had anxiety and depression since I was a kid. Didn't start taking medicine for it till I was in my late 30s. I did have a bit of anxiety while driving the other day. I rarely drive, and this time I started to get anxiety on account of the difficulty of paying attention while driving and battling my Menieres. It sucked.

 

#Hickspanic I hope someday you will have relief . Driving is refuge for me. I hyperfocus and that somehow dilutes whatever symptoms are present. Even tinnitus is diminished because I am occupied with making good driving decisions. This has always been the case over thirty plus years with only two exceptions. Those two times I felt the vertigo breaking through so I parked safely, downed my meds, and waited until i was safe. Fortunately none of those situations were severe vertigo so I did not vomit.

 

I've had depression and anxiety intermittently, even before Meniere's. I've been on lots of different meds, and have done so much mental/soul/body work. Meniere's took the mood disorders to a whole new level. Whenever the vertigo recurs, or my balance worsens, the anxiety, fatigue and depression take a few months to settle. I'm currently on Remeron and Concerta. I save my benzos (Clonazepam or Ativan) mostly for vertigo flares, but will take them occasionally (or even a mild narcotic Tramadol) to give myself a little break-the-cycle relief. (I don't drink alcohol anymore.)

I think more cardio and resistance exercise might help, but I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (pre-dating Meniere's) and POTS (my heart rate goes up too high when standing) which probably got worse post-meniede's onset, so I have to really gradually to not crash and burn. I think of these as Goldilocks Syndrome - everything has to be just so!

 

I have read somewhere recently that deficiency of iodine in a body may result in depression/ anxiety symptoms. Perhaps it’s worth investigating.

 

I had a strange thing happen the other day, which I intend to post about when more time has passed. But in a nutshell: I've been struggling for several months with random dizziness and feeling off, not all the time but frequent. Then one day I felt absolutely fine!! It was incredible. That was only 2 or 3 days ago and I can feel it slipping away. However, as it relates to the subject of this thread - I felt like a different person. I felt younger and more energetic, obviously happier. I had been having issues with tenseness and those are gone too.

It just shows what a burden this disease is. I was just so used to the feeling that I didn't really notice it. So, yeah, depression is part of it for sure.

 

The current state of the world isn't so good..take that and add in
ones own personal background/issues plus a dose of Meniere's to
top it off.....it's enough to depress anybody, Meniere's or not.

Lived with Meniere's for a long time now (30+ years), and learned a
few things along the way. Some days the tinnitus is so loud I feel like
I'm at the first ever rehearsal for a punk band, and the momentary dizzies
are always lurking in the background, like some lecher waiting for the
right moment to pounce.

#1 is I keep my mind occupied. Dwelling on what that idiot disease is doing
in my head won't help a thing. About 15 years ago I learned a trick to make
lengthy vertigo attacks more tolerable. I mean, I'm stuck there with my head
in the porcelain goddess, and the attack isn't going to stop until it's ready
to. Nothing says you can't be thinking of something else while doing the technicolor
yawn, so I came up with a daydream that I'd push my mind into during those times.
When the attack ended I was exhausted, as always, but my mental state was
better because I just let the body do what it had to, while my mind was elsewhere.

#2. I crave solitude. I have a shop in my garage that I turned into a shop/office,
and out here I don't hear all the noises of the house, and neighborhood. Interacting
with people is difficult when you can't make out the words they're saying. I've got
a good TV, and use it also as my computer monitor. I'm not a "gamer" at all, but do
love solitaire, and play the Microsoft tournaments daily. It takes concentration to be
able to be competitive, and keeping my brain busy allows me to pretty much forget
about the tinnitus.

I live in a small neighborhood in a rural, rainforest area. After 9pm you can hear a
duck fart from a block away. About daylight, I can hear the logging trucks going up
into the mountains that are several miles away.

#3 When I'm really down on myself, I'll watch a few episodes of Ridiculousness,
a show on MTV. Sometimes they can be a bit gross, but it won't take long and
you'll be laughing..and that's the best medicine of all.

#4 Remember...Meniere's is episodic...maybe today sucks big-time, but KNOW
that there are better days ahead, and be sure to take advantage of them when
they come. Have a few things planned for when those days come...GO HAVE FUN!

 

Never quite heard it referred to that way ... Indeed, I'm definitely acquainted with her, sorry to say. An hour spent with her seems like days.