I’m in LA, waiting for my appointment at the House Ear Clinic tomorrow, so am doing a little research that I thought I’d share. The “natural history” of a disease is our doctors’ term for “what happens if it’s not treated.” We can get that from not treating an illness, or from looking at the placebo groups when trials (experiments) are done. What I am seeing so far: After a firm diagnosis of Menieres ( which I think often takes 1-2 years), the first year tends to be bad with frequent vertigo. Then it improves spontaneously for the majority of patients (about 70%). But for how long? Some studies only followed these patients for a few years. 10% still have attacks after 10 years. (That’s where I’m at.) 30-50% eventually go bilateral (30% seems to be most quoted.) I’ll be more detailed once I’m home and not typing on my phone!
There may be a different history for pre- and post- internet. My first attack put me in the ER with a split esophagus from 8 hours of vomiting. That was 1990. The doctors at the hospital scrathed thier heads and sent me home. I went nine years with varying timeframes of attack - semi-annually, monthly, and finally weekly in 1999 which finally led to a diagnosis of Menieres disease. I went lo-so and "lived with it" for another nine years and then had an attack even worse than my first attack and it included a drop attack. At that point, I found this site and started doing JOH which helped for a while. Now it feels like my disease has changed. I still have the tinnitus and poor hearing but the severe vertigo has been replaced with frequent disequilibrium. That may be the result of the damage to the ear after 29 years of attacks. I guess my point is that had I had the internet in the beginning, and access to more information to fight this thing, it may have run a different course and thus I would have had a different history. Peace and good health!
Teesdale you’ve had a long road with the Beast. Ugh. I’m sorry for your rough journey but glad you’re here to share your experience with us, and to find things that have helped you. Yes your history would likely be different if you’d found treatments early. Just to clarify: “natural history” is what happens if a condition is completely untreated, whether by medicine, surgery, supplements etc.