Chemical Reactions
and Meniere's Disease Symptoms - Could There Be Any Connection?
It is important to realize that your body already has a
preset chemical structure. When you make a decision to take any chemical
(ANY chemical), you are doing it to change this chemical structure: to
feel differently. You may choose to do this yourself or have a health
professional advise you on what might be, in their judgment, the best
way to create a different feeling. You are seeking a different outcome.
You may do this consciously knowing you may have some side effects. Or
you may do this completely unaware that side effects might be an issue.
But the body always reacts to chemicals going into it or onto it. That
is the entire purpose of taking them.
Some common forms of chemical "applications" could be a
drug taken orally (by mouth) or by injection, hair colour, inhalants
(sprays), acne or skin care preparations, dental procedures, "adjusted'
bottled water, or eye drops. There are many ways to get chemicals into
your body: all of them are meant to create a change.
What you may not realize, though, is that this ‘planned”
change has other (side) effects. And these effects come with different
levels of severity. In the medical literature, it is common to find
three levels of reactions: mild, moderate (a little more serious) and
very serious. This is something you want to be aware of. MedlinePlus
mentions these phrases for any drug: (quote)
"What side effects can this
medication cause?, XXXXX may cause side effects. Tell your doctor if
any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away: Some side effects
can be serious. The following symptoms are uncommon, but if you
experience any of them, call your doctor immediately: Symptoms of
overdose may include:”
Below I will list a few “everyday” drugs and their links.
You can check each out the level of severity of their side effects. I
want you to look closely at these results. Is there any relation to
Meniere’s symptoms? (I’ll list the “classic symptoms shortly.) And even
more to the point: how can you get a diagnosis of Meniere's (menieres
disease) when these SYMPTOMS show up as side effects. You are now
"assigned" a new term, a disease. No attempt is done to explore the
possible causes of these symptoms! I have seen this over and over!
Many people are on drugs for high blood pressure. Yet
they now have low blood pressure and all the symptoms that go with that.
So you need to know what is going. This is after all your body.
Now that you have become aware of the different levels of
side effects, pay close attention when you read “balance and hearing
symptoms”: dizziness, vertigo, and tinnitus, (noise). Describing these
sensations (symptoms) is always subjective, meaning that only you can
feel them to the level of your awareness. That means that you can look
fine, but feel awful. You can "prove" (sign) that you may be a bit pale
and your pulse may be fast or slow, but no one can tell from your
appearance how you feel. (Feelings are recognized as SYMPTOMS: you can
see them.) The medical world uses the terms “signs and symptoms” to
describe situations.
The classic symptoms to arrive at a diagnosis for
Meniere's disease (balance and hearing issues) are 1) inner ear pressure
2) tinnitus 3) dizziness / vertigo 4) hearing fluctuation. I am not sure
how you can describe a “hearing fluctuation” aside from having it
present one time and absent another time or different degrees of
“loudness”. I know that there is a set of questions that are also taken
into consideration, but for many people, these symptoms alone, create a
diagnosis. Is that fair or realistic?
Once you have gone over a few and spotted these balance
and hearing symptoms, ask yourself if you may be having a reaction TO
something and maybe not really have this "disease".
I will use only common "products". I won‘t say drugs
because I have added one current chemical in use. And I will use drugs
or other products that people use BEFORE they show up in a doctor's
office with balance and hearing symptoms. I want you to understand that
the balance and hearing symptoms are known to be caused by "something".
If I have corresponded with you, most likely I will have sent you to one
or both of these drug sites: RxList.com
http://www.rxlist.com and the U.S. National Library of Medicine,
(The World's Largest Medical Library), known as MedlinePlus
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mplusdictionary.html
I use these sites for several reasons.
1) The Internet has allowed people to become their own
researchers. So I want to offer them sites that are credible,
professional, and give true meaning or value to their search.
2) I want these sites to show other resources so the
searcher can consider different points of view to assimilate several
opinions...or to confirm one opinion several ways.
3) I use MedlinePlus as it is a very respected health
site for general information. The content is easy to read and understand
for the layperson. Again this is important in order to help the reader
make informed choices. As this is a "general" site, with some
persistence, you may find all sorts of resources other than drug-
related information.
4) I send them to RxList.com for a very, very important
and specific purpose. This is a drug site. But the main reason I send
people to it is because it lists ALL the body system REACTIONS OR SIDE
EFFECTS. For a scientific researcher, this site may not be what they
seek, but for the layperson, they NEED to understand that the body is
made up of several different body systems and EACH system may show a
reaction to the chemicals they are putting into or onto their body. I
wonder if you realize that the acne ointment you pat on your face or the
cream you put on your feet or the drops you put into your eyes can
easily affect the rest of your body.
Here is my methodology
I will list the drug and their links to MedlinePlus and
RxList.com. Please visit each one for yourself. This is good practice. I
suggest you to look at the levels of side effects (mild,
medium/moderate, and serious) and how each chemical affects the ENTIRE
body.
My point again is to show you how a drug for one purpose
can give you all sorts of other effects. I feel we use the term "side
effect" inappropriately and we don't give these effects the respect or
the attention they deserve. The medical community knows the effects. One
professional may use one drug for one purpose and another health
professional uses it for a different outcome: same drug, different
intention.
Actually Medline Plus makes such a statement in the drug
description: (quote) “Other uses for this medicine”.
But the patient who takes this drug, still ends up with all the effects,
although they may not be aware. The situation often arises where the
patient now seeks medical attention for these new symptoms, not
realizing that this could have arisen from a previous treatment.
Here are some common drugs and their links. These are
everyday drugs I hear about. Look at the side effects. Most of the time,
only two levels of severity are noted. The third one, listing the
serious one, could be describes as "anaphylaxis". I have asked a lot of
medical professionals for some insight into what makes them use this
term or “a serious side effect”, but I really cannot find any definitive
answers.
What am I trying to tell you with this information? That
you may be talking a drug that has listed side effects, yet you are now
being diagnosed with a "disease” label. If you were aware of this
information, you would simply discuss this situation with your health
care professional. You obviously don't want that side effect. You
certainly don't want the unnecessary diagnosis. So take some action:
educate yourself. And always keep in mind that this is YOUR body and YOU
have to live in it.
This is how MedlinePlus talks about side effects and what
to do. MedlinePlus
(quote)
“Tell your doctor if any of these symptoms are
severe or do not go away: Some side effects can be serious. If you
experience any of the following side effects, call your doctor
immediately before you take any more “XXXX”: In case of
emergency/overdose”.
Simvastatin
http://www.rxlist.com/zocor-drug.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a692030.html
This is very new information on statin side effects
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/06/12/unintended-statin-sideeffect-risks-uncovered.aspx
Actonel
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a601247.html
http://www.rxlist.com/actonel-drug.htm
Diovan Valsartan
http://www.rxlist.com/diovan-drug.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a697015.html
Metipranolol Ophthalmic for glaucoma
http://www.rxlist.com/optipranolol-drug.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a601078.html
Ramipril
http://www.rxlist.com/altace-drug.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a692027.html
Metformin (this has loads of side effects!)
http://www.rxlist.com/glucovance-drug.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a696005.html
Atenolol: a beta blocker: please note this warning from
the RXList website
“While taking beta blockers,
patients with a history of anaphylactic reaction to a variety of
allergens may have a more severe reaction on repeated challenge, either
accidental, diagnostic or therapeutic. Such patients may be unresponsive
to the usual doses of epinephrine used to treat the allergic reaction.”
http://www.rxlist.com/atenolol-drug.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a684031.html
Tylenol
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a681004.html
http://www.rxlist.com/tylenol-drug.htm
If you have gone through all the drugs or are least a few
of them, you may have noted a lot of balance-related symptoms, but few
hearing-related ones. And how does one test for "hearing fluctuation?
That is truly a personal decision. If you search for the word "tinnitus"
(hearing, noise), you will find many possible causes. However, the
purpose of this article is to show you the different levels of severity
for chemicals. If you would like to learn more about side effects of
drugs that CAUSE hearing loss and maybe hearing fluctuation, look up the
term "Ototoxicity ".
http://www.vestibular.org/vestibular-disorders/specific-disorders/ototoxicity.php
I mentioned above that drugs often have “multiple” uses:
again, this is where the levels of severity again come into play.
Medline Plus says (quote) “Other uses for this
medicine”. If you Google the term “ototoxicity drugs”, you will
find over a million responses. If you search for “ototoxic drugs”, you
get 8 responses!! (The power of words!) Here is a direct quote from
VEDA. Incidentally, this is a great site to explore. (quote)
“Ototoxicity ("ear poisoning") is due to drugs
or chemicals that damage the inner ear or the vestibulo-cochlear nerve,
which sends balance and hearing information from the inner ear to the
brain. Ototoxicity can result in temporary or permanent disturbances of
hearing, balance, or both.”
http://www.vestibular.org/vestibular-disorders/specific-disorders/ototoxicity.php
A further quote from their site says, (quote) ”Many
chemicals have ototoxic potential, including over-the-counter drugs,
prescription medications, and environmental chemicals. If you are taking
any drugs on the advice of your physician, do not stop taking them just
because you see them listed below. Speak with your doctor or other
health care advisor about your concerns.” But please look at the
fact they mention BOTH hearing and balance effects.
As you know, it is “flu season” and flu shots are being
promoted. Please do your own searching on them before you get your jab.
No matter what you are told, they do have side effects. And again,
levels of severity of the symptoms come into play. From my own
experiences in administering them, I have witnessed these levels of side
effects.
Health is your natural state. Your immune system is your
body’s natural protection. This is your overall defence mechanism. It
reacts automatically. And it reacts because it doesn’t like things that
are not natural to it, like chemicals. It works “behind the scenes” all
the time to keep you healthy. It allows certain things, but reacts to
others, sometimes “irrationally”. If your body is healthy, it can
withstand many more intruders than an unhealthy body. A healthy body is
strong enough to handle these intruders. It doesn’t like intruders
because they could harm you. So it does its best to keep them out. The
ones it can’t keep out, it reacts to by trying to wash them out
(inflammation) or by getting you to vomit.
Help your body by being aware of what you put into or
onto it. When you are happy and healthy, your body is in its right
place. If you are not, try to figure out what you are doing to it. You
have some valuable and easy to use tools to do your in-depth research.
