Menieres Diseae FAQs. Questions and answers about Meniere's Disease and Meniere's symptoms.

Disclaimer

These questions and observations are provided for educational and informational purposes only. The website does not make either medical or special claims, nor does it attempt to diagnose or treat any ailment. This website is not intended to be a replacement for care by a qualified medical health professional. It does not encourage self diagnosis for personal treatment and the reader must assume responsibility for verifying personal observations through consultation with a licensed health care professional. The author is not responsible for the use effectiveness or safety of any procedures or products mentioned in this book.

Let me encourage you to think a little differently…to turn this “diagnosis” into a question. Would it be possible to ask yourself what is causing the symptoms instead of accepting the verdict of a name?

If you have a question about Meniere's Disease that we have not covered here yet, please email us. You can go to our Meniere's Question page by using this link.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

Hi Karin, thanks for the information. What I don’t understand is if you have found a vitamin regimen and nutritional supplement that help with Meniere’s why has the medical community not picked up on this, especially that you are a nurse.

MY OBSERVATION:
Great question! The medical community is all about treating symptoms. They do not search for causes once they have established a protocol or someone has come up with a solution and a drug that they feel is helpful. That is what they are trained to do. So they “batch” the symptoms, recognize them as a disease and offer the conventional treatment for this disease. The classic symptoms for Meniere's (balance and hearing issues) include: 1) inner ear pressure 2) tinnitus 3) dizziness / vertigo 4) hearing fluctuation. The same treatment is offered almost all over the world. It mainly consists of a low salt diet, a diuretic and some form of antihistamine. This is the recognized treatment. BUT did anyone ever stop to ask why they might have the symptoms in the first place? That is not their purpose. You come with balance and hearing problems, and they offer this to help you get past the symptoms.

What we have found is that these symptoms can have many, many possible causes. Nature is governed by “cause and effect” in everything and that includes us humans. And what might affect the balance nerve (balance symptoms ) may not automatically affect the hearing nerve. They are two totally distinct nerves, but they reside in the same area of the body. I suspect it’s why they get grouped /batched from knowledge obtained from many years past. If you want to see a good comparison, check out how the H. Pylori bacterium was discovered…same process: “cause and effect”. This discovery changed the surgery for ulcers overnight ONCE it was accepted, but that took years to change the medical community. The scientists knew this quite a while before it was accepted by others.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

In looking thru the internet extensively, I see nothing that comes close to speaking to vitamin and nutritional supplements?

MY OBSERVATION:
That is another part of this equation. If you have a healthy body, it can withstand a lot of “problems or invaders’, but an unhealthy body or one not as fit as needed (even in just one area) will break down at the weakest point: another scientific fact. So the supplements (not all) will heal the body, but you still need to find the cause and fix it, or at least manage it.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

I would love nothing more than to stop having middle of the night ‘attacks’ and ringing in my ears.

MY OBSERVATION:
Again, this is all about “cause and effect”. And the way to find the cause is to go BACK over the PREVIOUS 12 - 24 hours. If you realize that nothing happens without a cause, you know that the cause will have to happen first: then the symptoms occur. So go back over the last hours and see what you are doing.. eating, putting onto or into our body. This again, is plain common sense.. something is bothering your body. Search for it now that you have this information. You have many possibilities. Start with them today.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

I know that I sound very skeptical but as you probably well know from your own experiences, there can be a lot of scammers over the internet and who do you trust.

MY OBSERVATION:
It is why I send all the links. Then you can think this through for yourself. I see all this as using your own good common sense and be very grateful for the Internet. Yes you can have lots of unscrupulous people, but you can learn so much more about your own needs. Take back control of your own thinking.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

People like me who feel desperate for help want the ‘cure’ for their Meniere’s

MY OBSERVATION:
The “cure” has to be in finding AND dealing with the cause and / OR healing your body’s defense systems (immune systems)

COMMENT/QUESTION:

I want honest and trustworthy information. I hope that you can provide me with a bit further information.

MY OBSERVATION:
I am very happy to share any knowledge and ideas anytime. If I haven’t answered this satisfactorily, let me know.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

I am 43 years old. I have tinnitus (ringing in my ears) in both ears and some hearing loss in my right ear. Usually the ringing and hearing loss get worse before a spell of the dizziness.

MY OBSERVATION:

Nothing happens in nature without a cause. You have two nerves that present you with these symptoms. What irritates or puts pressure on one nerve, will many times also affect the other. They run side by side. The vestibular nerve has to do with balance: vertigo and dizziness, and auditory nerve has to do with sound: hearing or noise. In your case, would it not seem as though something is putting more pressure on the hearing nerve before it puts pressure or irritated the balance nerve?…so you may want to ask yourself why and what could be doing this. You might want to ask for our “observations” (link to triggers??) and see if any one of those might help you think this through a little more productively.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

After talking to doctors, I was prescribed water pills, which did not help. The closest diagnosis they have been able to give me is Meniere’s Disease.

MY OBSERVATION:

Are you aware that the correct description of Meniere’s is really an “idiopathic syndrome”? All that the term means is that no one really knows what causes the symptoms. Might it not be an idea to spend some time looking for the causes? You might ask yourself what could be giving you balance and or hearing symptoms…you might want to have the list we have compiled as we have learned cause from others.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

One specialist gave me a nasal spray to clear up my sinuses (I was seeing him while I was feeling okay). Although I told him otherwise, he told me "it didn't make sense" that I would get sick when my nose cleared, so we tried the spray. Within 24hrs I was sick again.

MY OBSERVATION:

The basic idea of the spray is to dry up the tissue. Normal healthy sinus tissue is soft and moist: not dried up. Its function is to trap or filter out unwanted elements. Just as you would moisten a cleaning sponge before you use it, you need to have moist sinus tissue in order for it to do its job (filtration). If you allow these unwanted elements to get into your body, chances are that your body will try to reject them (foreign matter) and wash them out (inflammatory process). The natural action of your sinuses is to protect you from noxious fumes or smells, or all sorts of minute particles. By drying them you are:

1) Adding more chemicals you body and you maybe want to think about that.

2) Stopping the natural action of your sinuses…the dried tissue now can't do its "assigned" natural job of filtering.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

I have been to see a few specialists, had various hearing tests performed, had a CAT scan, all revealing nothing obvious.

MY OBSERVATION:

This is a case no news is good news! That is a great baseline to have. Now you know there is no pathology. Now you don’t need to worry about a growth, but can start looking for underlying causes for the symptoms...this is a blessing.

COMMENT/QUESTION:

Just wondering if you know of about endolymphatic shunt surgery? My 2 specialists are recommending it to me. I have bilateral Meniere's and am suffering a lot.

MY OBSERVATION:

This would say to me that they feel your symptoms have to do with pressure. The shunt surgery is an attempt to release the pressure, but no one is helping you find the cause of it. And know, as I am sure they have told you that this procedure may or may not help your problem. Many shunts fall out almost immediately and many block quickly. Ask you doctor what some of the complications are, and as in any invasive procedure, your body will react to this with even more inflammation. It may relieve pressure for a while, but I think they will tell you that it is not permanent.

Could I maybe get you to think about this situation a little differently? You have been told you have “bilateral Meniere’s”….may I encourage you see this only as symptoms to do with balance and hearing? The body is all about “cause and effect”. Why would this happen? What could be putting pressure on the balance and or hearing nerve? As you may already know, this is NOT a disease. The correct terminology so "idiopathic syndrome". If you ask your doctor they will tell you that is correct, but they will go back and use the "disease" term. That seems to limit what they will prescribe or how much they are prepared to help you. However, if YOU choose to look for the underlying cause of these symptoms, it will most likely lead you to THINK differently.

The "bilateral" part is simply the fact that something is causing such a problem that the resulting pressure is spreading to the balance and hearing nerves in both ears. (I liken it to a river overflowing its banks.) From what I have learned about the body’s reaction to “unwanted” elements. I would hazard a guess that this might be some sort of inflammation or irritation. This would be your body’s most frequent and initial response.

I use the example of the stubbed toe that swells, or the eye with the dust in it. No matter what the cause, the area swells with fluid (interstitial): the toe tissue expands and the eye tears fall outwards. That says there is room to expand. But there isn’t that kind of space available to expand in the inner ear. So if there is no room to expand, does it not follow that the pressure of this increased amount of fluid has to compress onto something “compressible”? Ultimately, whatever nerve you compress or affect, will give you symptoms. And in this case, it would appear to be balance and hearing symptoms. (That is what Meniere’s is tagged with.)

Let me encourage you to think step further. It follows that if you find the cause of the inflammation or irritation, and do something about it, you could change the outcome. Again, cause and effect. Here is an example. For one person who had these symptoms, she found the insulation in her home to be the problem. She knew she had an allergy to one of the components of the insulation. So she changed the insulation and her problem ceased to be giving her symptoms: changed the results. You may want to study this idea a bit further with this link.

http://www.menieres-disease.ca/health_reports/inflammatory-and-healing-processes.htm

My doctor in NYC told me about a drug that is only available in Canada and England, and that is Supposedly effective (Betahistine?)

Is it possible to have Meniere's disease without any type of ear symptoms (fullness, ringing etc) as the only symptom I have is dizziness?

May I encourage you to think in terms of the symptoms, rather than the name? The classic symptoms of Meniere’s include 1) hearing fluctuation, 2) tinnitus (noise), 3) dizziness and vertigo, and 4) inner ear pressure. The name is merely someone’s name…you really want to determine why you have dizziness. And there are many, many possible causes. We have learned that many drugs have this as a side effect. So I would check any that you are on first.

Would the treatment for Meniere's be suitable for an Acoustic Neuroma? This is a benign tumor in the inner ear. This results in me having tinnitus, loss of balance and hearing loss - like Meniere's.

I want to encourage you to see the “Meniere’s” word as symptoms only. This is a person’s name. The correct description for Meniere’s is “idiopathic syndrome”, meaning no one knows what causes it. Here are the classic symptoms for Meniere’s: hearing fluctuation, tinnitus (noise), dizziness and vertigo, and inner ear. Could it then be that you don’t have “Meniere’s, but rather your tumor is giving you these symptoms? Then you would ask if the system we mention would be suitable and I would have to honestly say that I don’t know. But I would encourage you to have us put you in touch with a medical doctor who might have a better answer. Has anyone suggested that it might be removed?

Last Monday I decided to get rid of all my medications. (I was told to keep them in the cupboard just in case I get a Meniere's attack.) I had purchased Calcium, Multi tablet, Fish oil, and Ginkgo for myself and wanted to start it this weekend when I was home just in case I didn't feel well the first couple of days. I went to the Neurologist on Friday. The doctor said it was a go, for me to get off these medicines and try the system. He also wants me to see the "best ENT around" and seek vestibular rehab. I am seeing dollar signs in front of me when he was telling me this. Hopeless, I don't know if they are just trying to make money for each other or if they can really help.

No, I think they are honestly trying to help with what few other ideas are available. Good luck with the supplements. Let me know if they don’t work as well as you expect them to and I’ll send you the system information.

Friday the 14th rolled around and it was "the day from hell" No medications in me. Very, very cloudy outside. Weather forecasted rain, rain, rain!! My ears turned really funny, not the usual. Not just one, but also both.

The very first thing I would look at is your sinus situation. From the many years we have been doing this information sharing, sinus problems have been near the forefront of underlying causes. And it makes a lot of sense. Here is a quick anatomy and physiological lesson. Your sinuses are the gatekeepers for your head. they keep out as much unwanted material as possible: smells, chemicals, dust, etc. if you are like many other people you may be using nasal sprays or drugs (prescription or over the counter ones) to stop them from dripping or post nasal drips. Unfortunately they then they can’t do their assigned job. They need to be soft and mushy and able to filter out any unwanted material. So now you have all this unwanted material in your body. It is my thinking that this sets off the body’s natural response to anything it doesn’t want in there. And this response (inflammatory response) creates extra fluid to wash out the toxic material. Now you have all this excess fluid and no place to expand to. But now you also have a change in atmospheric pressure. If you have ever used a presume cooker, you will recognize the pressure you are creating. Can you imagine the increased pressure as this continues? But by understanding this and knowing you can clean out your sinus naturally, without meds, it isn’t so much of a problem anymore. Let me know if you would like to discuss this in greater detail. This may not be the underlying cause for your day from hell, but for many people it is. It’s worth trying.

If you look at the picture of a head, you will see how close the eye nerves are to the ears nerves. Would it not makes sense that what affects one set, could and maybe would affect the other set of nerves?

Your optical nerve(s) is/are very close to the hearing (acoustic) and balance (vestibular) nerves. Could it be that the pressure would naturally flow to the eyes? I would guess that it would also go to many other, but you wouldn’t be as affected by them. Hearing and balance problems are very annoying and debilitating.

I would try the supplements if it weren’t so expensive. It is way too high a price for me without certainty that it will work. The more I read the more it says that it will take a lot of time or it may not work, so at this time I cant afford to do it.

We have been receiving comments like this now since April 2001. And it always amazes me that people look for help for their symptoms and then don't do anything more.

There is so much you can do! The supplements may be "relatively" expensive compared to doing nothing. That would be a choice if they are not too debilitating. But there is so much to learn first of all.

First of all, see these symptoms as symptoms only. Don’t assign a name to them. The correct description or terminology is “idiopathic syndrome”. All that means is no one knows what causes the balance and hearing symptoms. But the symptoms are lumped together in a name and that seems to end any discussion. Be your own detective. Ask yourself what could be causing the dizziness or hearing problems. We have found many things to cause them. Let’s say you did find one possibility. Obviously you would research this more. Nothing happens in nature (and you are part of nature) without a cause and that cause always has an effect. Often it’s the effect (the symptoms) that doctors will treat. But your mission should be to find the underlying cause. How do the supplements get into the picture? They are meant to restore health to your immune system. Your goal should always be optimal health.

I am a commercial truck driver. I may change altitudes three or more times in a day. This can range from sea level to up to 9,000 feet. Can this constant change in altitudes cause equilibrium problems in a person with Meniere’s. I am having a lot of problems with fluid retention behind the eardrums and sometime ear infections. I also suffer from motion sickness and a shooting pain through both ears. Are these normal problems?

Allow me to offer a different perspective. I assume you are the person who has symptoms related to the term “Meniere’s”. The classic symptoms of “Meniere’s” include hearing fluctuation, dizziness/ vertigo, tinnitus and fullness or pressure in the ear. These all have to do with balance and hearing: the two nerves in this area. As “Meniere’s” is not a disease, but an idiopathic syndrome, it means that no one knows the cause. Everyone guesses and treats the symptoms. All you really know is your symptoms and they have to do “equilibrium problems, fluid retention behind the eardrums and sometime ear infections suffer motion sickness and a shooting pain” (your words). Let’s see how your words relate to either balance or hearing symptoms, or not to either. For instance “the equilibrium problems” & motion sickness, are balance-related. The ear infection is an infection, and thus is not a balance or hearing symptom. And fluid retention is also not related to either, except, of course, both are in the ear. (Technically they are a sign of something unusual in the ear.) Bear with me as I try to show you something. Do you think the ear infection could give rise to fluid retention? The body is always trying to “wash out” its unwanted intruders (inflammatory process)…could it be wanting to wash out the ear infection (causing fluid retention)? Could the balance problems be caused by excess fluid being retained (because of the infection) in the inner ear? Could this now be affecting the normal function of the balance nerve? And if you know your high school physics, can you now see how the changes in altitude would also bring pressure changes? And I would assume those changes would also bring changes in the intensity of the symptoms. Can you also see if you dealt with the ear infection, you might not have these symptoms? you may want to spend a little time in this webpage.

I have been thinking a lot about sinuses. For some reason, my Meniere’s has changed the past several months.

I think the main culprit is congestion in the sinuses in the face and head. I have pressure in back of the head and top of the head, which moves around and makes me get that feeling of pushing down on the head. I rarely ever had that kind of Meniere's. ( I think they're called drop attacks)

Can you tell me from your experience of dealing with lots of Meniere's people; is sinus congestion a common problem?

It's a huge problem. It is our # 2 cause as we hear from people. (Dental problems are #1.) When you are congested and it gets hot, the fluid (congestion) loosens and increases in size (expands). When it gets cold, it solidifies. Both ways you seem to lose! Have you thought of dealing with your sinuses so they are cleaned out and are nice and soft and filtering as nature intended them to be? It stands to reason they would not then get so congested. Incidentally, drop attacks are about falling over without warning.

You mention “I have pressure in back of the head and top of the head” & “the feeling of pushing down on the head” (your words) and I suggest that you have already found a possible underlying cause. Now the challenge is to deal with this underlying problem. To me it makes perfect sense that an increase in extra fluid (congestion) would spill over to any and all other areas in the body, and that would include the balance nerve: hence balance symptoms. And would that also not explain “my meniere's has changed the past several months”.

Could we explore this question in a little more depth? First of all, Meniere’s is not a disease. It is an idiopathic syndrome and that means no one knows what causes it. So if you don’t know what causes it, would it not be a good idea to try to find that out? Here is an explanation and a link about antihistamines from the American Academy of Family Physicians. “What are antihistamines? Antihistamines are medicines that help stop allergy symptoms such as itchy eyes, sneezing and a runny nose. Sometimes, itchy rashes (especially hives) may also be helped by an antihistamine. http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/allergies/treatment/262.html

Would it not be a good idea to find out why your body is reacting in this way before you treat these symptoms? an antihistamine is something that is developed to work AGAINST a histamine. And a histamine is part of your body’s natural reaction to something it doesn’t want in you. So I would ask why you would want to stop this natural reaction and allow your body to “house something” it would like to protect you from.

Thank you so much for sharing your information with me. I always know if people care enough when they challenge me on my ideas.

I thought I would share my guiding principles with you. This is all, of course, substantiated by scientific research and medical doctors...and I send out information to back this up. So I really appreciate your thoughts and views.

My ultimate goal for anyone is health... as opposed to illness or disease or dis-ease…so the body functioning at 100% or as close to as is possible.

when an intruder comes into the body, it can be overruled eventually, but in the meantime it sets off one or more of the immune system's mechanisms which cause other problems…

My true concern for you is that you wouldn't be contacting us if what you are presently doing, is working. You know a lot about nutrition and obviously know how to put them together. I don't, so I need our doctors who are trained in nutritional medicine to help and guide us. I just know from my teaching, that aging and degeneration are not the same and we don't need to have all this sickness. My passion is to help people understand how to think it all through and then make their own choices.

Do you have any thoughts regarding the interface between Meniere's and clinical depression?

I wonder if I could get you to think in terms of balance and hearing problems instead of the “Meniere’s” name, then I would suggest you might consider the following. Your goal might then be to find the causes of the balance and hearing issues. (If you don’t cloud the thinking with a name, and instead use easier words that you can relate to, it makes this more doable and hopeful.)

Then let’s look at what came first: the balance and hearing problems or the clinical depression. If the depression came first, try to remember if you were prescribed some medications. Ask yourself if they could the side effects of this medication have anything to do with balance and or hearing? Usually these side effects are listed on the printed insert for the meds. If the symptoms came first, I do know from speaking with thousands of people over the last six years, that depression is a result of these symptoms. And how understandable is that! I know it’s a challenge to work this out, but it will help you look for the underlying causes in more defined or specific areas. It’s like trying to figure out which came first: the chicken or the egg…but know one might have set off the other.

Most people stay on for about four months. Then many go off for a while and seem to evaluate the effectiveness. Many then use part of the system for more months. However, many find they have to stay on the supplements for a longer time.

We have no way of knowing who does what except to guess. We can't track anyone. We send out notes pleading with people to let us know how they are, but get few responses after three and four months.

The people who are really desperate work with us till they get results. They always do, but I THINK people find once they are a bit better and can manage, don't want the cost or find other ways to deal with the symptoms. But by then they KNOW what they can do and really that is my goal. To get people to know they don't have to cut nerves, have this crazy surgery or take these drugs. I feel people are very sensible and can work out what works best for them.

What is really interesting is when we send out a newsletter, and that is sporadic because of our workload, we hear from people who we thought were no longer on the supplements!! I love to hear how they are doing and then send us the best testimonials!!

Thank you so much for all the information you have sent me. I know that you mentioned that the vertigo attacks should subside, but what about the tinnitus. My tinnitus is very severe so I wonder if the supplements will help this as well.

If so, then I am very interested in ordering them. I do have allergy/sinus problems, so I do believe that this is my "trigger." However, I'm not sure that I am able to eliminate this, as I am allergic to mostly indoor pollutants, such as mold, dust, etc. In my home we do have air purifiers and try to keep these pollutants under control, and there has been no change.

The following is the underlying concept for the use if the supplements and what I try to teach people:

I have to assume that whatever is causing your symptoms is either putting pressure on or irritating your balance nerve AND your hearing nerve and with the supplements and our work with you to try to find the underlying cause, both nerves would be addressed.

I never say something is going to be cured, because you are essentially removing the irritant when we can find it and healing your body's immune system. You are restoring your body to its proper functioning, but it won't happen unless we really work at it. Your body has already really tried hard to look after you. Now it can't do this as well any longer, so the sooner you find the underlying cause, and deal with it, the better. But it's hard to find the cause unless you change something in your life. Get the body healed. Find the trigger and remove it and then heal the body...etc.

Let me use my usual analogy. You wouldn't be trying to fill a bathtub and drain it at the same time. So here you wouldn't want to be draining the inner ear and fill it at the same time.

I am a disabled veteran with tinnitus which is service related. Can tinnitus cause Meniere's disease or vertigo? In the past, I have had dizzy spells, which caused me to be disorientated and very uncomfortable. I also have dizzy spells when I wake up on the morning, taking me at least 10 to 15 seconds to get orientated. The Veterans Administration states that my dizziness is not service related, and, therefore, my question to you is can Meniere's Disease or vertigo be caused by my tinnitus?

I also need to give you a brief anatomy and physiology lesson to help understand this. Please use this information to educate yourself: not treat yourself. The inner ear has two nerves running side by side in it, and because they are nerves, you feel something. The balance nerve, if disturbed in any way, gives off dizziness and vertigo: different degrees of the same sensation.

The hearing nerves, if disturbed, relates to noise: presence or absence of noise: deafness. It’s all a degree of disturbances for either.

So if you have something irritating or putting pressure on either or both of these nerves, you get a change in the response that you were expecting. In other words, the brain receives a different message to interpret and then the command it sends back, will correspond to that message. But it may not be what you intended it to be, or what was actually going on in your body. (I hope this makes sense. You know the phrase: GIGO. garbage in: garbage out. The same thing, wrong message in and the wrong action will result.)

In your case, it would be noise and dizziness. The word Meniere's comes into this as a doctor many years ago came up with these symptoms, decided there was nothing to do for them, and gave them this name (his). For years doctors went along with this (and many still do). So if someone mentioned Meniere's, the immediate conclusion was that nothing could be done. So the person is given a low salt diet with the idea that they would hopefully not retain water in that area. Water would MAYBE add pressure to the nerves. They prescribed antihistamines, in case the body was having some sort of reaction. This would lessen the body's response. And the diuretic was there to draw off any fluid that might be causing pressure.

But in the last five years of doing this, we found that many things can be the underlying cause for the symptoms. So don't ever say the Meniere's word to yourself...say it's "vertigo or dizziness or tinnitus: noise or hearing fluctuation. Don't think it's hopeless either, it could well not be.

So in answer to your question, can the tinnitus cause the vertigo or Meniere's disease? The tinnitus and or the vertigo would be caused by something that irritates or puts pressure on the one or two nerves. And that could be any number of things. Please read the expanded version of the our "observations".

I would start to look at any drugs: Over The Counter (OTC), Prescribed and Recreational ones. Then I would look at my dental situation and then sinus problems. Each has a very valid reason for its presence. Once you have digested this, I would be most happy to speak with you. Can all this be fixed? We feel it can, but you need to study what I have written.

Frequently Asked Questions About Meniere's Disease