Meniere's Disease

Vertebral artery. Most likely you have an injury from hyperextension of neck. The C1 definitely can cause TMJ and a whole lot of other problems. With what you have going on you need proper trigger point therapy, improper treatment -pressing hard or massage can cause dizzy spells to get worse. You may have some membrane problems. Have you seen a neurosurgeon? Not trying to scare you, but quoting you above shows concern. With the right treatment, you can be tinnitus free if you don't have hearing loss.

 

As far as there aware my hearing is perfect! Unless I have hidden hearing loss that isnt showing up. I am no stranger to concerts, but even then back in my teens i protected my ears at them. Havent been to concert since this came on six years ago. I know i have ETD. I havent been to one no, right now i sit here looking at the computer and im dizzy. I will have to look into trigger point therapy.

 

@Fally How well do you understand medical terms? If you do, I can provide you with more links that continues to talk about your posting concerns within your history and will add to what I have provided so far. If you are now dizzy your neck is in the wrong position. There's probably more going on than what we can discuss on a message board. I would consider a neurosurgeon. If your hearing is perfect, then it's probably neck problems which point to your ipsilateral vertebral artery and your atlanto axial occipital joint among other stuff.

 

Honestly I am terrible at medical terms even when watching greys anatamoy back in the day id get lost. I dont doubt like you have said my neck is the issue for most of my problems. I feel like all my aches and pains and dizzyness stem from it.

I am impressed that you really know your stuff! I shall look into it the neurosurgeon, pretty sure doctor would have to give me a referral to one though.

 

Does hearing loss and tinnitus lead to Ménières? I’m pretty sure I’ve had hearing loss in one ear my whole life as my hearing loss in the one ear is identical to my mother’s. Which is reverse slope so hearing loss in the lower frequencies. That’s what my tinnitus is as well a loud low roar. I’ve had T for 5 years after a loud noise exposure from a gun shot. I’ve been going through the so called T distress phase lately. I had a bad cold back in November and have been dealing with ETD in my good ear since then and now have some high frequency ringing in my good ear. My hearing loss hasn’t changed since I found out I had hearing loss 5 years ago. Get checked every 2 years. Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m on a boat and light headed and scared I have Meiners’s. And a really full feeling throughout head and good ear. Also have these times when it’s like the pressure in my ears shift and the ringing goes through the roof and they get really tight but only last 3 or 4 seconds. But also hoping it’s due to the increased stress and anxiety. I also feel really nauseas when I start worry about it. Does anyone have any suggestions. Thank you

 

I honestly cannot give you the answers that you need. @glynis might be able to help with this ques.

 

No,
Meniere's is an inner ear disease and has no cure.
The symptoms start quick and vertigo and motion sickness are only a couple of the symptoms but there are a few.

Tinnitus can start and become worse as the disease gets worse and so does the tinnitus and can be in one ear or two.

love glynis
just on my break at work

 

So then would you probably relate what I have going on to stress and anxiety? Since I’ve had the hearing loss and tinnitus for a long time?

 

Was your no referring to tinnitus and hearing loss does not lead to Ménière's? Thanks. Really struggling with the tinnitus hoping the dizziness and lightheadness is just from stress and anxiety.

 

@glynis
I have a question about hearing aids. Are there any hearing aids that are recommended for Meniere's suffers? My hearing loss fluctuates and I am not sure what would work well. Hearing in my left ear is the worst with low frequency loss. When I turn the phone volume up, it sounds like Micky Mouse.

What are your thoughts?

 

Hi @Teri,
Dual purpose hearing aids might be the best. They are set to your hearing needs.
Also Cinnarizine 15mg can help reduce a spike as it states it can help reduce tinnitus for people with Meniere's.

love glynis

 

I will research dual purpose hearing aids...thanks. Will heari g aids help with distorted sounds such as the "micky mouse" sounding voices or the muffled sounds even when the tv volume is up?

 

Hi. I'm 21, female, and I have mild/moderate low frequency hearing loss in both ears.

I also have chronic tinnitus, which consists of a hissing/ringing sound (do to noise damage, I used to listen to music with headphones a lot) and at some point I also developed a low pitch humming/sometimes droning.

I assumed the low pitch humming was normal among tinnitus patients but after spending some time on tinnitus talk, I've come to realize that's it's a rare sound to hear. A few years ago (which is when I'm ASSUMING my low frequency hearing loss started--I only got diagnosed with low frequency hearing loss at the end of last year), I would sometimes get dizzy. I blamed it on the fact that I had a poor died. Eventually the dizzy spells stopped.

A few days ago I woke up incredibly dizzy, the whole room was spinning like crazy, and I suddenly felt very nauseous. I threw up twice. The dizziness eventually passed after about 2 hours. I had chills too so I thought I was probably dehydrated or ate something bad. Still don't know if that was the case.

But other then these symptoms I'm not sure how to determine if I have Meniere's or not. My ent didn't say anything about it when I got my hearing tested.

Is there a way I can find out definitively if I have Meniere's? And are the low pitch noises normal for this disease?

 

I don't know that there is a definitive test.

You do seem to have a few symptoms that, unfortunately, would require investigation in that direction. You should mention it to your doctors.

Have they mentioned the low salt/alcohol/caffeine/sugar diet?

How do you know your hearing loss is hereditary?

 

My audiologist suggested that I cut out dairy and soft drinks (because I drink a lot of those) to help my tinnitus, but she didn't mention it having to do with meniere's.

My dad has moderate/severe hearing loss in both his frequencies. His hearing started to decline in his early 20s, which is also when all this started happening for me. My aunt also has hearing loss that started in her early 20s, but I'm not sure how bad it is for her because I haven't spoken to her in years. My dad told me my uncle has significant hearing loss like him. And my grandmother also has really bad hearing and has for as long as I can remember.

 

Cutting out soft drinks seems to be a reasonable course of action no matter what.
The diet I was writing about is often mentioned in the context of endolymphatic hydrops & Meniere's.

Good luck!

 

How to people with Meniere's cope with the prospect of complete deafness and dehabilitating tinnitus? I must admit it is my worst fear and the cause of lot's of anxiety/depression. I cannot envision a worse fate

 

@Joakim Skomsvoll

I feel this is probably a normal concern as it was for me 4 years ago. You are spinning the worst-case scenerio around in your mind. DON'T do that. You will be fine and manage the disease. Stay positive!

I had a bad onset, but am doing fine. When a down turn comes, don't let it get the best of you because it always gets better.

Hang in there!

 

Hi,

So a few weeks ago, I saw an article about Meniere's. Yesterday, after drinking coffee I got this crazy dizziness which eventually went away. It was not vertigo. The next day my stomach hurts a lot.

Is this a symptom of Meniere's? I'm still dizzy all day long with no hearing loss.

 

I have had dizziness for the past week and a half. I’ve had tinnitus in both ears since September.

Last week I had two episodes where my hearing cut out. In one it cut in and out repeatedly until I went to bed and was gone the next morning. In the other my hearing cut out for 30 seconds, then the hearing returned muffled and stayed that way for a day and a night.

My audiologist tested me last week and said my hearing was fine and there was no fluid in my ears.

Since then the dizziness has become more constant and I have a pop/click in my ear when I move my head.

My audiologist said it could be Meniere’s but we won’t know until my ENT appointment on the 15th.

But I’m freaking out now. Does anyone know if this sounds like it could be anything else? It just seems to fit what I’ve read about Meniere’s and I’m scared. I’m barely tolerating my ongoing tinnitus.

 

I’m not sure exactly where to start, so I will just give a brief summary of my medical history. I have all the things that go together - acid reflux, sleep apnea, allergies, asthma, etc. etc. I’m having a new worsening of the hearing in my left ear. From what I gathered from my trip to the ENT, I think that the first time I had hearing loss was 2007, in my left ear. At that time he said a virus was a likely cause for the loss of hearing. I had been to them again in 2014 because acid reflux was causing hoarseness, but that seems to have mostly calmed down for now. I did a hearing test in 2014 and I think it was about the same as it was in 2007. This current bout of sudden hearing loss, I seem to have lost most of the hearing in my left ear. I was able to make out 56% of the words they sent to me. The ENT told me a hearing aid is probably going to do a little or nothing for my left ear at this point. He wants to check me again in three months to see if The hearing improves, apparently sometimes that happens? He suspects Ménière’s disease, but of course he’s not sure.

My two questions for now are, has anyone found any alternative therapies or conventional therapies that help them with their tinnitus or hearing loss? And I asked him what happens if I start losing hearing in my right ear God forbid, and he said that a cochlear implant would be an option. But he also mentioned there’s some kind of an implant that I might be able to get for behind my left ear for now? Does anyone know what kind of implant that might be? Any thoughts appreciated! I don’t know why but the tinnitus at one point when this new incident started was very loud - it’s sort of mostly tolerable at the moment. The tinnitus started again like a week after this last vertigo attack. My biggest concern right now is the hearing loss and what could be done about it? I should also mention I had my second vertigo attack recently the first one was about three years ago and nowhere near as bad. The way the ENT explained it to me, right now don't worry about the tinnitus that’s keeping you from sleeping, and not being able to hear - worry about a debilitating attack of vertigo!

Lovely!

Thoughts?

 

Why the hell didn't they offer a steroid injection and council you on your diet? If it's a virus, why isn't he trying out a course of antivirals and Prednisone?

Telling you to live with it when it's highly suspected to be something with known treatments is your ENT giving the scapegoat of probably too late now. If you have documented real hearing loss suddenly... just waiting it out when there's a suspected pathology is not cool.

I'd get a second opinion pronto and forcibly ask to give things a try that could bring the hearing back. Salvage therapy is a thing and people do respond.

50% hearing loss and no immediate treatment.
See me in 3 months.
Get a different ENT.

When was this hearing loss? How recent?

 

Can you have Meniere's disease if you had only one short vertigo attack (the spinning didn't last very long, probably less than 10 minutes) and then two weeks later got tinnitus? With no noticeable hearing loss. Could that be a coincidence?