Endolymphatic Sac Decompression Surgery for Meniere's Disease — Any Stories or Experiences?

I have been having problems with severe tinnitus and ear pain/fullness for 10 months now. I've been to various specialists and have been diagnosed with cochlear Meniere's, or secondary hydrops, whatever you want to call it.

Has anyone had this Endolymphatic Sac Decompression Surgery done? I don't have any vertigo but the pressure keeps getting worse and the doctor wants to do this procedure to bleed off the pressure. I have tried various diuretic pills and diet changes with minimal success.

 

I've battled with episodic secondary hydrops for 2 years now. I'd say if it's been only 10 months, the surgery might not be worth it. I've heard it can temporarily help but in the long run just aggravate/return the issue. There's almost always a main issue that's causing the hydrops. Mine took a while to figure out until I started getting more symptoms and was diagnosed with a tick borne bacterial infection. Treatment has lessened the recurrence of symptoms.

Have you checked into possible mold exposure, or any holistic approaches to the issue?

 

@Palmolively I have tried about everything I can think of. My symptoms are so severe I am really considering the surgery. I believe the hydrops came about due to noise exposure from a firearm. I had earplugs in but I think the right side failed to do its job. I didn't shoot but 10 rounds until I noticed the plug was loose and stopped. I have never had any issues my entire life with either of my ears until this event. Is your tinnitus constant and loud all the time or does it fade in and out? If the tinnitus was mild I think I would wait but this has made me disabled. I haven't worked in months and I need to get back.

 

Endolymphatic sac decompression with enlarged antrotomy-A modified surgery for the treatment of Ménière’s disease

Background: The underlying pathophysiology of Me′nie`re’s disease is still not well defined, and the treatment of patients unresponsive to medical therapy remains controversial. In our institution, over the past years, found the mastoid and antrum in MD patient have lots of infection trace and we modified the ESD surgical technique for the treatment of Ménière’s disease: the endolymphatic sac decompression with enlarg antrotomy (ESDEA). In our opinion, Enlarged antrotomy let the mastoid drainage well and avoid the infection aggravate.

Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of ESDEA to control vertigo attacks, tinnitus, and aural fullness and to evaluate its effect on hearing level.Methods: Retrospective study in a medical center (189 patients). Surgical outcomes assessed were the presence of vertigo spells, aural fullness, tinnitus and pure tone average (PTA). Data were collected for these visits: preoperative,1 week, 1 ,6 and 24 months postoperatively.

Results: we documented 145ears have membrane tissues around the incus body (FIG.2A.2B.2C) in all 172 ears. And 21 ears have thickened mucosa (FIG.2D2E) in mastoid, 7 ears have polyps around the incus and the malleus. 48 % patients said the fell ear fullness relieved 1 week after surgery and 73 % patients did not have ear fullness felling 24 months after surgery.

Conclusions: Endolymphatic sac decompression with enlarged antrotomy is an excellent nondestructive surgical option for patients with incapacitating endolymphatic hydrops, providing a high percentage of vertigo control and hearing preservation. In our opinion, this treatment has important advantages over other forms of clinical and surgical treatment for this disease.

Source: https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/html/10.1055/s-0040-1711254

 

At this point I'm ready to try it. I'm sick of this shit controlling my life.