The early stage of Ménière's disease consists of sudden and unpredictable attacks of vertigo. These are usually accompanied by nausea, vomiting and dizziness. You may lose some hearing during the attack, and you may experience tinnitus at the same time.
Get plenty of sleep on a regular schedule. Exercise frequently with whatever level of activity you can handle without triggering symptoms. Remain consistent with the time and amount of food you consume daily being sure not to skip any meals.
Kumagami et al (1982) describes three stages of Ménière's disease: Stage 1 - hearing levels return to normal levels between attacks. Stage 2 - hearing levels fluctuate but do not return to normal. Stage 3 - hearing levels remain down below 60 dB HL.
In some patients, Meniere's disease is only intermittently bothersome and takes an overall mild course. Such patients experience ear fullness, tinnitus, and fluctuations in hearing, but no vertigo (cochlear Meniere's Disease).
Meniere's disease has phases: an aura, the early stage, attack stage, and in-between. There is also the late-stage of Meniere's disease. Let's see what symptoms go together with each stage. By learning these symptoms, you can proceed to move to a personal safe place to let the actual Meniere's disease attack pass over.
Potential Meniere's triggers
Basically anything that increases pressure or fluid in the inner ear can trigger an attack.
Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) testing.
It may show common changes in the affected ears of people with Meniere's disease.
In the long run, the vertigo eventually “burns out”. This may take 10-15 years. Hearing, on the other hand, gradually deteriorates over a period of years and is eventually reduced to about 50% function. Other annoying symptoms such as a pressure in the ear or tinnitus may become constant and persistent over the years.
Also, you can have a genetic predisposition to the disease, if you have another family member with Ménière's disease. Unfortunately, Ménière's disease can be difficult to diagnose because the symptoms are different from patient to patient. Additionally, there are other inner ear disorders that have similar symptoms.
Living with Meniere's disease
Meniere's disease is often frustrating for people who have it. You may have to change the way you live to control the attacks. You should follow your doctor's advice about your diet, and about cutting out alcohol, caffeine, and smoking.
Lifestyle changes. Ménière's disease has links with stress and anxiety. However, it is unclear whether stress and anxiety cause symptoms of Ménière's disease, or whether the disease leads to stress and anxiety. Either way, stress and anxiety management can help reduce the intensity of symptoms.
Many people with Meniere's disease feel better if they do vigorous aerobic exercise on a regular basis (e.g. bike, rowing machine, etc.). Don't over-extend yourself – if you can't physically manage vigorous aerobic exercise do something more low impact, like yoga or walking.
Probable Meniere disease can include the following clinical findings: Two or more episodes of dizziness or vertigo, each lasting 20 minutes to 24 hours. Fluctuating aural symptoms (fullness, hearing, or tinnitus) in the affected ear.
Meniere's is a progressive disease, which means it gets worse over time. It may start slowly with occasional hearing loss. Vertigo may develop later.
Some people will have single attacks of dizziness separated by long periods of time. Others may experience many attacks closer together over a number of days. Some people with Ménière's disease have vertigo so extreme that they lose their balance and fall. These episodes are called “drop attacks.”
While Meniere's Disease is rare, it still affects around 200,000 people in the U.S. every year. While this disease may begin as mild, it can lead to permanent hearing loss if left untreated.
If the GP thinks you have Ménière's disease, they'll refer you to a specialist for further tests, such as blood tests and an MRI scan.
And each year about 45,500 new cases are diagnosed. But despite these statistics, there continues to be debate over how common Meniere's actually is. Although it can come on at any age, most people with Meniere's are 40 or older. Onset most often occurs between 40 and 60.
There is no cure for Ménière's Disease. MD cannot be treated and made to “go away” as if you never had it. It is a progressive disease which worsens, more slowly in some and more quickly in others. Some patients experience periods of remission (absence of some or all symptoms) for no apparent reason.
In other words, Ménière syndrome is endolymphatic hydrops caused by a specific condition, and Ménière disease is endolymphatic hydrops of unknown etiology (ie, idiopathic endolymphatic hydrops). Evaluation and management of dizziness and vertigo can be one of the most difficult medical tasks.
Eat a low sodium diet. Sodium causes fluid retention and can make your symptoms worse in your inner ear. Avoid MSG (monoSODIUM glutamate) - which is form of sodium that is a common migraine trigger. Common foods that contain MSG include Asian foods, Ramen noodles, and Accent seasoning.
Drink lots of water – This may sound counterproductive as Meniere's is the result of too much fluid in the inner ear. However, if the cause of Meniere's has to do with a virus, a pathogen, or a bacteria, drinking lots of water can flush these things out of the body.