Meniere's Disease
Meniere's Disease is a syndrome that typically includes
hearing loss as one of its symptoms. There are many variations in the
course of the disease, so an individual's symptoms may vary considerably
from the norm.
July 2002 - One of the promising new treatments for
Meniere's is a device called the Meniett. Dr. George Gates discussed this
treatment at the 2002 SHHH convention.
July 2004 -
Confused about Meniere's disease? Wondering about effective treatment,
or whether you have it? Here's the latest scoop on
Meniere's from the docs who treat it!
February 2007 - Non-Surgical Therapy
for Meniere's Disease Sufferers
July 2007 - Resources for Meniere's
Disease
August 2007 - Diet and
Meniett Are Preferred Meniere's Treatment
June 2008 -
Ménière's and music: the sound of silence
May 2009 - Solving the Puzzle of Meniere's Disease
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July 2004
Editor: Despite ongoing advances in diagnosing and treating medical
issues, Meniere's disease remains an enigma. Not only are the experts
often uncertain of the best treatment, they are sometimes not even able
to state with certainty whether a particular person has Meniere's
disease or not!
The docs have recently updated their patient information on Meniere's
disease, and you can get your very own copy for a SASE. Read on to learn
how!
Thanks to bhNEWS for this story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The national medical society for ear, nose, and throat physicians
offers an explanation of an inner ear disorder leading to vertigo and
hearing loss.
Alexandria, VA -- Ménière's disease is one of the most common
causes of dizziness originating in the inner ear. The cause of this
disease in unknown; its symptoms include episodic rotational vertigo
(attacks of a spinning sensation), hearing loss, tinnitus (a roaring,
buzzing, or ringing sound in the ear), and a sensation of fullness in
the affected ear. Tinnitus and fullness of the ear in Ménière's
disease may come and go with changes in hearing, occur during or just
before attacks, or be constant. Ménière's disease typically starts
between the ages of 20 and 50 years. Men and women are affected in equal
numbers.
The physician specialist with unique training to diagnose and treat
Ménière's disease is an otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon, also
known as an ear, nose, and throat specialist. The American Academy of
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) represents the nation's
10,000 ear, nose, and throat specialists. The medical society has just
issued an updated version of its patient information leaflet,
"Doctor, explain Ménière's Disease: Insight into Diagnosis and
Treatment." The information contained in the leaflet is also
available on the Academy's Health Information section of the Academy (AAO-HNS)
Internet website at http://www.entnet.org/healthinfo/balance/meniere.cfm.
Among the information in this new patient information leaflet are
explanations of:
a.. Why, of all of Ménière's disease's symptoms, vertigo is usually
the most troublesome. Vertigo is commonly produced by disorders of the
inner ear, but may also occur in central nervous system disorders.
Vertigo may last for 20 minutes to two hours or longer. During attacks,
patients are usually unable to perform normal activities; sleepiness may
follow and the off-balance sensation may last for days.
b.. The description of the diagnostic examination for Ménière's
disease. This will include a history of the frequency, duration,
severity, and character of vertigo attacks, the duration of hearing
loss, tinnitus or fullness in either or both ears. You may be asked
whether if your health history includes mumps, or other serious
infections, inflammations of the eye, an autoimmune disorder or allergy,
or ear surgery in the past.
c.. The changes in adult lifestyle which will lead to a reduction of the
frequency of Ménière's disease symptoms.
The information in "Doctor, explain Ménière's Disease: Insight
into Diagnosis and Treatment" is also available in a leaflet. For a
copy of the leaflet, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to:
American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Inc., One
Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-3357, Attn: Ménière's Disease
leaflet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2007
Results of a survey published in the August 2007
issue of Otology & Neurotology indicates that the Meniett(r) Low Pressure
Pulse Generator manufactured by Medtronic Inc is the preferred treatment
method after diet modification for patients diagnosed with Ménière's
disease in an only hearing ear. The survey was conducted among a nonrandom
sample of clinically active members of the American Otological Society and
the American Neurotology Society by researchers from the Division of
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Penn State Milton S. Hershey
Medical Center. Dietary modification was recommended as first-line therapy
by 99% of the survey respondents, including moderate to strict salt
restriction, decreased caffeine intake and avoidance of alcohol. A
diuretic was also recommended by 96% of respondents. When asked what they
would offer if initial treatment failed, respondents chose the Meniett(r)
device first and most frequently over therapies such as intratympanic
corticosteroids, endolymphatic sac mastoid shunt, intratympanic gentamicin
perfusion, and endolymphatic sac vein decompression.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 2008
I've been partially deaf since I was three, when
the nerve in my right ear mysteriously stopped working. I don't know what
stereo is like, I struggle to record sound in my work as a documentary
film-maker, and I'm comedically bewildered by loud social gatherings. I've
always lived in the hearing world, and never really worried that I was
deaf. But now, with the onset of a surprisingly common condition called
Ménière's disease, which wreaks sudden, room-spinning dizziness and
threatens to plunge me into total silence, I'm starting to regret that I
never explored the rich world of signing, lip-reading and "visible sound".
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2009
IMAGINE leaving your house to go about your day,
pulling the door closed behind you, when you suddenly feel like you are on
a roller-coaster. You lose your balance, fall over and vomit. And you're
so dizzy you can't get up for 15 minutes. Now imagine this happens to you
twice or thrice a week, without warning. Throw in the responsibility of
looking after a young child and you have the life of Sara Eastway, one of
about 40,000 people in Australia who have Meniere's disease. The vertigo
attacks dominate stage one of the disease, and about half of those
affected will be lucky enough to have only occasional attacks, with years
of remission in between. The other half will progress to stages two and
three, says Bill Gibson, head of the ear, nose and throat department at
Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and director of the Sydney Cochlear
Implant Centre. In stage two, patients have a combination of hearing loss,
tinnitus and vertigo attacks. In stage three, many people find the vertigo
attacks and tinnitus subside a little, but their hearing is damaged so
much they have trouble understanding speech and suffer poor balance.
Full Story
