Vertigo Cures

Learning More About Meniere’s Disease

Meniere’s disease refers to an endolymphatic hydrops or an inner ear problem that can impact one’s hearing and trigger vertigo. Named after the French physician Prosper Meniere (who was the first one to put forth the notion that vertigo is caused by ear problems), this illness is something that can be relative. Meaning, the severity of the disease varies a lot from person to person. Often times, though, the range of the disease is between the mildly irritating to the seriously debilitating.

Symptoms

Symptoms cover the following: rotary dizziness or vertigo – one that continues for quite a period of time and crops up every now and then, hearing loss – which can either happen in only one ear (unilateral) or in both ears (bilateral) and can also be either fluctuating or continuous, and tinnitus – the presence of sound in the air without an external source. Again, the symptoms of Meniere’s disease may differ according to every person, but nevertheless, their presence means that a trip to the otolaryngologist.

Treatment

Treatment for the disease primarily focuses on addressing the severity of the symptoms. However, when even that fails, permanent surgery is considered. That does not mean a lot of better things, though. The impossibility of hearing loss is never guaranteed when surgery is performed.

Prevention

However, prevention of the disease may be possible. To lessen your chances of acquiring the disease, a more careful attention to diet is recommended. A low-sodium diet is deemed the most effective in the prevention of the disease. Also, the consumption of substances like alcohol, caffeine and and tobacco is discouraged. To lessen the severity of the symptoms, drugs that target the pressure of the inner ear like steroids, diuretics and antihistamines are used.

Understanding How Meniere’s Syndrome Differs

Meniere’s syndrome, on the other hand, is basically the disease, with a slight difference. It also points to the development of endolymphatic hydrops. And, the same symptoms that present themselves to a person in the case of Meniere’s disease also manifest in a Meniere’s syndrome. In addition to that, the same preventive measures are undertaken in Meniere’s syndrome. The two seem too similar that a lot of people even interchange them. But, Meniere’s disease is actually not Meniere’s syndrome.

An inner ear problem that manifests itself in a vertigo, a tinnitus or in other inner ear issues relies a lot on whether the cause of the vertigo depends on a source that can be pinpointed. That means a lot, especially when one has to differentiate between the Meniere’s disease from the Meniere’s syndrome. And, the difference between Meniere’s disease from Meniere’s syndrome actually lies on the source of the vertigo associated with the disease. Meniere’s disease is idiopathic, while Meniere’s syndrome is not. In other words, the vertigo that comes from the former, is unknown while the vertigo that results from the Meniere’s syndrome, though, can be explained. And, more often than not, it is due to inner ear inflammation caused by syphilis, or a thyroid hormone disease.

Meniere’s disease is a condition characterized by sudden, sometimes severe attacks of vertigo, which is the sudden and unsteady sensation that you or your surroundings are moving or spinning. A Ménière’s episode generally involves severe vertigo (spinning), imbalance, nausea and vomiting. Following a severe attack, most people find that they are exhausted and must sleep for several hours. Some people experience brief “shocks”, and others have constant unsteadiness. These are attributed to sudden mechanical deformation of the otolith organs (utricle and saccule), causing a sudden activation of vestibular reflexes.

This is a very disabling symptom as it occurs without warning and can result in severe injury. Often destructive treatment (e.g. labyrinthectomy or vestibular nerve section ) is the only way to manage this problem. Ménière’s episodes may occur in clusters; that is, several attacks may occur within a short period of time. Between the acute attacks, most people are free of symptoms or note mild imbalance and tinnitus . In most cases, a progressive hearing loss occurs in the affected ear(s). Although an acute attack can be incapacitating, the disease itself is not fatal.

Causes of Meniere’s Disease

The common Causes of Meniere’s Disease:

The exact cause of Ménière syndrome is unknown. The current theory is that it is the response of the inner ear to injury.

A variety of disease processes can affect the vestibular and cochlear systems.

Part of the labyrinth ruptures, allowing fluid in different compartments to mix

Scar tissue causes a blockage in the labyrinth

Viral infection

Blood vessel problems

Medications, such as antibiotics and chemotheraypy agents

High cholesterol or other fats in the blood

Symptoms of Meniere’s Disease

Some of Meniere’s Disease:

Buzzing, ringing or roaring sound in the affected ear (tinnitus).

Noises or ringing in one ear (tinnitus)

Nausea, vomiting.

Sweating (may be profuse).

Uncontrollable eye movements.

Dizziness.

Hearing loss in one ear.

Treatment of Meniere’s Disease

Anti-vertigo medications, such as meclizine (Antivert), may combat the spinning sensation.

Drugs such as prochlorperazine (Compazine) can control nausea and vomiting.

Anti-anxiety medications, such as alprazolam (Xanax), may help relieve anxiety that can accompany a serious attack.

Avoid foods that are high in salt and high in sugar

Chocolate restriction.

Avoid medications that seem to bring on or worsen symptoms.

Bed rest during acute attacks of vertigo.

Consider getting exercise therapy to rehabilitate the inner ear.

Consider a hearing aid, if necessary.

Juliet Cohen writes articles on diseases and conditions and skin disorders. She also writes articles on herbal home remedies.

Meniere’s disease does not have a cause so you have to remedy it based on the symptoms that offer you lots of difficulty. In Meniere’s disease sufferers it is typically the vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss.

Usually, a Meniere’s disease attack is portrayed because of a blend of tinnitus, hearing loss, and vertigo and persists for a number of hours. However, individuals encounter these types of difficulties at diverse rate of recurrence, length of time, as well as severity.

A number of folks experience nausea and vomiting at the time of an attack. Many individuals even sense hearing loss, particularly low-toned sounds. Quite a few experience a slight loss of balance a couple of instances annually. Many others are infrequently disrupted by powerful, unmanageable ringing in the ears during sleep. Other sorts of Meniere’s disease victims observe varying hearing loss and sense unsteadiness the whole day for extended periods of time.

Several of the attacks occur suddenly with absolutely no signal; therefore, it is hard to be ready. The dizziness and vertigo are referred to as some sort of whirling or spinning experience and could bring about unsteadiness when taking walks. Dizziness isn’t identical with vertigo for it’s a lot more like being light-headed.

Vertigo, usually the most damaging manifestation of Meniere’s disease, causes the victim to lay on his back. The attacks could result to intense nausea and vomiting, as well as cause perspiration and occurs with minimal or absolutely no signal.

Tinnitus, on the other hand, brings about tremendous aggravation. The sufferer cannot hear other than the inner noise and thus, gets omitted from discussions and other functions. Furthermore, the noise alone is rather bothersome which could trigger stress. The ringing in the ears is a very challenging issue to deal with to several people and could be very interfering with their way of life.

The hearing loss brings about many of the identical difficulties as the ringing in the ears along with its own. The 1st stage of the loss of hearing has an effect on the capacity to pick up low-toned voices and sounds. As the condition advances, fewer sounds are heard which could result to depressive disorders and a sense of being deserted. The loved ones should be very mindful of all these accompanying concerns. An individual’s ability to hear has a tendency to recuperate in between the attack yet the symptoms get more serious as time goes by. Affected individuals also experience a feeling of fullness or pressure inside his ear.

Additional infrequent signs and symptoms of Meniere’s disease could include diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, and headaches.

Some individuals voice out on the subject of experiencing severe exhaustion and fatigue, loss of focus, being easily distracted, and difficulty in remembering things, misunderstandings, and also confusion. Some include an intense level of sensitivity to noises, sensitivity to light, and also loss of sight during nighttime. Furthermore, there are grievances of joint and muscle pain, and also body malaise because of changes in the atmospheric pressure. Considering these kinds of uncontrollable and gloomy episodes, many individuals go through panic attacks.