Meniere Disease

Ménière’s disease is a disorder that affects one in a thousand people and affects an area of the inner ear, which is referred to as the labyrinth. This is where channels are found that contain fluid and transmit messages to the brain, informing it of sound and of balance. When the fluid in these channels build up, it can cause a variety of problems related to both your balance and your hearing. It is named from the French physician called Prosper Ménière.

There are a variety of symptoms attributed to Ménière’s disease, some prominent primary symptoms and then some secondary symptoms. The three primary symptoms are vertigo, tinnitus and hearing loss with secondary symptoms that include anxiety and depression. Vertigo is a common symptom of Ménière’s disease and involves the feeling of nausea, dizziness and the sensation of rotating as well as sweating, vomiting and irregular heartbeats. These attacks can last for up to three hours and it is hard to predict when they are about to occur. Tinnitus relates to the way in which you perceive sound and involves the hearing of sounds made inside of your body instead of those in the outside world. Hearing loss can cause you to lose the ability to hear lower sounds and make you even more sensitive to louder noises. How much you suffer from these symptoms can depend on what stage of the disease you are at (early stage, middle stage and later stage). As the condition is a progressive disease it also means that sufferers generally get worse if they have the condition. This and its unpredictability can cause sufferers to become depressed and anxious, particularly as it can affect day to day activities.

Doctors will check for Ménière’s disease in a variety of ways as there is no specific test to discover it. Therefore it will involve looking at your medical history and checking to see if you have any of the symptoms. However this means that it can be difficult to be 100% certain that the condition is Ménière’s disease, with many other conditions sharing certain symptoms.

Treatments are wide and varied and tackle the individual symptoms. There are treatments such as prochlorperazine and antihistamine to tackle vertigo as well as sound therapies and relaxation techniques to tackle tinnitus. These will be discussed with your doctor.