Meniere's Disease, Diagnosis and Symptoms

Meniere's Disease is a disorder of the inner ear. In patients that have had Meniere's disease it has been found that the endolymphatic sac, which normally regulates fluid in the inner ear, has been extended as a sign that it has held too much fluid and has not regulated the fluid levels well. It's not known what causes this failure of fluid regulation.

Symptoms of Meniere's include the following four which define the "classic" diagnosis of Meniere's disease. 1) A feeling of pressure or fullness in one or both ears that varies. 2) Hearing Loss in one or both ears that varies (an audiology test can determine if it matches the frequency pattern that is typical in patients with Meniere's.) 3) Tinnitus or ringing in the ear that varies. 4) Episodes of vertigo that come and go without warning.

All of these symptoms come and go, but eventually the tinnitus and hearing loss become permanent if the problem is not dealt with.

I have only had the most severe symptom of vertigo in the last 2 years or so. Vertigo is an attack that is much severe than just feeling a little dizzy. It's a sense that the world is spinning around you. When I have had vertigo it was as if the center of my field of vision was relatively stable, but everything was spinning clockwise around it. It was a struggle to maintain my eyes focus on the center my field of view.

After an attack of vertigo, which can last from 20 minutes to a couple hours, I have dealt with extreme fatigue. I have had to sleep for several hours immediately after vertigo attacks and the most recent one left me fatigued for a week or two.

I have also had some short term (several months) damage to balance from these attacks. Last fall I spent about 2 or more months a bit wobbly as though I was learning to balance again. During this "post attack" period I have also had varying degrees of what many people term "brain fog" where it is difficult to concentrate or focus on thoughts and tasks. I have suspected that the brain is working too hard to maintain balance and other tasks get neglected in your thought process making it hard to work through distractions or even follow a specific thought through to completion.

Many people can easily identify the things that trigger an attack of Meniere's Disease related vertigo for them. Some have reported that chocolate or other source of caffeine have been triggers, others suspect that salty foods are their trigger. In some cases I have heard stress mentioned as a trigger. Certainly these things can play a role, each of us are different. My trigger seems to be allergies. My last mild vertigo attack happened after an overnight stay in a hotel where we had cut on the air conditioner overnight. I've been diagnosed with allergies to dust mites and aspergillum, a type of mold. My allergist confirmed that the type of mold I'm allergic to can be found in air conditioners due to the unique environment that they have.

Since last fall I have been working to get my allergies under control and this year has seen some improvements with my symptoms.

If you have any of these symptoms listed above or suspect you may have Meniere's Disease, please see what you can do to schedule an appointment with your Ear Nose and Throat Doctor for a clinical recommendation. One thing that I have learned is that it's important to quickly respond when you have a sudden decrease in hearing. It may be possible to preserve your hearing if it's treated quickly.

I have a website where I have gone into more detail about my experience and symptoms with Meniere's Disease as well as locating other resources online about the disease and it's treatments and suspected causes.