Ménière’s Disease: What Is It?

Ménière’s disease is an inner ear disorder that causes severe dizziness, ringing sounds in the ears, hearing loss that fluctuates, and pain in the eardrums. In most cases, it affects only one ear. There are many cases of hearing loss due to this condition. The disease most commonly affects people between 40 and 60 years of age, but it can affect anyone as well. Symptoms include:

Vertigo
Hearing loss
Tinnitus
Feeling of fullness in the affected ear

“It is possible for people suffering from Ménière’s disease to have “drop attacks,” in which they become very dizzy and lose their balance and fall. These symptoms of dizziness can appear suddenly or after suffering from tinnitus or muffled hearing. ”

Here’s what you should do during an attack: At the first sign of an attack you should:

Immediately take your vertigo medicine if you have any
Sit or lie down
Close your eyes or focus your vision on one object
Avoid moving your head around too quickly
As soon as the attack is over, try to move around

A typical episode lasts between 20 minutes and eight to twelve hours. Some people experience a series of attacks over a period of several days.
To avoid putting yourself or others at risk, you might need to change how you do things to prevent your next attack.

Here are some activities you should avoid:

driving
swimming
climbing ladders or scaffolding
operating heavy machinery

As they may affect others as well. You should also have someone with you most of the time in case of an attack.

The cause has not yet been identified by scientists.

Many researchers believe that Ménière’s disease is caused by blood vessel constrictions similar to those that cause migraine headaches.
Others believe Ménière’s disease is caused by viral infections, allergies, or autoimmune reactions.
It is also possible that Ménière’s disease results from genetic variations that affect endolymph’s volume and regulation.

In order to diagnose Ménière’s disease, doctors will examine you physically and examine your symptoms. There is no cure for this disease.

However, you can alleviate the pain with:

Prescribed medicine
Low salt diet
Water pills or diuretics
Intratympanic injection
Surgery

Consult your ENT specialist about how you can treat it. You can visit Hearing Solutions for a treatment or diagnosis. Our clinic is located in Century Plaza Complex, Juana Osmeña St, Cebu City. Our Consolacion branch is also open to serve you. You can find it in CPG Arcade, North Road, Consolacion.

To book an appointment, you can call us at 0932 788 1168 or message us on Facebook.

Sources:

https://www.enthealth.org/conditions/menieres-disease/

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/menieres-disease/#:~:text=M%C3%A9ni%C3%A8re’s%20disease%20is%20a%20condition,hearing%20loss

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/menieres-disease