Meniere’s disease – Overview, symptoms, causes, risk factors, diagnosis and treatment

Overview

Meniere’s disease is a disorder which deals with inner ear that may lead you to dizzy spells or vertigo and hearing loss. In most of the cases, this disease affects only one ear. The inner ear is responsible for the function hearing and balance.

This disease may occur at any age but often it occurs between young and middle-aged adulthood. It is a chronic disorder which is incurable but treatments can relieve your symptoms and minimize the long term impact on your life.

The person can his/her ability to hear and this hearing loss can be permanent. It may also cause ringing in your ear which is known as tinnitus, as well as it may give you a feeling of fullness and pressure in your ear.

This disorder is named after a French doctor, Prosper Meniere who suggested that the symptoms came from inner ear and not from the brain in 1860s.

According to National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), approximately 615,000 people in the United States suffer from Meniere’s disease every year and around 45,000 people are diagnosed.

Symptoms of Meniere’s disease

Symptoms of this disease comes in ‘episodes’ or we can say that ‘attacks’. The symptoms include:-

Loss of hearing in the ear which is affected
Vertigo, with attacks which can last of few minutes or up to 24 hours
Loss of balance
Headaches
Tinnitus, in the affected ear you will feel a ringing sensation
Aural fullness, a feeling that your ear is full or plugged
Nausea, vomiting and sweating which is usually caused by severe vertigo

After these episodes or attacks the symptoms may disappear entirely for a while and then they return. Over a period of time the frequency of the attacks may lessen. Many of these symptoms can also be caused due to some another problem. Hence it becomes important to consult your health care provider whether you are affected by this disease or it is something else. Many a times this disease is confused with another inner ear disorder such as labyrinthitis.

Causes of Meniere’s disease

The exact reason behind the occurrence of this disease in a person is still unknown but there are some ideas about which factors may lead to these symptoms.

Abnormal amount of fluids may build up inside a part of your inner ear which is known as labyrinth and it holds the structures that helps a person with hearing and balance. India’s best online pharmacy, 3MEDS says that, this extra fluid may interfere with the signals that is received by your brain and results into vertigo and hearing problems.

What might contribute that leads to this extra formation of fluids are:-

Poor drainage (this may be because of any blockage or an abnormal structure in your ear)
Autoimmune response (a state where your immune system starts attacking the healthy cells of body by mistake)
Allergic reaction
Viral infection
Migraine headaches
Blow to the hand
Inherited tendency

Other factors which can trigger the Meniere’s disease are:-

Head injury
Recent viral illness
Alcohol use
Smoking
Fatigue
Stress
Anxiety
Respiratory infection
Side effects of certain medications

Diagnosis of Meniere’s disease

Your health care provider will conduct a basic physical exam and will take a medical history. Diagnosis may require:-

Two episodes of vertigo, which should be lasting 20 minutes or longer but not more than 12 hours
Hearing loss which must be verified by a hearing test
Feeling of fullness in ear which is known as tinnitus
Exclusion of some other known causes of these problems

Treatment of Meniere’s disease

This disorder is a chronic condition with no cure methods at present. But a range of treatment and medications are available that may help you with your symptoms. Surgeries are also performed in severe cases of Meniere’s disease.

Medications

Medications may be prescribed to you to help you with the symptoms. Doctor may prescribe you medicines used for motion sickness, it can ease the symptoms like nausea, vertigo and vomiting. If nausea and vomiting are still an issue then your doctor may prescribe an antiemetic or anti-nausea medication.

Deuretics are prescribed to reduce the amount of fluid in your inner ear.

Buy prescribed drugs online at 23% discount and get them delivered at your door step with 3MEDS.

Physical therapy

Exercise known as Vestibular rehabilitation can improve the symptoms of vertigo. Also these exe3rcise helps to train the brain to account for the balance between the two ears. These exercises are taught by a physical therapist.

Hearing aids

By fitting hearing aid in your ear, an audiologist may fix this problem.

Surgery

In most of the cases surgery is not required but it is needed for those who experience severe attacks and haven’t had success with other treatments in their symptoms. An endolymphatic sac procedure is proceeded to decrease the excessive production of fluid as well as it promotes fluid drainage in the inner ear.

Outlook

Always consult a doctor when you notice the symptoms, so that you may stop it from becoming severe. After a proper diagnosis your doctor may help you with which treatment option would be the best for you. Though it can take years but you have to patient with this disease. You will get range of options to relive your symptoms. Be positive be healthy.