Dear Anne
What can I do to get help with my Menieres? Doctors say they can do nothing. Lauren
Dear Lauren
You have my sympathy. Meniere's Disease is a condition of the inner ear. It can leave you feeling dizzy, with nausea, vertigo and sometimes tinnitus, and can be quite distressing. The condition can sometimes result from a virus so antibiotics aren't really effective against it. Other causes aren't yet identified but the condition isn't necessarily long-lasting. Active attacks seldom last more than two-four hours and so generally it's just a matter of coping with the symptoms until they go away.
Meniere's is quite hard to diagnose. What happens is that for some reason pressure builds up in the fluid of the inner ear, so there may be a sensation of fulness or pressure. Sometimes tinnitus (ringing in the ears) results, and there may be periods of some degree of hearing loss. In many cases, though, the disease will run its course and then vanish.
Measures you can take to minimise or prevent attacks include reducing the intake of salt, sugar, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine. It could be worth asking your doctor or pharmacist about an inner ear sedative for a while. These are included in sea-sickness medication and in my own past experience were remarkably effective, but please make sure there are no contra-indications in your case. For what it's worth, I haven't had an attack for over a decade.
Some people report that attacks are more frequent and more severe when they are stressed, so yoga and meditation have sometimes formed part of an effective de-stressing regime. For further information and support, why not go to the website at http://www.vestibular.org/diet.html ?
I hope that you soon find relief. Good luck!Back to Ask Anne
