Meniere's Disease - Open forum, what worked for you?

[molldoll26]

My mother was diagnosed with Meniere's disease about one year ago.  Her symptoms are primarily those associated with loss of hearing.  Ironically she was diagnosed and started experiencing the problems/symptoms shortly after having a crown put on one of her molars on the side with the Meniere's.  Has anyone heard of dental work making or creating Meniere's?  Do you think that it is possible it really isn't Meniere's and just something that happened with the dental work?  She has seen two different specialists and both just basically told her to avoid salt and caffenine.  Neither of these things have helped.  Any suggestions?  What has worked for you?  Thanks so much.

[nonaeroterraqueous]

My doctor recently diagnosed me with this.  It's just preliminary, and I'm going in for an MRI in a few days, followed by an ENT doctor and audiologist.  From my constant obsessing, I've determined that I do, in fact, have to agree with the apparent diagnosis, and I can relate all too well with much of what has been posted here.  Unfortunately, the self-help ideas generally given online are mostly worthless for me.  I never drink alcohol.  I never smoke.  My salt intake was never high to begin with, so I had no reasonable way to reduce it.  In fact, I tried eating more salt, experimentally, and I generally found that I felt better after having done so.  Still, I'm going to hold off on any further salt experiments until after I see the ENT (a title that makes me think of a creature from the Lord of the Rings trilogy).  Caffeine is one thing I can cut.  I'm a caffeine addict in the first degree, so I should probably do this anyway.  I'm taking this gradually, at first, but I'll try to eliminate it entirely, to see what happens.

Of course, because this problem fluctuates so unpredictably, no matter what I do, I could easily be "cured" after changing something about my lifestyle, and think that this did the trick, even if it would have cleared on its own.  Then it comes back, later, even if I continue with that new lifestyle.  Those of you who have this disease know exactly what I mean.  I'll reply again in a few weeks to keep tabs on my progress.

October, 2012: faint tinnitus and mild "sinus" headaches.  I thought nothing of it at the time.

December, 2012: That first Saturday was miserable, with impossibly loud roaring tinnitus in both ears, and a powerful headache.  Vertigo in the mornings knocked me off of my feet.  Most symptoms eased during the day and returned the next morning.

January, 2013: Symptoms finally began to subside, halfway through the month.  As the tinnitus subsided, I discovered that it left distorted hearing in its wake.

February, 2013: I thought I was going to get better on my own, but then it came back a little, so I made an appointment with a doctor.  By the time I saw the doctor, I felt fine.  A few days later, I went back to feeling as bad as ever.  This is very frustrating.  If I could stop just one symptom, it would be the tinnitus.  My second pick would be the hearing loss.

[queengrandmother]

On the above post the symptoms in parenthesis are what I started with not what was happening during the remission.  Sorry for the mixup.

[queengrandmother]

Hi Chad!  My name is Crystal and in 2009 I was diagnosred with Meniere's by a doctor in Wichita, KS.  His exact words were "I THINK you have meniere's disease".  I now live in the Dallas area and after reading your post and talking to friends here, which are STRONGLY suggesting a second opinion, I am going to look up your doctor.  I found on the internet right after diagnosis, a website called meniere'sca.com and started taking supplements from iUSANA.  They are a bionutritional supplement and the nutrition goes straight to the cells in your body.  After being on them for a year my symptoms "went away" (I had fullness in right ear, light dizzy spells, one bad one where I could not move my head a milimeter without spinning out.  These were sporadic and I never had another bad spell till recently).  Anyway, symptoms returned and have gradually gotten worse although sometimes I can go several months with nothing but the tinnitus.  Recently I developed toe fungus on one toe and got the latest treatment which looked like clear nail polish and after a couple weeks of using it I was doing the spin that your eyes are moving a hundred miles an hour and there is a "force" that had I not been in the process of sitting down it would have THROWN me down.  As it was I flew backwards into the chair.  SCARY!!  That has only happened one time since then but I have felt like the dizzy spells seem to have more force now.  I am a believer and have cast my hope upon the Lord but I also believe that it is not wrong to want to live a normal life.  Therefore I am moving forward with the "second opinion".  There is just too much of this "I think" business going on today with doctors.  I am curious how you are faring today.  Could you comment again please?

[queengrandmother]

It is January 2013.  How is your Meniere's today??

[RachelLee4224]

hi, i use to be on a diuretic for my vertigo, i have no insurance anymore which is why i no longer take it. i was on triamterene, which seemed to help prevent my vertigo attacks some what. i was wondering if there are other diuretics out there that they prescribe for vertigo and do u know if some work better than others, i have seen a ton of dr's but still have no real diagnosis of menieres. i have done a lot of research though and menieres seems to be the right answer. any information you can give me would really help.

[queenmother7881]

What sort of technique did your chiropractor use on you.  I have been to one who used a NUCCA technique on me and my symptoms improved and even disappeared for 1 year  2 months then slowly returned.  I am curious to know if you are still meneire's free after all these years.

[Bamboo1324]

Same thing happened to me. So disappointing :(