Meniere's disease and headaches

[Julie177]

Hi, I'm a 32 year old female and I've recently been diagnosed as having Meniere's disease.  I have a roaring sound with lots of pressure in my ear while I'm sleeping, fullness and pressure in my ears, vertigo attacks (not sever enough to make me vomit just nausia).  My question is I also have been getting more headaches, sometimes they are stabbing pain, is this normal to those who have meniere's?  I've been getting headaches in the front of my head, but stabbing headaches towards the back.  thanks Julie

[FinallyADiagnosis]

Hello....and thank you in advance for being a group of people who will understand when life has been like. I am a 36 year old female w/ chronic ear trouble. By the time I was 5 mo. old I had such bad ear infections that I blew out my eardrum and entire middle and inner ear. When I was 17 the doctor (my hero) performed a Radical Mastoidectomy w/ a Temporal Flap. In other words, he cleaned out my ear for once and for all and sewed my ear shut with the Temporal Muscle from the side of my head. For the past 19 years I have been having issues with the remaining ear. Several doctors could not find anything wrong and kept sending me home. Finally I went back to the specialist's office (that performed the earlier surgery) and was told I have a textbook case of Meniere's in the remaining ear. I was so relieved to know that not only I wasn't imagining these symptoms but that someone believed me and was enough of a professional to investigate. All I could do was sit in fromt of this doctor and cry. In the last 24 hours I have been reading everythng I can get my hands on regarding Meniere's. The dizziness, low tolerance for loud noise, pressure in my ear, head in a "fog" kind of feeling... Not to mention the fact that I have hearing loss in what used to be the "good" ear - the only ear!!
I am relieved and scared at the same time.. Thanks for listening!!

[FinallyADiagnosis]

I'm not sure where you are but if you ever get to Florida you should try to see either Dr. Loren Bartels or Dr. Christopher Danner - these guys are ANGELS!
They are at the Tampa Bay Hearing and Balance Center @ Tampa General Hospital. Good Luck to you and thank you for letting me read your story.

[Wear/a/Jimmy]

Men. D, is not something easily diagnosed, nor is it something that should be diagnosed at the first visit with an MD.

Some of the symptoms mentioned are classic:

1) Low freq tinnitus (roaring or train sound has been reported)
2) Fluctuating Hearing loss (severity associated with vertigo)
3) Vertigo
4) Ear fullness
5) low freq hearing loss

and something that is not on the list, but I think should be....  occurs more often in the female population than male.

The reason you should not be diagnosed at the first visit, is that comparative hearing exams should be taken.  Symtomatic, a symtomatic, slightly symtomatic etc. If a hearing fluctuation is evident, and also the classic low freq. hearing loss is evident....   folks the odds are extremely high, you have Men. D.

[myiasdo]

Hi,
I too have MS and one of my problems is awful headaches.  I prefer not to take narcotics (stubborn).  My neurology suggested I take Vitamin B2 100mg 2X day. Vitmin B2 is ribroflavin and you can find it as a additive in some processed foods plus not processed foods.  I swear this has helped so much I'm telling everyone I run into.  The pain in my neck and shoulders has even gotten better.  If it's only in my head to be it but it works.  The nausea and vomiting from the headaches is even better.  Try it. It's water soluable so it doesn't bother your liver.  Bascially, what your body doesn't need is flushed out in your urine. I noticed a difference in about 2-3 days.  I also have noticed if I am late taking the vitamin I can feel the headache coming on.  I do still have a very mild headache, but nothing like I was dealing with.  This stuff is great.  It's worth a try.
Best wishes
myiasdo

[myiasdo]

Hi me again,
Just wanted to also tell you to pull up vitamin B2 and see what if says it is used for.  A couple of which are migraine headaches and MS.  Cool beans,
Wish I knew about this sooner.
Best wishes,
myiasdo

[JulesLynn]

I stumbled on this site quite by accident.  I was sent to the "meniere's expert" and he diagnosed me with "pre-meniere's".  I know what a joke, how can anyone be pre- diseased.  He did nothing for me except offer me a sedative and diuretic.  I asked him dozens of questions about what could be causing this and he'd just smile and shake his head 'no'.  Well, I ended up getting so bad I had to take a medical leave from work.   I finally found some answers in another forum called "enough" (endolymphatic hydrops).  There is a book out by a Dr. Gacek called the "Viral Neuropathies of the Temporal Bone".  Please check out the info.