Meniere's Disease: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

Meniere's Disease Treatment

Meniere's disease does not have a treatment. There are certain treatments that can help reduce the severity and duration of vertigo attacks. However, there is no cure for irreversible hearing loss. Your doctor might be able to recommend therapies to stop the progression of your hearing loss.

To make a vertigo attack less severe, your doctor may prescribe certain drugs, which you should take while experiencing vertigo. These might include the following:

• Meclizine (Antivert) and diazepam (Valium), for example, can minimize the sensation of spinning and can aid with controlling nausea and vomiting.
• The nausea and vomiting that can occur during a vertigo attack may be controlled by medications like promethazine.
• In order to treat vertigo, diuretics reduce bodily fluid retention, which may reduce the amount of excess fluid in the inner ear. By enhancing blood flow to the inner ear, betahistines reduce the symptoms of vertigo.

Non-surgical treatments for Meniere's disease may be beneficial for certain patients, including:

• Rehabilitation. In the event that you struggle with the balance between vertigo attacks, vestibular rehabilitation therapy may help.
• Hearing aids. You might hear better if you wear a hearing aid for Meniere's disease-affected ear. The ideal hearing aids for you can be discussed with an audiologist, sometimes known as an ear doctor, by your healthcare provider.

Treatment for vertigo symptoms may include middle ear injections. These are administered in a healthcare professional's office. Injections may consist of:

• Gentamicin. Your inner ear is poisonous to this antibiotic. The vertigo-causing portion of your ear is damaged in order for it to work. Then, your healthy ear assumes responsibility for balance. There is, nevertheless, a chance of future hearing loss.
• Steroids. Some people may find that taking steroids like dexamethasone helps them manage their vertigo attacks. Gentamicin may be more effective than dexamethasone. But the likelihood of subsequent hearing loss is lower.

Surgery may be a possibility if Meniere's disease vertigo bouts are severe and difficult to handle and other therapies are ineffective. Procedures consist of Endolymphatic sac surgery, Labyrinthectomy, and Vestibular nerve section.

Meniere's Disease Prevention

Meniere's disease cannot be prevented, but there are steps you may do to lessen the likelihood of attacks and their effects.

• Eat a diet low in salt
• Give up smoking
• Skip the alcohol and coffee
• Stay away from loud noises
• Manage stress
• Move cautiously at home and at work to prevent falling or getting into an accident when dizzy

References

Andersson, G., Hägnebo, C., & Yardley, L. (1997). Stress and symptoms of Meniere's disease: a time-series analysis. Journal of psychosomatic research, 43(6), 595-603.

Nakashima, T., Pyykkö, I., Arroll, M. A., Casselbrant, M. L., Foster, C. A., Manzoor, N. F., ... & Young, Y. H. (2016). Meniere's disease. Nature reviews Disease primers, 2(1), 1-18.

Neff, B. A., Staab, J. P., Eggers, S. D., Carlson, M. L., Schmitt, W. R., Van Abel, K. M., ... & Shepard, N. T. (2012). Auditory and vestibular symptoms and chronic subjective dizziness in patients with Meniere’s disease, vestibular migraine, and Meniere’s disease with concomitant vestibular migraine. Otology & Neurotology, 33(7), 1235-1244.

Paparella, M. M. (1984). Pathology of Meniere's disease. Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology, 93(4_suppl), 31-35.

Paparella, M. M., & Djalilian, H. R. (2002). Etiology, pathophysiology of symptoms, and pathogenesis of Meniere's disease. Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, 35(3), 529-545.