Meniere's Disease Information Center -- Extensive Information for Patients, Families, Doctors.

Apr-23-2012	Added to the Famous Patients Page. Joni Woelfel, author. Update April 23, 2013: An article by Joni appeared in National Catholic Reporter here.
Dec-26-2012	Added to the Treatment Page under Treatment With Medicine. Dramamine (but not Dramamine II or Dramamine Less Drowsy Formula), Gravol (Canada) (dimenhydrinate). Dramamine (but not Dramamine II or Dramamine Less Drowsy Formula) and Gravol (Canada) are brand names for the antihistamine dimenhydrinate, which is also a vestibular sedative, the purpose of which in the treatment of Meniere's Disease is to prevent or reduce vertigo and hence the resultant nausea by sedating the vestibular system. Names and formulations vary and are subject to change; be sure to read the ingredients and potency listed on the package. Compazine, stemzine, buccastem, stemetil, phenotil (prochlorperazine). Compazine, stemzine, buccastem, stemetil, phenotil are brand names for the anti-psychotic drug prochlorperazine, which also has antivertiginous and antiemetic properties, the purpose of which in the treatment of Meniere's Disease is to control vertigo and resultant nausea. See: Wikipedia and Medline Plus.
Nov-26-2012	Added to the Treatment Page under Treatment by Identifying and Avoiding Triggers of Symptoms Sound. Sound can induce dizziness in the Meniere's patient (as well as in patients with certain other disorders). Sound-induced dizziness is sometimes call Tullio's Syndrome or Tullio's Phenomenon. Dr. Timothy Hain -- Sound-induced dizziness, or Tullio's Phenomenon, can occur in five different disorders, including Meniere's Disease. Click here to search PubMed for Meniere's Disease and Tullio.
Apr-18-2012	Added to the Famous Patients Page: Famous patient and author Joni Woelfel has published her first novel, "Divine Adventures of Simon Templegate." Read about it here and here.
Sep-13-2011	Added to the Famous Patients Page: Mattias Ritola, professional hockey player. Article, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, September 13, 2011: Meniere's Disease diagnosis questioned.
May-06-2011	Added to the Famous Patients Page: Katie Leclerc, actress, "Switched at Birth" television series premiering on ABC June 6, 2011. Article, May 6, 2011, Zap2It.com (entertainment website).
Feb-10-2011	Added to the Disability Page under U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: We have been contacted by a veteran who anecdotally reports that he was awarded service-related retirement based on service-related aggravation of his Meniere's Disease, idiopathic or not (meaning whether the cause of the Meniere's Disease was service-related or not). Thus, one approach might be aggravation rather than causation.
Jan-17-2011	Added to the Famous Patients Page: Zac Bierk, professional hockey player. Player biography. Mattias Ritola, professional hockey player. Article, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, December 12, 2010.
Jan-04-2011	Added to the Disability Page: Social Security and Disability Resource Center. Publisher Tim Moore is a former disability claims examiner.
Jun-18-2010	Added this link to all pages: Clinical Trials.
Jun-03-2010	Added an RSS feed for the Home Page, via page2rss.com.
May-19-2010	Added the following book to the Books Page: "Meniere's Disease, Evidence and Outcomes," by Michael J. Ruckenstein, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. March 2010. $196. The best book for serious patients and their doctors.
Mar-25-2010	Added the following information to the Famous Patients Page for Patty Spitler, retired broadcast journalist: Patty on March 25, 2010: Raising funds for a hearing cause and rescuing animals: article.
Feb-22-2010	After two years of unresolved problems with the blog software, and after two years without posting blog entries, we finally discontinued the blog on February 22, 2010. For the past two years, we have been updating the website instead of posting to the blog, and that has been working well for us.
Feb-20-2010	The server on which the website is hosted went down on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, and remained down until this morning, Saturday, February 20, 2010.
Feb-07-2010	Added the following information to the Treatment Page: If "it" triggers your symptoms, "it" triggers your symptoms, no matter what "it" is, and regardless of whether "it" triggers symptoms for anyone else. Physical exercise, including sexual intercourse. We know of no clinical research on the effect of physical exercise on the symptoms of Meniere's Disease. Some patients anecdotally report that they experience attacks of Meniere's symptoms brought on by physical exercise, including attacks during sex. Other patients do not have this experience. Some patients anecdotally credit a so-called "healthy lifestyle," including what they believe to be "eating right" and regular physical exercise, with improvements in their overall health and well-being, including reduced symptoms of Meniere's Disease. Other patients see no improvements in their symptoms. Click here to search PubMed for Meniere's Disease and physical exercise research.
Oct-26-2009	Updated PubMed statistics on the Research Page. Over the past 10 years, medical journal articles concerning Meniere's Disease, almost all of them relevant, have been added to PubMed on an average of every 2.6 days. We are not ignored, no matter who says otherwise.
Oct-17-2009	Added the following information to the Diagnosis Page under diagnostic tests: Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP). VEMP is a type of auditory testing, usually performed by an audiologist, that some believe to be of value in the diagnosis of Meniere's Disease. VEMP as a diagnostic tool as applied to Meniere's Disease is somewhat controversial and there are authorities pro and con. We believe that VEMP has not gained wide acceptance among experts as applied to Meniere's Disease. Dr. Timothy Hain's explanation. He reports that in his large practice, VEMP has not been found to have "any use," but notes that other practices have reported a different experience. AudiologyOnline article. Click here to search PubMed for Meniere's Disease and VEMP. Click here to search Google for Meniere's and VEMP.
Aug-29-2009	Added the following information to the Diagnosis Page under mimics: Petrous apex cholesterol granuloma (PACG) (not to be confused with primary angle closure glaucoma, also abbreviated PACG). A type of lesion that can be visualized with MRI. Pubmed: Petrous Apex Cholesterol Granuloma Presenting as Endolymphatic Hydrops: A Case Report. See the full text of the article (.pdf file) here.
Aug-13-2009	Added the following information to the Famous Patients Page: Under Les Paul, guitarist and father of the electric guitar. The Daily Mirror, L.A. Times blog, August 13, 2009 (on the occasion of Les Paul's death), reprinting an article dated November 24, 1991. "Since 1980, he has undergone quintuple bypass surgery and several operations for Meniere's syndrome, a vertigo-inducing ear disorder."
Jun-29-2009	Thanks to a tip from a reader, added the following information to the Disability Page: U.S. Government Disability Website The U.S. government has a website for disability information at disabilityinfo.gov. Home Ownership Programs for Persons With Disabilities For many disabled persons, home ownership may be a stretch, but there are some resources available, and it is always good to know one's options. MortgageLoan.com page on disability mortgages and loans (commercial site). Scroll to the bottom of the page for links to assistance programs.
Jun-05-2009	Added the following information to the Famous Patients Page: Shawnae Jebbia, television and film personality, and Miss USA 1998. Her page on Wikipedia. Video interview via YouTube with Dr. Manny Alvarez on Fox News Channel.
May-16-2009	Revised and clarified the Disability Page as follows: Two problems with obtaining veteran's benefits due to a diagnosis of "Meniere's Disease" can be causation and timing. "Meniere's Disease" caused by military service is probably better diagnosed as a different form of endolymphatic hydrops. Remember that Meniere's Disease is considered by most authorities to be "idiopathic endolymphatic hydrops," with "idiopathic" meaning "cause unknown." With the cause unknown, it is difficult to establish the time period during which Meniere's Disease began. If the cause and therefore the timing is unknown, it is hard to say that it was caused by line-of-duty military service. If one has endolymphatic hydrops caused by line-of-duty military service, then most authorities would say that one does not have "idiopathic" endolymphatic hydrops (Meniere's Disease), because the cause is known. In that case, one might have "secondary endolymphatic hydrops" ("secondary" being secondary to the known cause of line-of-duty military service) or "delayed endolymphatic hydrops," where symptoms manifest subsequent to, rather than coincident with line-of-duty military service. See more information on this subject on the Cause Page. Tip to Service Members: Be sure that symptoms of endolymphatic hydrops (whether Meniere's Disease or any other form) and anything else are documented in your medical records, ESPECIALLY in your separation physical.
Apr-15-2009	Added the following information to the Treatment Page: Triggers are highly individualized. One might have a trigger that no one else has, and one might not have a trigger that many other patients have. Statistics aren't useful here. It's not a matter of "how likely" it is for one to have a particular trigger. Either one has the trigger or one doesn't. Added the following information to the Famous Patients Page: Kristen Chenoweth, singer, actress. Chenoweth writes of her Meniere's Disease in her memoir, A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages, as reviewed in Publishers Weekly (scroll down).
Mar-15-2009	Added the following information to the Famous Patients Page: Television journalist Meg MacDonald renovates her home to accommodate her Meniere's Disease. Update: Article, Wilmington (Del.) News-Journal, March 15, 2009.
Mar-03-2009	Updated the excerpts related to Meniere's Disease disability from the official U.S. Social Security Administration manual "Disability Evaluation Under Social Security" (known as the "Blue Book") to the September 2008 edition. Here.
Jan-15-2009	Added the following information to the Famous Patients Page: Ryan Adams, musician, singer, songwriter, author. Article in Wikipedia. Article on Gibson.com. Article on RollingStone.com.