MenieresInfo.com Blog

P.J. Haybach, R.N., M.S., the author of the best book about Meniere’s Disease for patients, ”Meniere’s Disease — What You Need to Know,” has launched a new educational consulting service for vestibular disorders, including Meniere’s Disease.  The details are available at her website here:  http://balance-and-dizziness.com/page1.htm.  It strikes us that this innovative service should be extremely useful to almost every Meniere’s Disease patient and that the fee may well be the best money that a Meniere’s Disease patient could spend!  (This is news, not advertising, and the MDIC (MenieresInfo.com) receives no compensation for this information.)

The Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD), a publication of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), has published a special issue on hearing and hearing loss:  Volume 42, Number 4, Supplement 2, July/August 2005.  This issue is the “current issue” and was apparently published this week, despite the July/August 2005 date.

The issue contains a number of articles that will be of interest to Meniere’s Disease patients.  A press release authored by Judith LaVoie of the VA nicely describes the contents of the special issue and the significance of each article.  LaVoie has somewhat recharacterized the titles of some of the articles for the benefit of us lay folks, so use the page numbers rather than the titles to go from the press release to the actual journal article.

Here are a few articles that caught our particular interest:

• An article involving the diagnosis of noise-induced hearing loss, idiopathic sudden sensorineural (nerve-based) hearing loss, otosclerosis, and Meniere’s Disease — click here.
• An article involving hair cell regeneration, and whether restoration of hearing and balance might be possible — click here.
• An article reviewing the treatment of tinnitus — click here.

A reader asks:

I have Meniere’s Disease. My family doctor does nothing for me. I need help in managing this. I get dizzy when lying flat or turning in bed. My family does not understand how awful this is. Where can I go for help?

When one doctor doesn’t help, go to another doctor. A family doctor is the wrong specialty for Meniere’s Disease. For resources to help you find a doctor, see the MenieresInfo.com Doctors Page. We always recommend multiple medical opinions, both for diagnosis and for treatment options.

We suggest that you read the MenieresInfo.com Start Page.

Note that dizziness arising from certain positions may or may not indicate some disorder other than Meniere’s Disease, such as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). But that’s something to discuss with a specialist.

Lack of understanding among families of Meniere’s Disease patients is all too common — and sad. There are those who don’t understand, those who don’t want to understand, and those who simply cannot understand. The effect on the patient is pretty much the same — devastating.

VEDA (Vestibular Disorders Association, located in the U.S.) has a listing of support groups for patients here.

You might think that you would like to send one’s family to a support group for families of Meniere’s Disease patients, and we would agree with you, but we don’t know of any. Perhaps families should be invited to observe meetings of support groups for patients. We wish we had a better answer for you.

Revised and Updated January 18, 2006.
Originally posted January 11, 2006.

Based on the press release:

Announcing “Inner Ear Balance and Dizziness Disorders,” a new 234-page book describing vestibular disorders and their effect, diagnosis, and treatment in easy to understand language by P.J. Haybach, R.N., M.S., author of both “Meniere’s Disease: What You Need to Know” and “BPPV: What You Need to Know.”

“Inner Ear Balance and Dizziness Disorders” is available in two formats, print and non-printable ebook. The print format is available from Amazon here and at BookSurge here at $20.99. The non-printable ebook format is a good choice for readers in a hurry or on a strict budget because it’s available for immediate download at BookSurge here at the lesser price of $7.99.

More information, including the table of contents, index, and a sampling from the book, can be found on this page at the author’s web site: www.balance-and-dizziness.com.

Haybach is the author of the must-read book for Meniere’s Disease patients and those who know them, “Meniere’s Disease: What You Need to Know,” and numerous other books and short publications. Click here.

The new book should be of interest to, among others, those who are trying to get a diagnosis for their balance and dizziness symptoms and Meniere’s Disease patients who are wondering whether they have been correctly diagnosed (which would include many of us). (See the MeniereInfo.com section on “mimics” here.) The individual disease chapters are short but there are lengthy lists of references to give one a good start if one intends to do further research on one’s own.

Here is the table of contents, courtesy of the author, P.J. Haybach, via email:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Whom Should I Go To?
Chapter 3: The Symptoms
Chapter 4: The Workings of the Ear
Chapter 5: Where Do Vestibular Disorders Come From?
Chapter 6: What Do I Have?
Chapter 7: The History
Chapter 8: The Examination
Chapter 9: Testing
Chapter 10: Treatment
Chapter 11: Diet
Chapter 12: Medications
Chapter 13: Physical Therapy
Chapter 14: Surgery
Chapter 15: Acoustic Neuroma
Chapter 16: Arnold Chiari Malformation Type I
Chapter 17: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)/Benign Positional Vertigo (BPV)
Chapter 18: Benign Positional Vertigo of Childhood
Chapter 19: Cervical Vertigo (Cervicogenic Vertigo)
Chapter 20: Cholesteatoma
Chapter 21: Delayed Endolymphatic Hydrops
Chapter 22: Endolymphatic Hydrops
Chapter 23: Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome
Chapter 24: Immune System Diseases (Autoimmune Diseases)
Chapter 25: Labyrinthitis
Chapter 26: Lyme Disease
Chapter 27: Mal de Debarquement
Chapter 28: Meniere’s Disease
Chapter 29: Migraine
Chapter 30: Multiple sclerosis
Chapter 31: Otosclerosis
Chapter 32: Ototoxicity
Chapter 33: Perilymphatic Fistula
Chapter 34: Shingles
Chapter 35: Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence
Chapter 36: Syphilis
Chapter 37: Temporal Bone Fracture
Chapter 38: Vascular Loop Compression
Chapter 39: Vestibular Neuronitis/Neuritis
Chapter 40: Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency
Chapter 41: Vestibulopathy
Chapter 42: von Hippel Landau Disease
Chapter 43: More
Chapter 44: Vestibular Loss
Chapter 45: Vertigo
Chapter 46: Imbalance
Chapter 47: Tinnitus and Hearing Loss
Chapter 48: Anxiety, Panic and Fear
Chapter 49: Depression
Chapter 50: Fatigue
Chapter 51: Stress
Chapter 52: Thought and Memory
Conclusion

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