MenieresInfo.com Blog

A reader comments on her pregnancies with Meniere’s Disease:

I was diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease at age 29. I became pregnant with my first child at age 30. During my first pregnancy, I had episodes of feeling off balance, with tinnitus and hearing loss in both ears. I worked as a Medical Technologist during my whole first pregnancy and was able to perform my job with only minor problems.

I became pregnant with my second child at age 33. By this time I had chosen to be a stay at home mother for reasons having nothing to do with my Meniere’s Disease. In the 30th week of my second pregnancy, I had several severe vertigo attacks, with tinnitus and hearing loss in both ears. After delivering my second child, my attacks were less frequent and less severe.

I became pregnant with my third child at age 35. I never had a vertigo attack with my third pregnancy, although later in the pregnancy I had some episodes of feeling lightheaded and off balance, with tinnitus in both ears.

Now I have tinnitus on and off and I have fluctuating hearing loss. I have good days with one or both ears being clear, but symptoms do come and go. I have found that, for me, eating a diet low in carbohydrates and with lean meats seems to work well. I keep my cats outside and I have reduced most allergens indoors. I replaced most of my wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors and I placed Berber rugs on top of the hardwood floors. Reducing caffeine does not seem to help me, so I drink coffee as I always did.

I will probably try for a fourth child in a year or two at age 38 or 39, with the belief that another pregnancy will be no different from the first three.

We are grateful for these thoughtful and detailed comments and encourage other readers to provide their experiences.

We previously posted on pregnancy here.

Remember that although the reader’s comments above are very encouraging, there are surely other patients who have had greater difficulties. Nothing is certain with Meniere’s Disease. However, as we have said before, we have not heard of a patient regretting a pregnancy due to Meniere’s Disease, but we haven’t heard of everything.

Update: See this subsequent post.

A reader asks:

Should patients with Meniere’s Disease avoid pregnancy?

This is absolutely, positively, a subject to discuss with one’s doctors and a subject not to be influenced by what one may see on the Internet.

That said, here are a few thoughts that you may want to use as talking points with your doctors.

Search PubMed here.

We do not know of any risk posed by Meniere’s Disease to the fetus — but we don’t know everything. Be sure to talk to your doctors.

Meniere’s Disease is not hereditary. However, it does occur with increased frequency in *some* families (no one knows why). Thus, Meniere’s Disease is said to be “familial.” See our previous post here.

Anecdotally, some patients have reported that their symptoms worsened during pregnancy. Other patients have reported that their symptoms lessened or abated during pregnancy.

Some drugs prescribed to Meniere’s Disease patients to treat the symptom of vertigo are known to pose risks to a fetus. Other drugs have been studied and are not known to pose risks to a fetus (but there are no guarantees). See Dr. Timothy Hain’s information here.

We have never heard a patient say that she regretted having become pregnant because of Meniere’s Disease. But we haven’t heard everything.

Remember, this subject is best discussed with your doctors. A significant factor will be the extent to which Meniere’s Disease affects you and the extent to which you are willing to forego during pregnancy any treatment that might place the fetus at risk. In other words, a long, hard haul may (or may not) be even harder.

We wish you our best.