MenieresInfo.com Blog

A reader asks:

I am a scuba diver diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease. My attacks come after diving.  I have continued to dive since my diagnosis six years ago. Should I stop scuba diving? Are there any studies on this?

Whether you should stop scuba diving is a question for you to discuss with your doctor, not with us.  You are choosing to deliberately induce attacks by deliberately engaging in what for you is a known trigger.  Something to ponder.

To learn how to research Meniere’s Disease, visit the MenieresInfo.com Research Page.

To search PubMed, click here.

To search Google, click here.

A reader asks:

Is there a connection between Meniere’s Disease and the vagus nerve?

Not that we can see in PubMed.  Click here.

A reader asks:

I use a hearing aid in my “better” ear because I have more than 90% loss of hearing in the ”worse” ear and supposedly there is no hearing aid that can reasonably be used on a daily basis for the worse ear.  My problem is that my hearing aid, when placed in my “better” ear is good for volume, but when I put the aid in my “worse” ear, I hear with better clarity – not loud (I have a class D hearing aid), but good enough to sometimes hold a conversation over backgroud noises.  I’m thinking about getting two hearing aids, one for each ear.  What do you think?

We think that if you think that a second hearing aid would be helpful to you, then it’s your opinion that counts.  There are many new developments in hearing devices.  The best website that we know of for current information on that subject is HearingMojo.com.  You might contact the publisher there, David Copithorne, for his comments.  According to the website, David has Meniere’s Disease and wears two hearing aids, although his situation may be different from yours.

A reader asks:

How likely is it that someone could be diagnosed with both Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) and Meniere’s Disease?

Actually, the question that our reader poses is somewhat different from the title of this post, which we worded.  But let’s start with the title.  We haven’t seen any authoritative studies on the subject, but you can look for yourself at PubMed here.  The physiology of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is dislodged calcium carbonate crystals in the inner ear.  This is quite different from the physiology at work in Meniere’s Disease (or, at least the prevailing, but not universally held, theory of the physiology at work in Meniere’s Disease), which is excess endolymphatic fluid due to either overproduction or underresorption.  See the MenieresInfo.com Cause Page.  We don’t see a connection.  Surely, though, it is possible that one can develop both Meniere’s Disease and any other medical disorder.

But that’s not our reader’s question.  Our reader asks how likely that one would be diagnosed with both BPPV and Meniere’s Disease, and our reader asks that without regard to whether one actually has both BPPV and Meniere’s Disease.  BPPV is easier to diagnose than Meniere’s Disease.  We know that Meniere’s Disease is difficult to diagnose, because there is no definitive test for Meniere’s Disease, and in some cases, it is just the default diagnosis when no other cause for one’s symptoms can be identified.  BPPV can certainly “mimic” Meniere’s Disease.  See the MenieresInfo.com Diagnosis Page.  We wouldn’t fault a doctor for a “what the heck” try at relieving one’s symptoms through the positional maneuvers that are so successful at treating BPPV.  If that is done, and the patient improves somewhat, it would be tempting to add BPPV to the diagnosis.

But what our reader is actually doing is evincing skepticism over a diagnosis of both BPPV and Meniere’s Disease.  We always recommend multiple medical opinions, both for diagnosis and for treatment options.  See the MenieresInfo.com Doctors Page.

A patient writes:

I have had several Meniere’s attacks in my life, the most recent being over 10 years ago.  As a result, I had slight hearing loss in my right ear.  In January 2006, I had major surgery, after which I was given an ototoxic “loop” diuretic.  The next day after being given the loop diuretic, I found that I had lost all hearing in my left ear.  After several weeks, much of my hearing in the left ear has returned, but hearing remains distorted and I sometimes have a sensation of fullness.  After testing, my doctor found no evidence of Meniere’s disease in the left ear, but confirmed evidence of Meniere’s Disease in the right ear in the past.  He couldn’t say whether the ototoxic loop diuretic or Meniere’s Disease caused the sudden hearing loss in my left ear.  Can Meniere’s Disease cause sudden hearing loss?  My doctor recommended a low salt diet and avoidance of eating cheese.  I see no reference to cheese on any of the Meniere’s websites. Is it known as a frequent trigger? Should I go to a Meniere’s Disease specialist to better determine if the damage to left ear is from the ototoxic loop diuretic or from Meniere’s? Could this determination make a difference in the prognosis which at this time is to wait to see if it goes away?

Meniere’s Disease can cause sudden hearing loss (SHL) but it doesn’t happen often.  You can research this on Google here.

The logical reason why cheese might not be mentioned on any of the Meniere’s Disease websites is that it is not ”known as a frequent trigger.”  In fact, it isn’t. However, cheese contains sodium, which is at odds with your low salt diet (which is really a low sodium diet).  Sodium is known to be a trigger in some, but not all, patients (click here).  You are really asking, “Why did my doctor tell me to avoid cheese?”  But why ask us?  If you have a question about what you were told by your doctor, our advice is to ask your doctor.  It is simply not possible for us to know why your doctor or anyone else said anything about anything.  Our answer to “Why did he tell me that?” is always “We don’t know.”

Our answer to the question “Should I see another doctor?” is always YES.

“Prognosis” is the course of a disease.  Your “prognosis” is not “wait to see if it goes away.”  That is your “treatment.”  If you are asking whether one doctor might have a different opinion from an other doctor, both for diagnosis and for treatment options, the answer is YES.

What you are really saying through all of this is that you lack confidence in your doctor, to which we always say, “see another doctor.”