1. Meniere’s Disease
Silence is golden…unless it’s forever!
Table 4

2.  Causes severe dizziness (vertigo)
 Ringing of the ear (tinnitus)
 Hearing loss or eventual deafness
 Feeling of fullness or congestion of the ear
What Does it Do?

3.  There is a buildup of fluid in the labyrinth
of the inner ear
 The balance is in the semicircular canals
which are affected
 Normal balance of endomolph fluid is
thrown off
Why Me?

4.  NOBODY KNOWS!!!
 Some researchers believe it is caused by
a restriction of blood vessels (also
associated with migraines)
 Your parents fault (bad genes)
- causes abnormalities in volume and
regulation of endomolph fluid
Why Does My Ear Not Like Me?

5.  Does not target a specific age race or sex
 Usually only effects one ear
This Disease is Nonspecific

6.  You go to your local otolaryngologist (ear
nose and throat Doctor) and they
diagnose the symptoms:
 Two or more episodes of vertigo lasting at
least 20 minutes each
 Tinnitus
 Temporary hearing loss
 A feeling of fullness in the ear
Diagnosis

7.  Doctors cannot cure the disease but they
fight symptoms by:
 Prescribing drugs to relieve dizziness and
shorten attacks
 Recommend cutting salt from the diet and
prescribe water pills to lower the fluid volume
and pressure in the ear
 Injections of antibiotic gentamicin into the
inner ear to reduce dizziness-may cause
deafness (sorry )
How Do Doctors Fix This?

8.  Surgery to cut vestibular nerve
 Alternative medicine is also used tai-
chi, acupuncture etc.
Other Treatments

9.  Scientists are working to develop a
microfluid pump to deliver vertigo
relieving drugs to the inner ear
 Doctors seek to study the normal ear to
contrast with a Meniere ear in the amount
of fluid in the endolymph
Research

10.  Harms, R. (2010, June 8). Mayo clinic: Meniere. Retrieved
from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/menieres-
disease/DS00535
 Ménière's disease. (2012, Febr 03). Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ménière's_disease
 Ménière's disease. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-
webster.com/medical/ménière's disease
 National institute on deafness and other communication
disorders. (2010, September 13). Retrieved from
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/balance/pages/meniere.a
spx
 Schwartz, S. (2011, August 31). Pubmed health: Meniere.
Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001721/
Sources