Ménière’s Disease

Ménière’s disease affects your balance and hearing.

In this article:

What is Ménière’s disease?

Symptoms/related conditions

Causes

Diagnosis

Treatment

How Chemist Online can help

Advice & Support

What is Ménière’s disease?
Ménière’s disease develops when the fluid in the fluid-filled canals of the inner ear builds up to an unnatural quantity. This increases the pressure inside the canals (or tubes.) Because the inner ear plays such an important role in your balance and hearing, when you inner ear canals are affected in this way you can suffer from dizziness, hearing loss and other symptoms.

Symptoms/Related conditions
Associated conditions/related symptoms of Ménière’s disease include vertigo, tinnitus and deafness.

Vertigo: Despite the common misconception, vertigo is not a fear of heights. It is a condition where you suffer a sudden loss of balance and the sensation that everything around you is turning.

Many people with vertigo describe it as like being on a merry-go-round, and so your vision becomes blurred and everything around you seems to be moving – even if you are completely still when the vertigo attack occurs.

Symptoms of vertigo include:

A feeling that the room or your surroundings are spinning

Loss of balance

Difficulty standing and walking

Headache

Earache

High temperature

Nausea and vomiting

Sweating

A feeling of disorientation (which can make you feel anxious and upset), and a kind of light-headedness

If you have a vertigo attack, the symptoms you experience and the behaviour you subsequently display can often be misconstrued by others as drunkenness, and so they fail to come to your assistance as a result.

Tinnitus: This is the sudden onset of a ringing, whistling or buzzing sound in your ear(s) which can last for a relatively short period, or it can be constantly there. Also, the volume of these sounds you hear inside your ear can fluctuate.

For some people, tinnitus can be easier to cope with if they are in an environment that is relatively noisy, such as: a shopping centre, a busy workplace or a leisure centre. However, in quiet environs, where there is little other noise to mask symptoms of tinnitus, the condition can become almost unbearable.

Symptoms of tinnitus include:

A ringing or buzzing sound in the ear(s)

Sleeping problems

Poor concentration


Also, people with tinnitus can often develop depressive illness as a result of struggling to cope with the condition. (Please see contact details for the Depression Alliance at the Advice & Support section at the foot of this article).

Hearing Loss: This can particularly affect you ability to hear low sounds. You will also experience a greater sensitivity to sudden, loud noises. With Ménière’s disease, you will gradually notice an increasing deafness. Some people lose their hearing altogether, but this only occurs in rare cases.

Causes
Despite worldwide medical research, the exact cause of Ménière’s disease is as yet unknown. However, some suggested theories are that Ménière’s disease may develop as result of contracting certain viruses. You may also have a genetic predisposition to developing Ménière’s disease. That means there is a family history of it and the propensity to developing the condition at some point in your life may have been passed down.

Diagnosis
A confirmed diagnosis of Ménière’s disease is generally established through an ear test. If you are suffering from the aforementioned symptoms, arrange an appointment with your GP. After taking your medical history they will ask you some questions about your symptoms and then arrange for you to see an ear specialist at your local (or nearest) hospital. An appropriate treatment will then be recommended to you.

Treatment
Although Ménière’s disease cannot be cured, as such, there are a range of treatments available to help ease symptoms and reduce the severity of your attacks. These can include prescribed medicines which not only help control dizziness but also prevent you from feeling nauseous.

Other treatments for Ménière’s disease can include:

Sedatives – to reduce stress (a common trigger of the condition)

Anti-depressants – to diminish the impact of your condition upon your life, by improving your overall mood

Physiotherapy – to help improve your balance and overall movement and mobility

Counselling therapy (such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) by a specially trained hearing specialist

Help in developing powerful concentration techniques which are intended to remove the focus away from symptoms and project them onto something else instead (i.e. in the realm of your tinnitus symptoms)

Hearing aids and masking devices which are purpose-built to cover up the ringing or buzzing noise in the ear, by allowing other sounds to dominate almost fully.

Where symptoms of Ménière’s disease are particularly severe, surgery may be considered as a last-resort treatment option.

How Chemist Online can help
Through this website we have a range of treatments available to buy which can help ease the associated symptoms of Ménière’s disease, including headache and earache.

We can also offer you a range of products to help aid restful sleep.


www.chemistonline.co.uk


Advice & Support
Ménière’s Society
Tel: 0845 120 2975
Website: www.menieres.org.uk

British Tinnitus Association
Tel: 0800 018 0527
Website: www.tinnitus.org.uk

Depression Alliance
Tel: 0845 123 23 20
Website: www.depressionalliance.org


This information and advice is not intended to replace the advice of your GP or chemist. Chemist Online is also not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made by a user based upon the content of the Chemist Online website. Chemist Online is also not liable for the contents of any external internet sites listed, nor does it endorse any commercial product or service mentioned or advised on any of the sites.






---

Keywords: Medicines, Health, Beauty

By: mumsa1i

Free Article Directory: http://www.jumparticles.com

Copy and Paste Link Code:
<a href="http://www.jumparticles.com/1002283">Ménière’s Disease</a>

Article ID 1002283
This article has been viewed 1197 times