We just received this from Lizzie: Another one to the list of people living free of Meniere’s disease symptoms 
Hi Michael,
Now into my fourth month of taking the supplements. Feeling great. Lots of energy, no dizzy spells and a clear head. Still have the tinnitus and poor hearing in my right ear but these are very definitely at livable levels. Am also finding that I don’t need to be quite so careful with the salt intake. Of course, I am careful most of the time but if I have a meal out for example I don’t notice it. I can also enjoy a glass of wine now!
Here’s a funny thing: I normally eat mostly a vegetarian diet as my partner is vegetarian but lately I’ve been really craving meat and fish. Maybe my body needs the extra protein as part of the healing process?
Many thanks
Lizzie
Aussie bids to crack middle ear disease
It’s time to pull the mysterious “dizzy terror” which afflicts at least 50,000 Australians out of medical science’s too hard basket, an Australian researcher says.
Dr Daniel Brown, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Sydney’s Medical School, heads the world’s first research facility solely dedicated to finding the cause and a cure for Meniere’s Disease.
The debilitating condition of the middle ear has been baffling scientists since it was first described by French physician Prosper Meniere in 1861.
Its cause remains unclear – genetic, hormonal or even a viral trigger for fluid or pressure fluctuations within the body’s balancing mechanism, the middle ear – but its impact on sufferers is well known.
They experience sudden and recurring bouts of dizziness, each lasting up to 24 hours and accompanied by nausea and vomiting, with the first of these attacks usually occurring in a person’s mid-30s.
“Some people will get these attacks and will immediately drop to the floor and other people they can sense it is coming on,” Dr Brown, who heads the Meniere’s Laboratory, told AAP this week.
“Imagine being so dizzy that you have to call an ambulance and stay in hospital for a couple of days.
“… Or if you’ve ever had a big night out and then the room is spinning and you just want it to stop – well times that by 10.”
When a sufferer experienced one of these attacks, which they dub the “dizzy terror”, in public they may be dismissed by onlookers as simply being drunk.
Dr Brown said these attacks often occurred in clusters. Stress could bring on an attack as could a diet high in salt while sufferers would also experience worsening hearing and balance problems over time.
It was also common for sufferers to report feeling increasingly sensitive to certain sounds and changes in atmospheric pressure.
Sufferers could feel uncomfortable driving in a car with the window down while routine sounds could also have a “distressing” effect.
“When you have a complex hearing loss, your brain reorganises itself,” Dr Brown said.
“They’ll flush the toilet and say that sounds awful … it can have a high-pitched wheeling. It won’t sound right.”
Dr Brown said this all added up to a debilitating condition that was enough to force some sufferers out of the workforce.
While 50,000 Australians were diagnosed with the condition the total number of sufferers could be triple this as the condition was often confused for migraine or vertigo.
Diagnosing was also no guarantee of fixing the problem, Dr Brown said, as conventional treatments alleviate the dizzy spell but do not halt the decline in hearing or balance.
“Clinicians all know about it, and know of Meniere’s sufferers, but because they can’t really help them it gets put to the side,” Dr Brown said.
“People have been studying it for the last 100 years and they drop it because they think that’s old Meniere’s Disease, no one is ever going to come up with an explanation for that or come up with a cure.
“It’s done with – we can’t work it out.”
The Meniere’s Laboratory was established last year as the culmination of about eight years of fundraising by the Meniere’s Research Fund, a group formed by Australian sufferers.
Dr Brown’s work is now focused on trying to find an improved diagnostic test for identifying excess fluid in the ear and determining the effects of the resultant build-up of pressure.
Recent studies overseas had made some headway in understanding what a sufferer experienced at the height of a dizzy attack, he said, including a spike in sensitivity for the middle ear without temporary deafness.
Dr Brown said there was a growing global momentum behind the research effort, with the aim of pushing treatment to the next step.
“The you-beaut treatment would stop the attack and prevent the degeneration of hearing and balance,” he said.
“.. And that would be a god-send for these people, allowing them to get back on with their normal lives.
“These people are distraught with the fear of when one of these attacks is going to come on.”
Taken from http://news.ninemsn.com.au
You can see the whole article here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/1068824/aussie-bids-to-crack-middle-ear-disease
We have posted a few times on Chiropractics, and how it may help your Meniere’s disease symptoms Here is a detailed report on this topic. It may be worth visiting a reputable Chiropractor and have them check your spine and neck, to see if your symptoms are cervical in origin.
You can find the article here: http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?t=37&id=40608
San Diego-based Otonomy, which is developing treatments for Meniere’s disease, said today that it has raised $10M in a Series A financing round. The round came from Avalon Ventures. According to Otonomy, the funding will go towards supporting the ongoing clinical trial for its compound, to initiate IND studies for a second compound, and early-stage development of a third program. Otonomy is headed by Jay Lichter, who is also a managing director at Avalon Ventures. Otonomy’s first product is a sustained release formulation of steroid dexamethasone.
I have posted before on Acupuncture, but recently found this journal on the subject. I have used acupuncture with mixed results, and in my humble opinion it depends on the practitioner. I have tried several, most of whom were not very good but in saying that two were excellent. They helped rid me of most of my Meniere’s disease symptoms temporarily but were ultimately fighting a losing battle. In my case it was worth it to get relief, even if it were only for a few weeks. I would also add that I have used acupuncture successfully with other problems like sports injuries.
Here is an exract from the Journal of Chinese Medicine:
Assessment of results of Acupuncture for Meniere’s disease…
Marked improvement: dizziness disappeared and hearing
improved after treatment, with no relapse during a follow-up
of one year.
Improvement: dizziness disappeared but hearing was not
improved after 3 courses of treatment.
Failure: no improvement was noted or a slight improvement
with relapse during a follow-up of 6 months.
Results
Of the 72 cases, 36 were markedly improved(50.0%) after
2-3 courses of treatment, 17 improved (23.6%) and 19 failed
(26.4%). The treatment was more effective in cases of short
duration.
Discussion
Meniere’s disease is a non-fatal disorder, and it has not yet
been reproduced in experimental animals. Consequently,
material for histological study is difficult to obtain. It was
long suspected that endolymphatic hydrops in the inner ear
was associated with Meniere’s disease and this was confirmed
by Hallpike and Cairs in 1938.
Case example
A 31-year-old male teacher experienced severe dizziness,
deafness and tinnitus of the left ear after his classes. He also
complained of nausea and vomiting on movement of his
head. The tympanic membrane was normal. Audiometry
showed a sensorineural hearing loss of the left ear. Caloric
test revealed that the vestibular function of his left ear was
reduced. He had red eyes, a flushed complexion, dryness in
the throat and a red tongue with yellow coating. His pulse
was taut and rapid. The diagnosis was Meniere’s disease
due to hyperactivity of Liver-yang. Electro-acupuncture to
left Tinggong SI-19 or Yifeng SJ-17, and Xingjian LIV-2 or
Taichong LIV-3 was administered. After two courses of
treatment, the dizziness completely disappeared and his
hearing improved with no relapse over 2 years.
Notes
1 Sensorineural deafness: hearing impairment due to disorders
