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

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

You can read it here

A paper at ScienceDirect.Com discusses this problem……here is a summary:

Meniere’s disease may be caused by common intraosseous dental pathology – Diagnosis using the comparative compression sign

Summary
Meniere’s disease has been ascribed to a disturbance of the vestibular apparatus or its connections within the Central Nervous System. Several hypotheses have been advanced regarding its aetiopathogenesis, but treatments based on these hypotheses have often not produced the desired results. Two cases are described where common intraosseous pathology within the lower half of the functional face, i.e. within the mandible and maxillae, was shown to be the cause of Meniere’s disease. Together, these cases contributed to the chance discovery of the comparative compression sign which, when able to be elicited, may be considered pathognomonic for a dental origin of the condition. It is suggested that, in addition to other hypothesized causes involving the vestibular apparatus and the CNS, Meniere’s disease and vertigo may also be caused by common, readily-identifiable intraosseous dental pathology. These unexpected findings open up a new field for future research.

a23 Rechov Atzmon, Ramat Hasharon 47287, Israel

Received 25 June 2006; accepted 30 June 2006. Available online 8 September 2006.

One important aspect of this is that, while many doctors in the west dismiss Stress as a factor the researchers in Osaka had this to say,”Attacks in Meniere’s disease, characterized by vertigo and hearing loss, are well known to occur repeatedly under stressed environment. Hitherto, its pathology was revealed to be inner ear hydrops through human temporal bone studies in 1938″

Read more about this study here

Read More on Stress and Meniere’s disease here

Read a related study to stress and Meniere’s disease here

You could wear a dust mask during this season, steam your sinuses regularly and make sure you take great care in other areas of your life that could increase the chances of menieres attacks such as diet, stress and lifestyle (smoking, drinking etc).

For more information on how to combat Meniere’s Disease during this time go to: Menieres-Help.Com

Meniere’s DNA Study
WRITTEN BY KRISTI RUNYON
MONDAY, 15 MARCH 2010 11:08

Looking for a Cause

The exact cause of Meniere’s disease isn’t known. Researchers believe the symptoms may occur when fluid from one part of the inner ear mixes with another inner ear fluid. Rick Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., Neurotologist with the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles, CA, says some patients report having a cold, sinus infection or some other illness prior to the onset of symptoms.

Meniere’s also tends to run in families, so there may be some genetic link to the disease. Researchers at the House Ear Institute are now looking for people with Meniere’s disease who are willing to submit saliva samples for DNA analysis. Investigators will compare the genome from Meniere’s patients against those without the disease and look for differences in DNA. Friedman says finding those differences may provide clues that lead to a better understanding of Meniere’s and point the way for more effective treatment.

Currently, more than 700 patients have volunteered for the study. Patients from around the world may participate. For information or to find out how to become involved in the Meniere’s DNA study, call the House Ear Institute at (213) 483-4431, or visit their website at http://www.hei.org/research/genetics/menieres.html

AUDIENCE INQUIRY

For information or to find out how to become involved in the Meniere’s DNA study, call the House Ear Institute at (213) 483-4431, or visit their website at http://www.hei.org/research/genetics/menieres.html. You may also contact researchers directly: Jeff Ohmen, 213-273-8065, johmen@hei.org or
Cory White, 213-273-8066, cwhite@hei.org .
For general information on Meniere’s Disease:
American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, http://www.entnet.org
American Hearing Research Foundation, http://www.american-hearing.org
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, http://www.nidcd.nih.gov

Research compiled and edited by Barbara J. Fister

© 2010 Medstar Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This is the Medline Plus definition below: Notice the very similar symptoms as Menieres:

Acoustic Neuroma

Also called: Acoustic neurilemmoma, Acoustic neurinoma, Auditory tumor, Vestibular schwannoma
Acoustic neuroma is a non-cancerous tumor that develops on the nerve that connects the ear to the brain.

The tumor usually grows slowly. As it grows, it presses against the hearing and balance nerves. At first, you may have no symptoms or mild symptoms. They can include:

Loss of hearing on one side
Ringing in ears
Dizziness and balance problems

Acoustic neuroma can be difficult to diagnose, because the symptoms are similar to those of middle ear problems. Ear exams, hearing tests and scans can show if you have it.
If the tumor stays small, you may only need to have it checked regularly. If you do need treatment, surgery and radiation are options. If the tumors affect both hearing nerves, it is often because of a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis. The tumor can also eventually cause numbness or paralysis of the face. If it grows large enough, it can press against the brain, becoming life-threatening.

There is currently inconclusive scientific proof as to the cause of Meniere’s disease, but all of the clients in my clinic have responded to alkaline, ionized water. That points a finger at dehydration. It makes sense because inflammation caused by acidosis and dehydration can cause tissues to swell. Some evidence points to middle ear infection, syphilis, head injury, viral illness, respiratory infection, stress, fatigue, use of OTC and prescription medications, allergies, smoking, alcohol use and genetic factors. All of the above creates acidity in the body with the exception of genetic factors which only govern 35 percent of what is going on. The other 65 percent is within our power to change.

I will continue to offer alkaline, ionized water to Meniere’s sufferers to see if they all respond to the alkaline, ionized water. It is a very specific kind of water, made in a machine that hooks up to your kitchen faucet. It changes the tap water into alkaline, super-oxygenated, super hydrating, high antioxidant water that rids the body of free radicals, free radical damage and toxins. It actually restores the body to its most natural pH, which is near neutral. Most importantly, it stops the dizziness, nystagmus and vomiting in its tracks.

Alkaline, ionized water helps to restore the body’s pH balance and thus symptoms that occur because this balance is lost, return to normal. If you are plagued with this debilitating condition, you may want to try adjusting your body pH.

Jean Perrins is a former nurse and admitted health nut who writes health articles for a number of on-line and off-line sources. As an avid researcher, she knows how to squeeze every ounce of health in a body. To access more of Jean’s articles, go to http://www.drinkalkalineionizedwater.com.