By Mike Spencer
Founder of Meniere’s Help
Researcher and author of Managing Meniere’s Disease and The Need for Balance – Dealing with the Causes of Meniere’s
Is overcoming Meniere’s disease possible?
The official line on Meniere’s disease is that it is treatable but there is no known cause and no known cure. This is what the vast majority of sufferers are told and of course most believe; why wouldn’t they? Tell a patient who has been suffering for many years and believes they have tried everything, that actually there are known causes and therefore known solutions and you could be met with disbelief, disdain and even anger.
This is understandable considering what the sufferer has had to live through and the fact they have constantly been told health professionals that there absolutely is no cure. The literature and online medical websites agree, there is no known cause and no know cure, so it must be true right?
Not exactly!
How do I know? Well read on below, but for starters…..
At the time of writing, I have had a 21 year association with Meniere’s.
- I suffered the worst Meniere’s has to offer for 7 years and thought I had tried everything, including very costly, damaging and unsuccessful surgery.
- For 10 years I lived 95% symptom free through simple but profound dietary and lifestyle changes.
- Since 2012 I have been completely free of Meniere’s.
- For 13 years I have been supporting other sufferers.
- For 7 years I have been a full time independent researcher and writer on Meniere’s. In that time I have corresponded and spoken to thousands of sufferers, doctors, scientists and other health professionals in regards to Meniere’s.
- Most importantly I have watched thousands of sufferers regain their life, either by reducing or eliminating their symptoms or actually eliminating Meniere’s from their life completely. Many of these people had been suffering for many years and most of these people had been told there was nothing more to be done.
So I humbly state that I think I may know a thing or two about Meniere’s by now and I state more strongly that you CAN overcome it, one way or another.
True, there is no ‘miracle cure’, ‘magical super drug’ or any one ‘silver bullet’ that can cure you of Meniere’s but I can confidently say that you absolutely can overcome it.
While nothing is written in stone with this condition and there is no one size fits all, there are some universal truths that apply to all sufferers. You need to gain a true understanding about what you are really dealing with, correlate this with your own individual circumstances, then take the appropriate action and this often needs diligence.
If there were some magical miracle cure I wouldn’t have had to spend so many years researching, communicating with so many sufferers and health professionals or write two books totaling 475 pages to help people overcome this.
In addition to the two self help books published since 2013 , I have been running Meniere’s Help for 13 years, the main website has over 20 pages and this blog over 100 articles and posts. The aim of Meniere’s Help is to help sufferers recover from this horrendous condition or to put it in terms sufferers understand most, help them get their life back.
The sheer numbers of people who have contacted Meniere’s Help alone who have overcome Meniere’s successfully stand as testimony that this can be done, not to mention my own personal case which you might find interesting to read about.
Click here to read Mike’s Meniere’s Story
In the past 4 or 5 years, the vast majority of sufferers who have contacted Meniere’s Help, beaten this condition and regained their lives have read Managing Meniere’s Disease and The Need for Balance. Prior to my writing these books, it was often the sufferers themselves who were the greatest sources of helpful information, through both their successful experiences and their problems. Some of their stories are in the books. I correlate their experiences with scientific medical studies, data and statistics to back everything up and prove it is never a case of simply hearsay much less placebo effect.
It can sometimes need a quantum shift in perception and attitude towards Meniere’s in some people before this becomes obvious.
- The first two steps in overcoming Meniere’s is to change your perception of what you are dealing with and refuse to accept the entrenched dogma of drugs to ‘treat symptoms’, surgery and the all too often spouted “learn to live with it“.
- The next step is to manage your condition, stabilizing your symptoms so you can at least function normally again.
- The final step is to identify and eliminate or correct your own individual root cause(s) so you never have to worry about the symptoms returning.
You need to educate yourself, take that knowledge, correlate it with your own particular case then take action, be that something you need to do yourself or take the information to an appropriate health professional to get checked and/or treated.
If you strip away the label ‘Meniere’s‘, see this idiopathic condition for what it is, simply a set of symptoms, then investigate the pathology of these symptoms you soon find both the root causes and more importantly solutions are indeed known. It may be surprising to some that these possible root causes are actually documented in scientific peer reviewed medical studies, data and statistics. Which begs the question then why are treating health professionals not aware of this?
Some are.
It just depends on which health professional you ask. On average, an ENT doctor or a so called “Meniere’s specialist” will be very compartmentalized and concentrate only on a narrow area of expertise surrounding the ear, nose and throat.
Very few will have comprehensive knowledge of and understand the implications of gut issues, a misaligned musculoskeletal frame, immune system disorders, dental and jaw issues, toxicity or allergies. Fewer still will have any real in depth knowledge of nutrition.
Yet any one of these areas could be where the root cause for Meniere’s symptoms begin in any one individual. This is documented fact in studies cited in many articles on this blog and the evidence of testimonials from sufferers who have contacted Meniere’s Help over the past 13 years, you could say are further proof of this.
The simple fact is that everything within the body is connected and once something becomes out of balance or dysfunctional it can lead to a domino effect or knock on effect and result in dysfunctions and conditions that at first glance may seem totally unconnected.
Health professionals who understand this and take a more holistic approach are still relatively rare but the numbers are certainly growing. It surely must be the obvious common sense approach and how medicine should be practiced. Prevention and correcting root causes rather than the perpetual writing of prescriptions for drugs to simply try to treat resulting symptoms.
The problem with this condition is, simply because of the general perception of “Meniere’s” and its definition as “idiopathic” it means if you do find your root cause, correct or eliminate it and no longer suffer from any symptoms then you will be told you didn’t have “true Meniere’s“.
There can never be a definitive cure because there is no definitive cause. So then what is needed is to find your own cause, or causes (there can be more than one) in your own particular case. Do that and you have found the key to your own particular cure. The question is, do you stubbornly stick with the official line and continue to suffer or do you take things into your own hands and free yourself from this horrendous set of symptoms?
You might ask, “but where do I start once I have changed my perception?”
This is one of several reasons why I spent 7 years researching and writing books on the subject. There are too many variants and differences in each sufferer to do anything else. If there weren’t we could be shouting “we have the cure” and write it in one blog post. That is not the case though.
Meniere’s Disease has several possible root causes, many triggers and contributing factors in each individual case. Find your cause and you have in effect found the key to your solution, cure, answer or what ever words you want to use to describe eliminating these symptoms from your life.
Make no mistake, this can be done, it has been done and is being done all the time. Thousands have done this to my knowledge alone, including myself of course.
The need for Balance is not only true for the inner ear but everywhere in your body, from micro cellular level to musculoskeletal level.
When something is out of sync elsewhere inside the body, this can lead to a knock on effect, or domino effect that ultimately can result in inner ear dysfunction. This is in fact must be true for many disorders and diseases. You do not have to dig that deep to discover this is a simple biological fact.
The problem both doctors and patients face is that modern medical culture is geared almost exclusively to treating the end results, treating the symptoms; never looking for the cause.
Dr Amy Myers, New York best seller with her book ‘The Thyroid connection‘ explains this very well regarding how autoimmune disease is treated. You can read her comments in the article: Can Meniere’s disease be caused by Autoimmunity?
To paraphrase her: autoimmune disease attacks different organs. The sufferer will be sent to a doctor or specialist connected to that specific organ. Treatments will then be administered to stop the symptoms. These drugs will often have side effects in other parts of the body and then the sufferer will go through the same process again. Yet the root problem is what is causing the autoimmune response. Autoimmune disease is a dysfunction of the actual immune system, not the targeted organ. So if the sufferer wants to free themselves from the symptoms completely, the immune system in general is what should be concentrated upon.
The same goes for Meniere’s. The ear is the targeted organ, or the dysfunction of the inner ear is the end result. You need to find what the root cause of that is in your particular case. And it may be rare that it is in or around the actual ear.
From the endocrine system, metabolism and thyroid, the gut, blood flow, the back, the neck, the jaw, dental issues and importantly the immune system in general. Any one of these and more, if dysfunctional or out of balance, may lead to the symptoms of Meniere’s eventually manifesting. Balance in your lifestyle and diet is also important. Poor diet can lead to many dysfunctions and disorders, while prolonged stress can manifest poor health in many different ways, including Meniere’s.
When you have Meniere’s disease, you lose balance in inner ear equilibrium but, as stated above, this loss of balance can be a result of imbalances elsewhere within your body or even your life. Learn how to bring your body and lifestyle back into balance, regain homeostasis and you can stop the symptoms of Meniere’s.
Given the right conditions, the human body can be the best hospital possible. It needs you to create the right conditions and be the best doctor.
Can you really reduce or stop your symptoms? Moreover, can you free yourself from Meniere’s completely?
The evidence from thousands Meniere’s Help has supported over the past 13 years shows us without doubt that yes, absolutely you can.
The answer to this in your own case, can very much depend on you. As stated above, it may take a quantum shift in perception and attitude to what you are dealing with, so then the next question is……..
Do you think you are ready or prepared to do whatever it is you need to overcome Meniere’s?
What value do you really put on regaining your health and your life? Are you willing to actually do what it takes? You may be thinking to yourself, “of course I am ready, why wouldn’t I be?”
Consider the fact that a huge percentage of smokers, when told they have lung cancer continue to smoke. Why is that? We really can be our body’s own worst enemies sometimes, and I do not exclude myself when saying that.
When readers of ‘Managing Meniere’s’ and ‘The Need for Balance’ email Meniere’s Help and say things like, “You saved my life“, this is something money cannot buy.
To me such words are priceless. Not the somewhat over the top flattery of these words but the fact that yet another sufferer has beaten this condition. I suffered horribly for 7 years, I know how you feel if you are a sufferer and I would not wish Meniere’s on my worst enemy.
I rarely publish these types of emails on Meniere’s Help for fear of giving the impression of hype and sensationalism. Trust and integrity is very important in what I do. After all, this is a condition where most fear they are stuck with Meniere’s and often get told they have to learn to live with it, there is nothing more to be done.
The fact is, nothing could be further from the truth.
These flattering messages are slightly embarrassing for me and not really true; it was the sufferer who refused to accept they would just have to ‘learn to live with it”, they got proactive, took the appropriate action in their individual case and got themselves healed . They just needed the right information and pointers in the right direction.
You can read some messages from readers I actually do publish here and here.
If you are suffering from Meniere’s, I know you feel like you would do anything to get your life back; to feel normal again, right? There came a time when I would have drunk kitchen bleach if I thought it would have helped; I was that desperate. I also know how you feel if you are somewhat skeptical or your BS detector is flashing. I was once in the same mindset as you and I have seen a lot of nonsense so called ‘cures‘ come and go on the internet over the years. Healthy skepticism is a good thing in my eyes, but at the same time a closed mind will never free you of Meniere’s or any other ‘dis’ ‘ease’ either.
Simply put, you need to know the how and why, then the what you can do about it. This is what the Need for Balance is there for. Ultimately to give you the information you need to free yourself of Meniere’s.
It may sound like a strange question, but are you really, honestly, ready to do whatever is needed in your case, to live symptom free or even overcome Meniere’s completely, despite all the negativity and naysayers surrounding this condition?
Many sufferers are convinced overcoming Meniere’s disease is simply not possible. This is what they have been told, what they have read. So the very first hurdle to overcome is this understandable, yet wrongly held belief.
How about you?
Albert Einstein allegedly once said, “The one who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The one that walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.“
If you simply accept the commonly held belief that there is no known cause or cure and that there is no getting over Meniere’s then that is exactly where you will remain, stuck in a cycle of vertigo attacks, brain fog, tinnitus and everything else that comes with this condition. You will be stuck with too many other sufferers going round in circles dependent on drugs that at best give negligible levels of relief and possible side effects, or worse, you will end up gambling with intrusive or destructive surgery as I once foolishly did. You will be entrenched in hopelessness. In short, you will be stuck with Meniere’s ‘disease’.
If you are ready to stop accepting the little to no hope dogma of treat the symptoms with drugs, “nothing more to be done” and “learn to live with it“. If you are ready to educate yourself and take the appropriate action needed in your own case. If you are ready to take your life back, you are in the right place to start.
If your treating health professionals have told you there is nothing more to be done, then it is down to YOU to get proactive. As stated above overcoming Meniere’s completely can be done, has been done and is being done all the time.
Are you ready to start getting your life back? Contrary to popular misguided belief, overcoming Meniere’s disease is very achievable.
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Help other Meniere’s sufferers. Do you have a success story to tell? Have you reduced, managed or completely freed yourself of Meniere’s symptoms? Email Mike at: meniereshelp@gmail.com or tell us all about it in the comments box below
13 replies on “Overcoming Meniere’s Disease”
Kimm’s high school age son had a terrible time with Meniere’s and seemed to be getting worse and worse. She read both books and recently emailed with this:
Mike!! Hello!
Thank you so much for checking on him. Your ears must have been burning! I was telling our friends about you and how much you helped Fletcher, a few nights ago.
He’s doing so much better. He was able to get back to school and with the exception of 2 less severe episodes made it thru the rest of the term. He was able to get caught up on all of his school work and managed to keep his marks respectable given all the time he missed.
He’s been feeling great and gained most of his weight back. He had one setback over a 3 day holiday, but even that one wasn’t nearly as severe as the more recent events.
We’re adhering to the clean diet and he’s taking his supplements religiously. ( still takes 2 pills per day of all but the proflav. Which he takes 4 per day ) And we’ve gone from having chiro adjust his atlas once per week to every other week.
He has started playing football again and is currently at a keeper camp as I write you this note.
We think of you so often and are so very very grateful for everything you’ve done for our family. When we were so scared and at the end of our rope, you rescued our boy and our family.
Thank you!!
“Hello Mike,
I hope that you’re well. I wanted to send you an update since I got your books – which I devoured pretty quickly!
I’ve felt much much better. No attacks, clearer head, brighter brain:)
It’s so exciting – I’m trying not to get too carried away but it’s like someone (you actually!) handed my life back to me!
I am quite fascinated by the way changing my diet seems to peel away the symptoms.
I’d like to express my huge thanks for what you’ve done for me and for others. Your advice not only helps us to get over Menières; it even helps us to be healthier than we’ve ever been; and that’s a priceless gift!
With many thanks!”
Charis
Hi Mike,
I haven’t had a vertigo attack in months which is great and my dizziness/imbalance is also much better since the last time we spoke.
Thx,
Ross
Email from Jonas from Sweden:
Yes, I’m fine.
My symptoms are almost gone after following the anti inflammation diet. I now eat normal.
BR,
Jonas
Email from Angela who combined supplementation with physio:
Hi Mike
Thanks for this. Yes, I’m doing very well at the moment….taking my supplements everyday, eating well and having physio to the ear which is great. Thanks!
Angela
Email from Jenny:
Hi Mike
It must be about a year ago since we last communicated, and what a year it’s been!
First off, I hope you are keeping well. Secondly, thanks for your support back in those dark days. I am much better now, but it took until around spring of this year, battling depression (mainly over the constant tinnitus) and the loss of my job to finally start to come out the other side. I have joined a rock, pop and gospel choir and sing twice a week – I am performing at my first event this Sunday! Also I took up guitar lessons and am slowly getting there! ? I started this move into music in February when everything had come to a head – basically I was at my wits end with the tinnitus, my work “let me go” even though ironically I was still working well, meeting deadlines etc but there we go, I have found (at times) that some others can be very cruel about the whole thing. That said I realise they don’t understand what it is like to go through the wringer of Menieres.
Finally I have flown again – three times- to Dubai, Cyprus and recently to New York (a week’s amazing holiday in Manhattan!)- and I did not get the vertigo attacks.
Once again thank you for giving me hope during those very dark days. Your book and information was so helpful, and your emails gave me hope and at times the strength I needed to carry on.
I did follow up on the mercury fillings, (thankfully I didn’t have any but did check), also try to eat a clean healthy diet. I am able to support others who I have since come across who have variations of this (labyrinthitis and vertigo as separate conditions) and have been able to help and reassure them when they have had similar style vertigo attacks.
Thanks again and it’s great to hear from you.
Kind regards
Jenny
Hi Mike,
Thank you for sending me your new article on autoimmune disease. Very interesting. Sorry I haven’t contacted you for so long.
I can finally say that after all my troubles I am back to my normal self. I have my life back and I am enjoying every minute. I managed to reduce my symptoms greatly after reading your first book. For months I would be fine then every now and again I would be hit by a vertigo attack. This was very disheartening and would knock my confidence and set me back in my mind. Thank god for my husband for keeping me going.
To cut a long story short, it seems the root cause of my symptoms was multifaceted. I would never have known where to look if I hadn’t got round to reading your second book The Need for Balance. I had read a lot before that and was a bit tired of reading about Meniere’s to be honest, but I have to say that book really opened my eyes and prompted me to look at things I wouldn’t have even known where connected. So thank you so much for your research and kind support in my worst times.
I am now living completely free of Meniere’s, except my hearing is not quite perfect. Not perfect but my audiologist could not believe the improvement. I no longer have any dizziness or brain fog, I have so much energy, the tinnitus has gone and I no longer fear a sudden vertigo attack. To top all of that, I can’t remember feeling so healthy. I eat well and can drink again with no problems. I am enjoying life again – I have a lot of catching up to do!!
Thank you so much, I feel so lucky to have stumbled upon your site last year and lucky my wonderful husband bought and helped me read through your books.
Keep up the great work Mike, I wish more people with Meniere’s would understand that we can get our life back, it is such a miserable illness.
Love Ali X
Great news Alison and thank you for taking the time to write this comment. Glad you found the autoimmune article interesting though it seems it is not relevant in your case? If you get the time do you think you can let me know exactly the route you took, I mean what were your causes? If you don’t mind I would like the readers to know. Thanks and enjoy your new life 🙂
Hey Mike,
I just came to your site to read the article on autoimmune disease you sent and saw this post by you. Thanks for sending me the updates, I appreciate it.
I have been doing really good after reading Managing Meniere’s and changing quite a lot in my life (including taking the supplements). Was up and down a bit at first but now in different world from what I was in before, I didn’t take a single day off work, which was just as well because I think I was on the verge of being fired. Nobody sees what we go through and how we suffer so I guess they just dont understand. Still a bit of sympathy would be nice.
I downloaded and read your second book The Need For Balance and was blown away!!! Unbelievable research and brilliantly written. So much info in there and very detailed stuff but you make it so easy to understand and make sense. Love the way you mix medical studies with the experiences of Meniere’s patients. I am reading it again and making lists and notes – I am managing things well but now I can see how to really get to the bottom of things and deal with the root cause. Just wanted to say a big thankyou and will keep you updated. Thanks for always being there and staying in contact. I guess I am writing this here to encourage anyone else reading this. Get the books!!!! – it will change your whole outlook regarding Menieres and if you take action as Mike says I believe it will change your life. I am only half way and already I can say I got my life back. Kudos.
Max
Hi Mike – I am in the “middle” of it all but utterly desperate to find the root cause. I bought your recommended supplements and have read book 1. I am taking off work because I feel my body needs a good rest, so am trying to read book two while in bed (after an hour of reading I had an attack – I just want to demolish the book for more info)! How of how DO I find the root cause? How do I know if it’s thyroid, immune system, neck issues etc!? At the moment I am doing Chiro, am eating very healthy (just read on the importance of organic though!) – I have gone to have attacks every day for 3 months to every now and again having a day without one. Im not sure if this is progress. Do I need to “demand” my Dr check my thyroid? Do I need x-rays for neck issues (Chiro has just gone straight into acupuncture and neck treatment without one?) – how do I know if its an autoimmune issue – do I heal the gut and see if that helps!? The past 4 days I have had deep fatigue in my body – I am wondering if this is Menier’s or just from a big season of life (moving house with a 2 and 4 yr old … with daily vertigo in the mix) – but does this fatigue suggest thyroid issues possibly!? I will certainly be finishing your books (as said, finished one and half-way through #2) but I am at the stage where I am utterly grateful for the WEALTH of knowledge but can’t figure out my next step as mentioned I have made some steps above (diet alone didn’t change things for me, one session of Chiro so far – will be going twice weekly for 6 weeks to “see” if it helps” … have been on your recommended supplements for 2 weeks) … where to now? Any guidance would be deeply appreciated! Warm Regards Amy – 32, Sydney Aus
Hi Amy,
I hope you are ok at the moment. Read The Need for Balance to fully understand what to do about possible root causes. I am also always here to try and help point you in the right directions. o never hesitate to contact me: Mike – meniereshelp@mail.com
Hello:
I’ve been reading your articles and have gained some good knowledge so far. I was recently diagnosed with Ménière’s. I’m only 28 years old and it has really been negatively impacting my life. I don’t feel like myself and the symptoms sometimes are intolerable. I really hope these comments aren’t legitimate because if your books really helped people this much, I am going to buy them right away. I just want to feel semi normal again .
Hi Julio,
I hope you are doing ok at the moment. The comments are certainly legit as far as I can see. It’s what everyone who suffers with these horrendous symptoms wants; to get their life back and feel normal again. Make no mistake, regardless of what you may hear or read elsewhere, you CAN overcome this and get your life back. Feel free to contact me anytime. meniereshelp@gmail.com
Mike