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General Information on Meniere's Disease / Syndrome Meniere's Disease Triggers & Causes

Autoimmune connections to Meniere’s disease

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that there are autoimmune connections to Meniere’s disease at least for some people. Below we examine the studies and facts around autoimmunity and Meniere’s disease.

Autoimmune connections to the symptoms of Meniere’s disease

Autoimmune connections to Meniere's disease - image of autoimmune response in blood vessels

“In order to clarify whether autoimmune mechanisms form part of the etiopathogenesis of Meniere’s disease, sera and endolymphatic sac tissues from 30 patients with Meniere’s disease were analyzed according to the clinical criteria for autoimmune diseases stated by Mackay & Burnet. Several cases showed hyper gamma-globulinemia, antibody elevation to Type II collagen in the serum and endolymph, positive staining to immunoglobulins and C3 or infiltration of immuno-competent cells in the endolymphatic sac, good response to prednisolone and combination with systemic immune disorders. Other examinations showed a significant elevation of OKT 4/8 ratio and a decrease of OKT8-positive cells, and elevated levels of circulating immune complex and antiviral antibody titers. It is suggested that certain cases of Meniere’s disease may have an altered immunological background, which may be attributed to an autoimmune mechanism dependent on humoral and/or cellular responses.”

From American-Hearing,org

Hain T. 2012

What is Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease?

Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) is a syndrome of progressive hearing loss and/or dizziness that is caused by antibodies or immune cells which are attacking the inner ear. In most cases, there is reduction of hearing accompanied by tinnitus (ringing, hissing, roaring) which occurs over a few months. Variants are bilateral attacks of hearing loss and tinnitus that resemble Meniere’s disease, and attacks of dizziness accompanied by abnormal blood tests for antibodies. About 50% of patients with AIED have symptoms related to balance (dizziness or unsteadiness).

The immune system is complex and there are several ways that it can damage the inner ear. Both allergy and traditional autoimmune disease such as ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjoegren’s syndrome (dry eye syndrome), Cogan’s disease, ulcerative colitis, Wegener’s granulomatosis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, and psoriatic arthritis (Srikumar et al 2004) can cause or be associated with AIED. Another multisystem disease, Bechet’s, commonly has audiovestibular problems. Allergy is traditionally suspected to be food related, but there is presently no agreement as to the importance of food allergy.

AIED is rare, probably accounting for less than 1% of all cases of hearing impairment or dizziness (Bovo et al 2009). The precise incidence is controversial.

Read the full report here

This from Vestibular.org

What is autoimmunity? How is it connected to vestibular disorders?

Parts of the immune system, working constantly and behind the scenes, patrol the body in search of foreign invaders and relentlessly attack them once found. On rare occasions, in some people the immune system runs amok, identifies the body itself as foreign, and launches a lethal attack. This self-attack is referred to as an autoimmune reaction.

The immune system can attack just the ear, attack the ear and some other body part like the eye, or attack the entire body (including the ear). An autoimmune reaction also creates debris. Even if the ear is not being directly attacked, it could end up with debris transported from distant locations and deposited by the circulation. This debris in the ear can cause problems.

Some autoimmune disorders that can affect the ear include Cogan’s syndrome, relapsing polychondritis, polyarteritis nodosa, Wegener’s granulomatosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ulcerative colitis, Sjogren’s syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Hearing loss has been viewed historically as the main inner ear effect of an autoimmune problem, but the vestibular system can also be attacked. Several factors determine the type of vestibular symptoms that may be experienced. Those factors include the speed with which the vestibular loss occurred, the degree of loss, whether one side or both sides are affected, and whether the damage has triggered a problem with fluctuating function (for example, if endolymphatic hydrops developed from the autoimmune reaction). The symptoms of autoimmune problems can be similar, even indistinguishable, from other vestibular disorders.
Read the whole report here

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Meniere's Disease Success Stories

Meniere’s Disease Success Story

Another Meniere’s Disease Success Story

18 Months with no Meniere’s Symptoms

Hi Mike

I haven’t written to you in a while and I just wanted to give you a quick update. I haven’t had a Menieres attack in about a year and a half! Yay! I am so pleased. Thanks for your help. I am passing your email onto someone else who has just been diagnosed with it. I have told them about the supplements and I can help them on that end.

Thanks again!

Click here to read many more success stories

Email us at meniereshelp@gmail.com

Read also:

Book Review: The Need for Balance; Dealing with the Causes of Meniere’s Disease

Meniere’s Success Stories

 

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Meniere's Disease Success Stories

Dizziness and Vertigo gone

Lizzie’s dizziness and vertigo gone 

We received this from Lizzie: Another one to the list of people who are successfully reducing their 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

Read other messages and success stories from Meniere’s sufferers here: Success Stories

Email us at meniereshelp@gmail.com

Related:

Book Review: The Need for Balance; Dealing with the Causes of Meniere’s Disease

Overcoming Meniere’s Disease

 

Categories
General Information on Meniere's Disease / Syndrome Meniere's Disease Triggers & Causes

Stress And Meniere’s Disease

Stress And Meniere’s Disease -New Study

Does stress trigger Meniere’s symptoms? New study

According to ClinicalTrials.gov a new set of trials are set to begin at Osaka University, related to stress and Meniere’s Disease.

One important aspect of this is that, while many doctors in the west may dismiss stress as a major 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″

Stress And Meniere’s Disease – The Vicious Cycle

A 2013 study published in Acta Otolarygol, ‘Psychological condition in patients with intractable Meniere’s disease’ states:

“Physicians should consider additional treatment strategies for Meniere’s disease patients with a long history of disease and hearing loss in the secondary affected ear and also provide psychological support regarding future progressive bilateral hearing loss.”

This conclusion was based on the following:

“Between 1998 and 2009, we enrolled 207 patients with intractable Meniere’s disease in this prospective study. We used the Cornell Medical Index and the Self-rating Depression Scale to evaluate their psychological condition.

We also obtained demographic and background information relating to sex, age, duration of disease, vertigo frequency, hearing level in bilateral sides, and plasma vasopressin level.”

Vasopressin is stress hormone that was was initially viewed as strictly a beneficial hormone to help prevent water loss.  It is also referred to as ADH, meaning ‘anti- diuretic hormone’.

This means when stress produces this hormone fluid is being retained. The most common medicine to given to Meniere’s patients is a diuretic. This is meant help reduce the fluid in the inner ear causing Meniere’s.

Vasopressin is a very damaging hormone to the body. It has been implicated as a mediator of renal injury, and acute effects including glomerular hyperfiltration and albuminuria.

Side effects of producing vasopressin include:

  • slow heartbeat
  • dizziness
  • headache
  • nausea
  • vomiting

Poor blood flow has been linked to Meniere’s disease. The vicious cycle of stress = Meniere’s = stress = Meniere’s is well known. If you have Meniere’s disease, there will be accompanying high stress and anxiety and in turn this will produce more Meniere’s symptoms.

Dizziness, headaches, nausea and vomiting with vertigo are all symptoms of Meniere’s.

Fight or flight fear literally turns the immune system off. A constant drip feeding of fear then, must impair the immune system constantly.

Stress, anxiety, fear and anger are extremely detrimental to human cellular health. The body has to be constantly in a state of building, regeneration on cells. Stress hormone impairs that process and can result in disease states developing.

This is why people who are calm, happy, meditate often are usually much healthier than constantly stressed or angry people.

It would seem stress can be both a contributing trigger and perhaps a root cause of Meniere’s disease.

The results of the above mentioned study were:

Neurosis and depression was diagnosed in 40.1% and 60.4%, respectively, of patients with intractable Meniere’s disease.

Our results showed that surgical treatment significantly improved vertigo and hearing ability in patients with no psychological symptoms compared with those exhibiting psychological symptoms.

Patients with a longer duration and worse hearing level in the secondary affected ear had a significantly higher incidence of mental illness than those with a shorter duration and better level of hearing.”

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Related articles:

Click here to read Managing Meniere’s Disease

Click here to read The Need for Balance – Dealing with the Causes of Meniere’s

Do you suffer from stress and Meniere’s disease ? Use the comment box below or email Mike at meniereshelp@gmail.com

References/Further reading: Psychological condition in patients with intractable Meniere’s disease

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Learn from my bad Meniere's experience

Drop Attacks

Drop Attacks And Meniere’s Disease

I have just posted the last part of the learn from my bad Meniere’s Disease experiences. In it I talk about the importance of not getting slack with your lifestyle and diet just because you are symptom free through dietary changes and supplements.  Also discussed are drop attacks and the possibility of Amalgam dental fillings being a trigger for Meniere’s

Drop attacks can be a terrifying and dangerous development for the Meniere’s disease sufferer to experience. Thank fully not every sufferers does. You can read “Mike’s Meniere’s Story” here

Click here to read Managing Meniere’s Disease

Click here to read The Need for Balance  Dealing with the Causes of Meniere’s

Do you have Meniere’s or drop  attacks ?

Tell us all about it in the comments box below  or email Mike at meniereshelp@gmail.com

Further reading:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30604056/

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