Meniere’s disease is a disorder of the inner ear that causes episodes in which you feel as if you’re spinning (vertigo), and you have fluctuating hearing loss with a progressive, ultimately permanent loss of hearing, ringing in the ear (tinnitus), and sometimes a feeling of fullness or pressure in your ear. In most cases, Meniere’s disease affects only one ear.
It is estimated that approximately 1 in every 1,000 people suffers from Meniere’s disease.
The disease comes on without warning. It may come and go over a person’s lifetime. It often leaves no lasting symptoms in between bouts.
Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, ear fullness, ringing in the ears, and some hearing loss are all symptoms of an attack of Ménière’s disease. A person with this condition usually has one or more attacks a year, which may come alone or in groups. The attacks last from approximately 20 minutes to 24 hours and go away gradually. During a dizzy spell, the person feels like the world is whirling around them. They stagger from side to side and sometimes even fall down. These falling spells are called drop attacks or Tumarkin spells.
If you have Ménière’s disease, you may also experience tinnitus, which is a hissing, ringing, or roaring in the affected ear that may continue, change, or disappear. Tinnitus may worsen during, just before, or just after a dizzy spell. People with Ménière’s disease also have trouble hearing voices and music properly. Their hearing often comes back between attacks, but they do lose some hearing permanently over time.
While having an attack of Ménière’s disease, you may also get a headache, grow pale, sweat, develop a slow pulse, and feel nauseous and vomit.
The condition affects men and women, and usually begins between the ages of 20 and 50. Usually only one ear is affected, although 10% to 15% of people with Ménière’s disease develop it in both ears.
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
