Meniere's Disease Support Group

Meniere's disease is a balance disorder of the inner ear. The symptoms of Meniere's are variable; not all sufferers experience the same symptoms. However, "classic Meniere's" is considered to comprise the following four symptoms: Periodic episodes of rotary vertigo, hearing loss, tinnitus, and a sensation of fullness or pressure in one or both ears.

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/ Meniere's Disease Support Group

onset of Meniere's ?

bballokie
bballokie
hello....my name is Mike....65 year old male. In the past 6 weeks I've experienced imbalance and onset of low level tinnitus. I've never had these issues in the past. I had an audiogram(substantial hearing loss in affected ear) and mri(negative for tumors or acoustic nerve damage) and a nystagnogram(negative for nystagmus). I've seen an ent and two neurotologists....I think they are Meniere's suspicious .....fortunately I've experienced none of the vertigo attacks I've read about but I'm concerned that may be in my future. I see that Meniere's seem to onset in many different ways for different individuals. Are the symtoms I'm having typical or sound familiar to anyone....comments would be appreciated....bballokieMike
deleted_user
deleted_user
The tinnitus and imbalance are definitely symptoms of Meniere's Disease. I also have a feeling of fullness, constantly in the affected ear, kind of like when you get a head cold and your ears stop up, but not a head cold. That's actually how mine started. I woke up one morning with the fullness, thought maybe an ear infection but dr's ruled that out...after many dr's, they came to the conclusion of Meniere's. All of my symptoms were dormant for the last few years and then....WHAM....it hit me hard. I have been out of work for the last 2 months with horrible symptoms including the vertigo. Everyone keeps telling me "I hope you feel better", unfortunately this isn't the flu or something like that...its a chronic disease. Best of Luck to you and keep us informed.
deleted_user
deleted_user
I think my attacks are brought on by stress at work, lack of sleep, and not watching my salt intake.

Like you, my first symptoms were hearing loss and tinnitus. I am not really sure when those started, so it's hard for me to say how long it took for me to start having vertigo. That having been said, I was never diagnosed with Meniere's until after I had 3 vertigo attacks, because I never though that the ringing in the ears (sometimes a high pitched ring and sometimes a very low pitch swooshing) or the hearing loss (which at the time was minor) was something that warranted the expense of visiting an ENT.