My ENT also said that Menieres disease could come months after T. Your fouth paragraph description, I sort of get that, it is strange and I always hope it's a sign of some changes going on, changes for the better of course. I've been getting dizzy here and there, it's scary when it happens right out of the blue.
suera

My friend had a thing called "Meneire's Syndrome." I'm not sure what it entails, but he had it for years, and then one time he had to take 10 airplane flights in two weeks and the symptoms went away.

My ENT said Meneire's Disease wasn't a disease and should really be called Meneire's Syndrome. They must be the same thing. He also said it was idiopathic and there is no test for it.

The idea of Meneirs freaks me out because people who have it eventually loose their hearing.

I've often wondered if given the choice if I could rid my tinnitus but I'd lose my hearing, if I'd do it. It's stupid I know because we have no choice. I'd probably lose my hearing but keep the T.
suera

I think with Meneire's Syndrome you loose the hearing and keep the T.

From what I understand Menieres disease presents with four main symptoms, vertiigo, hearing loss, (usally in the lower freguencies) and pressure in the ear and tinnitus.

Also it usually is temperary and passes on it's own and in other cases all symptoms disappear over time except the tinnitus.

I read this in the Tinnitus Questions and Answers book, by Jack A. Vernon, it is a good book to have for some of the questions that come up with this condition.

God bless,
Sandy

Suera, I heard they treat Meneire's - Sandy that was an excellent description and I obviously don't have it.

I suffered vertigo twice since getting T - but my symptoms don't match the other things -

You know, vertigo and tinnitus - I have seen many posts here about it - and I've had two bouts of vertigo -

I am trying to remember but - do they use oral steroids and water reducing meds - in an effort to reduce symptoms of Meneire's?

I once researched it to death - a couple of years ago - because I wanted to have something the ENT could treat - and got the meds for it at the time - but it did nothing for me - so then I just stumbled on with tinnitus and hearing aids-

And I got vertigo again - but this time I was taking two antidepressants - trying to control my depression - the xanax and a bi polar med - it was like we were trying to cover all my bases medically,

I passed out twice - I had vertigo - the room was spinning and I hit the floor - I crawled back up and realized my blood pressure was really low (had that blood pressure kit at home)

I quit the two antidepressants - w/o asking doc and then waited - and noticed no more vertigo - I kept the xanax at a low dose and my other med -

Haven't hit the floor since

I just hope yours is temporary and they find the culprit.

One sure thing about vertigo - if you are sitting and you suddenly stand up - or get up out of bed - if your fluids and electrolytes are low - and if your potassium is off - you will watch the room spin and then hit the floor unable to walk - until it passes -

The doc told me to drink more - gatorade would be great - but I hate gatorade - and eat bananas (that was my idea - not hers)

But when I altered my own meds and told doc - she told me to stay the way I was - and I haven't hit the floor since.

The times it happened to me - I was so scared - I thought I was losing more hearing and that I was really sick

I had to calm down and think through my meds, my life, my diet - I had to rethink everything - to get to the culprit -

And I didn't start hitting the floor until had been on all that medicine for a week -

I just had to sit and guess - grasp straws in the dark -

Yeah, Suera, I hope you find your culprit and get rid of it.

But it scared me - I was walking around scared the rest of the day.

I know of a distance cousin who suffers from this & by all accounts its no joy ride ! I pretty sure it cost him his marriage ...dd

I had vertigo during my first two weeks of tinnitus but I think it might have been caffeine withdraw since I quit cold turkey when I got T.

It really does not sound like you have it. (Smile)

A big hug to you,
Sandy

bob, my first severe bout with the vertigo was twice before the hearing went bilaterally - I didn't know to go to the doctor - I was so dumb

But I haven't been diagnosed with Menieres - it's been three years since I got hearing loss with T

but to cover my bases - I tried some of the drugs they use for meneires - didn't hurt me - but didn't help either.

Do you have a low hum - or the high pitch?

I think I heard the low hum is easier to fix - and responds more to certain drugs affecting the gaba????

The higher pitch is much harder to treat and usually ENT's give up quickly and suggest tranquelizers, psychotherapy, CBT, Hypnosis and TRT -

Yeah, when I scanned the net for months looking for a good treatment - was really disappointed - nada - nada - nada

Went TRT as my last resort - Custard's last stand.....

I remember that I told my ENT that the world seemed crooked and it felt like there was a hand pushing on my head trying to tip me over. I believe he said, "hmmm", and moved on to something else.

I used to have a high pitch but it's mostly been a low hum since I started the Trileptal. Some times I get multiple tones.

You know, they say steroid treatment is far more effective with low hum tinnitus - and the Shea Clinic has a treatment protocol for it - apparently they put a tiny wick in your eardrum and allow you to administer the steroid drops. This way, the steroids are not wreaking havoc on the rest of your body.

Apparently, they see results with this - but the high shriekers - like me - they say this treatment generally fails.

Maybe research it - ask some questions - make some calls

yeah, to think the very tone of your tinnitus affects whether a treatment is going to work and the people at Shea told one poster here - that he had the wrong tinnitus - high pitched - and he left disappointed.

You might just be that one that can be helped or cured.

I have given up on everything but the TRT because all the drugs I tried - made it louder - and then on top of that- i had hearing loss anyways - might as well correct my hearing and rejoin humanity.

Best wishes to you Bob

Vertigo is common to tinnitus sufferers -my take on it.

You know those tiny cochlear hairs that get damaged so easily - I think it is somehow connected to the fluid in the ear that controls balance - somehow when even the smallest amount of them are damaged signicantly - you feel that temporary vertigo - as the signals once transmitted by those perfect cochlear hairs are now damaged and now are sending errant signals to the brain - the brain interprets it as sound - but it's not a sound that you or I want - but somehow it goes into a loop and forms a pathway in the auditory cortex and becomes business as usual

That's my belief - what I came to believe - so I could explain all my symptoms and make sense of it.

Right now - they believe in 10 years - the docs will be able to stimulate your cochlea into replacing those lost cilia hairs and may restore that balance and such. Also may cure hearing.

What they suspect and this is the bad news - is whether correcting the damage will get the tinnitus signal out of our limbic systems. that is totally an unknown to them at this time.

I found out on another forum that what I'm experiencing is called fleeting or spontaneous tinnitus. It's not totally uncommon. Someone who experiences this will have a few seconds of silence or clouded hearing which will then be followed by a louder than normal tinnitus sound which may last several seconds. The regular tinnitus sound may or may not fade away for the duration and some people also feel a fullness in the ears.

That describes my "explosions" pretty well. My tinnitus goes away, then my hearing fades, I get a sudden fullness in the ears, followed by an extra loud tinnitus sound. It usually last between 5 and 30 seconds and then I'm back to my regular tinnitus.

I'll go days without it happening and then I'll get several in a hour. It's a very weird experience.

Hey nice one Bobsdream, ive been getting fleeting or spontaneous tinnitus every now and then since i was a child but ive never payed any attention to it. Its quite odd when it happens, i go deaf in one ear and get a very loud single tone which fades away over 10 - 20 seconds as my hearing returns. Its very different for the T that i get these days though. The tone is a lot lower than the T i get and it seems to be coming from my ear drum while my T seems to be coming from an area slightly above my ear. Also when i get it the temporary deafness doesnt seem to affect my T at all.