What is Ménière's disease?

Ménière’s disease is a chronic illness that affects the inner ear. It is characterized by episodes of vertigo. It affects men and women equally, generally appears between the ages of 20 and 40, and can affect one ear and more rarely both ears.

Symptoms

The most typical form of Ménière’s disease includes the following three symptoms:

• Vertigo
• Tinnitus and/or a feeling of fullness in the ear
• Partial, fluctuating hearing loss

Symptoms are episodic, with each episode lasting anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.

Episodes tend to reoccur, although their timing and severity vary. At first, only one ear is affected. However, in approximately half of all cases, symptoms start to occur in both ears as the disease progresses.

Over time, episodes occur further apart and they tend to decrease in severity. However, hearing may be affected and tinnitus may persist between episodes.

Causes

Ménière’s disease is caused by an increase in liquid in the inner ear. This puts pressure on the structures in the cochlea and vestibular system, causing the symptoms described above.

The causes of this increase in liquid are not well understood. Hypotheses include mechanical blockage, metabolic imbalance, genetic predisposition, immune reaction to a virus, and allergic reaction.

Recommendations

Avoiding salt, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine can decrease the severity of the symptoms. When diet alone does not work, or during episodes, anti-vertigo medication may be used to manage the associated vertigo.

For persistent, disabling Ménière’s disease, surgical treatment is also available. Hearing aids may be used if the associated hearing loss is permanent and fluctuates very little. Vestibular rehabilitation, performed with an audiologist, may also be considered. The type of treatment chosen will vary from person to person.

However, note that an audiologist will not be able to detect Ménière’s disease if they perform an assessment outside of an episode.

We advise you to always consult an ENT doctor or a doctor if you are experiencing vertigo. The audiologist can also guide you.