Understanding Meniere’s Disease: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments

Meniere’s disease is a complex clinical picture of the inner ear that manifests itself in dizzy spells or vertigo in connection with hearing loss, a feeling of pressure in the ear and ringing or ringing in the ears. About 2.6 million people in Europe and the United States have Meniere’s disease. Find out more about the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of Meniere’s disease here.

Meniere’s disease: symptoms and diagnosis

Without warning, Konrad G., 42 years old and a teacher by profession, felt intense pressure in the right half of his skull one evening. A little later, he got dizzy; he felt that everything was spinning around him, and then he started to vomit. Later, the dizziness subsided, but he felt pressure in his right ear and a feeling of hearing loss.

He went to see his doctor the very next day. The family doctor immediately suspected that a disease of the inner ear was the cause of the symptoms. Menière’s disease, named after the French doctor Prosper Menière (1799-1862), hurts the sense of balance and applies to Konrad G. In many patients, however, the disease is not correctly diagnosed, and a long journey involving many specialists only leads to the correct diagnosis at a late stage.

In industrialized nations, it is estimated that every 1000th person has Meniere’s disease. Significantly, people between the ages of 40 and 60 are affected by inner ear disease. Every fifth patient has this disease in their family.

Too much fluid in the inner ear

Meniere’s disease symptoms occur because too much fluid accumulates in the inner ear’s labyrinth, the part of the inner ear responsible for balance and hearing. The cochlea and semicircular canals are located in the inner ear. They are made of bones lined with a soft membrane. A fluid circulates in the cochlea and semicircular canals called endolymph. In the cochlea, movement of the endolymph is triggered by sound waves. This is how sound signals are sent to the brain.

The movement of the endolymph in the semicircular canals tells the brain about the body’s position. If there is increased pressure in the inner ear due to too much endolymphatic fluid, its ducts can swell, and their function can be restricted. The pressure in the auditory centre causes the brain to receive confusing acoustic signals such as noise or ringing ( tinnitus ) or no signals (hearing loss).

If the pressure in the balance organ is too high, the brain receives error messages regarding movement and body position – dizziness occurs. The seizures express themselves very differently: They can occur rarely too frequently. And they can last from minutes to several hours. After the attack, those affected are initially exhausted but primarily symptom-free.

Meniere’s disease: causes unknown

The exact causes of this inner ear disease are not known. Doctors suspect changes in the metabolism and hormone balance as possible causes, as well as circulatory disorders, stress and mental factors. The development of Meniere’s disease varies from person to person. Symptoms gradually improve in over two-thirds of patients, and dizziness decreases over time. In the remaining patients, the vertigo attacks and tinnitus get progressively worse, and their hearing ability steadily decreases.