Hi, I have had menieres for a few years now. Mild dizziness and right stuffy ear.Up till about a month ago, I was doing well with 40 mg lasix diuretic. It helped my right ear(problem ear) greatly, till a trip through the mountains...My menieres got worse. My doctor upped my Lasix dosage to 60mg, and my body didn't tolerate it, and I got dehydrated. (I should have drank more h20, and eaten more potassium rich foods.I also was not on Potassium supplement) Now, I am off diuretics for the time being...and my ear is terribly clogged. My doctor thinks I might want to try steroid injections, and I don't want to... I have an appointment with him next week. Surely ther must be another option for diuretics; I just can't handle large doses of them. I would be happy with a lower dose of another kind; maybe Dyazide or another kind. I am so depressed; I understand the doctor knows more than I do, but I want to do the least possible treatment that works. Even if it helps just a little bit. Injections seem extreme for me at this point. Plus, my husband and I are in the music business, and I need to preserve my ears for as long as I can. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you everybody for taking the time to read this. Chatkat
Hi ChatKat.. first of all.. do you have other symptoms other than the stuffy ear?? i too suffer from MM and have horrible horrible spells of vertigo and nausea... etc.. I have had steriod injections done in my bad ear... which was Gentamycin but it was more so for my dizziness than anything. Just wondering what all your symptoms are before you go and destroy that inner ear. good luck.. GinaMc
Thanks GinaMc for your reply. My symptoms have been mild dizzyness when I walk. And a bad stuffy right ear. It used to be in both ears, now it's just in one...so I thought the Lasix was working... Also, it's very bothersome when I sing. I sing full time, and I deal with the mild dizziness by walking on a treadmill everyday, and focus my eyes on a spot in the distance. I've only had one mild vertigo episode where I felt the room was spinning: I had just came off a flight, and took a promethizine(?) type med, and fell fine; but the ear was still stuffy. However, all in all, the diuretics really helped. Thanks for listening. ChatKat
actually you are pretty lucky then! which is cool.. so maybe the steriod injections won't be a bad idea... beings that you are not having the typical drop attacks.. maybe if you did the injection then it will avoid your having to ever deal with that symptom of MM.. it is horrible and when you live with it all the time it can get very very depressing. I am due to go to my Nuerotologist on Monday which is a 4 1/2 hour ride for me... sucks but he is the closest good doctor around my area and has done 4 other procedures on me. I did 3 gent injections and unfortunately the 3rd one only gave me 3 months of relief as my symptoms are back in full force and I have been off of work for almost a week.... i hate it.. it looks like we might be leaning towards putting a shunt in now to help eliminate this evil beast. good luck and if you have any questions about gent injections please ask! take care GinaMc
I have had great success with natural diuretics. They have been very gently on my systme without overworking my kidneys, I don't dehydrate or have problems with potassium loss. I can adjust the daily intake according to what I've eaten that day. And they are safe for long-term use. I use parsley capsules and dandelion capsules. Do some research and see what you think. They are very inexpensive. They are healthy for our bodies for many other reasons too.
Thank you Burd! Natural diuretics is another option I have considered in the past. It is good to hear from someone who uses them. I know from my experience that many times "natural" does work: I also have fibromyalgia, and my pain has decreased 60% at the least, since taking Quercetin/ Bromelean. I've been taking it for about four years. I was wondering, besides your natural dieretics, have you ever considered or tried Lemon bioflaviods? Just wondered. Thanks again for your help. Thanks again, ChatKat
I am one of the forums "lemon heads". I have been taking them for a year and 3 months and swear by them. My life improved greatly with these things. Are you taking them? When it comes to the parsley and the dandelion, you'll need to experiment with what works for you. I don't take anywhere near the daily recommended dosage listed on the bottles, and they have been very effective. If I push the sodium limits I set for myself in a day, then I boost the dosages with no side effects at all.
Thanks, Burd for your reply. No, I have'nt taken the lemon bioflavanoids, but I ordered them a few days ago, and should be getting them in a few soon. I'm glad to hear they work well for you. That gives me hope! Believe it or not, my husband has meneires too. He has it in his left ear, I have it in my right. Weird, huh? Anyway, He is going to try the flavanoids as well. I will give the parsley and dandelion a try as well. I always try new meds and herbals at a low dose to start with, because my fibro gets "set off" pretty easy. I'm not up for the injections into my ear right now. i don't have the horrible attacks so many others have. Just mild dizzyness. I just want to exhaust everything I can before I start with procedures like that. Thank you so much for your input! Take care and I'll let you know how the bioflavanoids ate are doing. ChatKat
Are you following the hydrops diet? Lo and even sodium (under 2000 mg daily spread throughout the day) lo and even sugar (get most of your sweets from whole raw fruit) and little to no caffeine. This seems to have helped me, mostly the caffeine part I think because I am not a big salt eater. However I probably did have fairly big fluctuations in salt between times I ate at home, mostly whole foods lightly salted and the days we ate out or ate some pizza of stouffers type thing which are VERY hi sodium. If you haven't seriously (journal everything that goes in your mouth wiht sodium mg) tried that diet I think it might help. Right now I have only hearing loss (but very significant). The dr wants me to follow this diet to slow or prevent the progression to a full blow (vertigo etc) stage of the disease which he says is brought on more quickly when the episodes of fullness etc stretcht the sac in the middle ear to the point where it can no longer go back to its normal state. I took that seriously after spending time on this board.
Hi ChatKat-- Just wanted to put my 2 cents worth in for steroid injections. It's done at a doctor's office and takes about 3 minutes. The theory is you get more anti-inflammatory effect when it's put directly into the ear. It's not bad at all. It gave me a few good months of decent hearing and got rid of my feelings of fullness,. though my otoneurologist says that many have gotten longer lasting results. Like Burd, I swear by the lemon bioflavinoids. I get mine from Vitamin Shoppe. The John of Ohio thread on the Database here has lots of suggestions for natural remedies. I, too am trying more natural methods because though I have Meniere's and my hearing is not the best, any vertigo I have gotten so far hasn't impacted my quality of life yet--if and when it does, I'll think about letting someone cut into me somewhere. Good Luck!! Carol
Hi ChatKat, As someone who went the prednisone route (though it was oral rather than injection), I would caution you that the side effects can be very difficult to deal with and even harmful. I've heard some people say that they didn't have any side effects doing the injection, and some people say that they did have side effects. If I were you I'd search the database here, and do some research, and think carefully about going the prednisone route if you don't have to. I did it because I was losing the hearing in my "good" ear very quickly and felt I had to try anything and everything to stop it. It did help, at least so far, but I'm still dealing with debilitating side effects a year later.
Just want to make a correction on what GinaMac said about Gentamicin being a steroid, it is not a steroid, it is an antibiotic. The difference is a Steroid, oral or injected is used to reduce the swelling of the inner ear tissues causing no damage and preserving your hearing and it most cases improving hearing. A Gentamicin injection is an antibiotic that is toxic to the inner ear and is used to destroy your balance hairs to reduce the effects of vertigo. I have used the oral Methylprednisolone steroid and it has helped when I was going thru a bad period this summer. My Neurotologist told me if my attacks come back he wants to inject my ear with a steroid which will have a much longer affect. Personally I see no difference in usually an oral drug such as a diuretic or oral steroids and an injected steroid which has the same goal, reduce the swelling in the inner ear. The purpose of the injected steroid is to have it absorbed directly into the inner ear tissues rather than travel thru your digestive and blood systems affecting other parts of you body reducing unwanted side effects.
