What is your guesstimate on what brought on your Meniere’s?

My guesstimate is a combination of viral infections (cold sores all my life) and depression. I was living in iceland at the time my vertigo began and being in the darkness brought on SAD (seasonal affected disorder).

 

I can think of a few possibilities:

--a sinus infection a couple of weeks before my first vertigo attack.

--Herpes Simplex I. Although I have had this virus for many years, I had particularly bad flare ups in 2002 (my whole bottom lip covered) and 2003 (inside my mouth, gums, under tongue, etc., much like someone else described above). In 2007, I had the sorest throat of my life, and the dr. said it was viral. Two months later, I noticed some hearing loss in my right ear, and five months after that I had my first vertigo attack.

--Herpes Zoster (shingles). In 2006, I had shingles in my scalp and on my forehead--but on the opposite side to my bad ear.

--Immune system problem, hence the viral attacks?

--Ototoxic drugs. Chloroquine (anti-malarial) or antibiotics.

--Stress.

 

I meant it doesn't matter to me.

Bottom line - I have it and I'm dealing with it.

 

no wonder I
've had it so bad.

 

that's hysterical!

for me, if i had to guess...i had walking pneumonia prior to my first vertigo attack followed several months later by full-blown pneumonia. also consider whiplash injuries and genetics. grandmother has vertigo. mother has some dizziness. sister was born deaf - do not know cause.

i also have exceptional intelligence, wit and charm so there you go...

 

You forgot "and smashing good looks!"

 

Seems like there are some definite similarities popping up here. For me, I think it relates to: 1. viral infection just weeks before onset of vertigo. During the infection, my ear began feeling full and the tinnitus started. I've always been suseptible to viral infections, did have chicken pox as a child but have never had a cold sore. 2. Stress. The day of my first vertigo attack, I had just quit my job that morning in los angeles to move back to utah. My job was extremely stressful, and quitting was extremely difficult for me. I walked out of my boss' office, then out of the building, then fell into a bush and started vomitting as the horrible vertigo set in. 3. Head injury. Was invovled in a head on collision a year before the first attack. The left side of my head hit the windshield and cracked it. My seatbelt kept me from going out the window. I got several stitches on the left side of my head and was also treated for whiplash to my neck. These injuries were all on the left side of my head and body...and my left ear is the affected one. 4. Auto immune. Haven't tested positive for an auto immune disorder, but my mom has a very aggressive case of rhumatoid arthritis, and her specialist said that it can be hereditary. 5. Migraines. Late onset migraines..only started a few years before my mm symptoms. 6. I've long believed that the strongest people are given the most diffcult challenges.

 

And being extraordinarily humble.

 

life - MM

as for the holes in my temporal lobes - SCD - i think/believe I can credit Africa for that one - however, I remember my grandpa suffering very similar as I did before my surgery to repair hole - I think my superior canal was degenerating/thinning and several blows to the side of the head could have made it break...but this is just Conjecture

 

No clue whatsoever. Grasping at straws in hindsight, I might say a stress event. But everybody has stress and they don't get MM. So I have no idea at all. Like Linda says - doesn't matter now anyway.

 

When I was 10 and 12, I had 2 seperate concussions. But goodness, that was 30 plus years ago. Nothing else that I can think of...no infections....Oh, there is a stress factor!

Sheryl

 

About a year and a half before my symptoms, I woke up one morning violently ill. My head hurt in a way that I can not describle. I was dizzy, sick to my stomach and and at a total loss for what the problem could be. Eventually, we discovered my heater was leaking carbon monoxide. I wondered then if there would be any long term effects and I still wonder if there is any connection. About six months before my symptoms I had surgery unrelated to my ear. A part of me wonders if that has anything to do with this. Probably not. Other than that, I have no idea.

 

Interesting thread. I have absolutely NO idea. I was sailing (not literally) blissfully along and all of a sudden - WHAP. Had the fullness and tinnitus first - then severe dizzy spell - then vertigo with vomiting. Seems to be "under control" with a diuretic. Can't do lo-salt, my blood sodium level fell too low and I almost ended up in the hospital (per my PCP). Count was only 211. Should be closer to 230 to 240 I'm told. Donna B

 

Hi Stick,

MM has been linked to allergies. There are also some articles claiming a strong link to Migraines. Migraines run in my dad's side of the family. I have atypical Migraines. Our oldest daughter has a diagnosis of atypical Migraines, but it is starting to look like MM. My wife's dad had Migraines so our daughter got it from both sides of the family.

Jim

 

I forgot something. I started using xalatan (eye drops for glaucoma) about 5 months before all this. I have since quit. I had a gut feeling that was involved but the dr's say no reports of a link in the literature. But you know it is to increase outflow from the eyeball and change pressure in the eye. The eye is close to the ear..., meniere's is thought to have something to do with a circulatory problem with the inner ear fluids ...

 

...I got married

 

Hi June,

I saw an article somewhere that said MM was basically glaucoma of the ear. I hope you are treating your glaucoma of the eye with something.

Jim

 

just living

 

Ohhh man!!

 

Linda,

You are a trooper X0X0 I hope I didn't offend.

AkJim,

I forgot I had one incident when I was about 14 where I came down with a teriffic headhead (worst of my life) , threw up once, then walked 2 miles home, covered my eyes because I couldn't take the light, then I sleep for about 16 hours. It's never happened again. Does that sound like a migraine?