Hi,i am 30 years old and have had dizzy spells for roughly 13 years. I went to see dr's on every occasion i had one,they weren't spinning attacks,just felt very off balance and giddy and these would last for a few hours. I was always prescribed Stemetil. I would always feel fine before hand and afterwards.
However,recently they are becoming more frequent,about 3 to 4 a year,same applies,but in between time,i have noticed ringing in my ears,mainly when it's quiet,but a few months ago i developed a loud ringing in my ears accompanied by feeling a bit deaf,or fullness in my ears. About 4 weeks aog,i started to lose my balance,nothing major but certainy enough to be noticed and then 2 weeks ago had a dizzy spell,same as before only this time when i laid down my eyes felt they were still moving. Can't remember if at any point during these attacks if the tinnitus or hearing has been affected. Since then i have been to see dr twice,first time he said it may be Meniere's and referred me to an ENT specialist,the second time i went back is cos over the weekend,i feel like my ears are full,keep wanting to yawn to clear them. She checked my ears and said i had fluid in my right one and said o get sudafed but also prescribed Betahistine...does that mean she thinks i have Meniere's?
Now my ears feel strange....but is this in my head? I have noticed that loud shrill noises affect my right ear...but in the past i have noticed that occasionally there has been times when that feeling as been present.
My hearing is the same i think,there are occasions when i don't wlaways hear what someone has said but if there's other noises going on,then that's the case.
So, whilst waiting to see the specialist...does this sound like classic Meniere's?The ealy stages?

Hi Shell75,
Welcome to the Healthboards but sorry you have to be here. Let me tell you that this is "The Place" to be for information and support.
Menieres is scary, I know how you feel. However , everyone here says its way over diagnosed and it could be many other things which have similar symptoms so don't panic. Let's wait and see what some of the other more experienced folks here suggest. I only wanted to tell you that I understand how you feel because I have been temporarily dx w/ BPPV with Meniere's like symptoms. I too have ringing in he ears (tinnitus) and on and off ear fullness as well as sound sensitivity. The vertigo I have experienced was positional but the rest of the time I had a general feeling of being off balance and dizzy .
My suggestion would be to check the sticky information archive because there is tons of info in there describing many types of inner ear disorders. Meniere's is dx'd through a process of elimination so it's kind of early to say for sure if this is indeed what you have. In the meantime to stay calm.

adrienne.

Try to get a neuroto appoinment, I believe you should also get a MRI, or an audiometry test to rule out Meniere's, since you have felt dome "deafness", it's worth to check it out, just to be sure, but the chances for that are quite low...

If you do have even a slight vestibular dysfunction untreated, drugs won't cure this, just time, or VRT combined with time, so you could be "decompensated" even for years, without meaning that you do have Meniere's. MAV(migraines) could also give you years of dizziness, specially if it is left untreated.

You should take some tests, and if you can, make a neurotologyst appoinment, to try to get a more precise Dx of your problem

Try to get a neuroto appoinment, I believe you should also get a MRI, or an audiometry test to rule out Meniere's, since you have felt dome "deafness", it's worth to check it out, just to be sure, but the chances for that are quite low...

If you do have even a slight vestibular dysfunction untreated, drugs won't cure this, just time, or VRT combined with time, so you could be "decompensated" even for years, without meaning that you do have Meniere's. MAV(migraines) could also give you years of dizziness, specially if it is left untreated.

You should take some tests, and if you can, make a neurotologyst appoinment, to try to get a more precise Dx of your problem

The chances for what are quite low?
MAV? Do you need to have suffered with mgraines to get this?
I guess i always knew something was wrong after all this time but have been able to cope till now.

Menieres has a well-defined diagnostic criteria - although it can sometimes overlap with migraine, hearing loss in specific ranges is the usual point of differentiation.

"The diagnostic criteria for definitive Menière's disease, as proposed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), include: (i) two or more episodes of vertigo of at least 20 min to 24 h duration; (ii) audiometrically documented hearing loss; (iii) tinnitus or aural fullness; and (iv) exclusion of other causes (8)."

Menieres progresses very quickly and the rotational vertigo episodes tend to stop after a few years. 13 years is a long time - it is much more likely to be migraine. 13 years of Menieres tends to mean profound deafness (ie. no longer fluctuating) unless the diagnosis is incorrect. Since ENTs will not diagnose migraine, and tend to give it names like 'atypical menieres', misdiagnosis is common.

Thanks Adam....so going to an ENT specialist is a waste of time? I live in England and don't know how to get in touch with a Neutorologist(sp?)

Hi Shell,

I'm in England. They are scarce but fortunately there is an excellent neurotology department available on the NHS at the national hospital of neurology and neurosurgery in London. I am seen under Rosalyn Davies - who is fantastic - and is the specialist your GP would apply to.

I had a really rubbish time with ENTs before I went there. They know their stuff, can differentiate btwn the different conditions and will undoubtedly diagnose and treat you. Should warn you that my GP didn't even know what a neurotologist was. But after some persuading she sent me. It can be difficult to get them to do it if the hospital is outside your NHS catchment area. They tend to believe (wrongly) that an ENT should be good enough, but the fact is ENTs do no further training beyond basics in to the inner ear and often aren't specialised enough.

Talk to your GP, see what they say. If you have the funds you can obviously always get a private referral - your GP has no choice about referring you for one of those.

best,

Unfortunately,i'm no where near London,i'm in the North of England. A bit worried now,my GP probably hasn't even heard of one round here.

If the ENT diagnoses Meniere's....do i not take this as gospel?