Meniere’s Disease (MD)

CASE STUDY INVESTIGATION | When Is Ménière’s Disease Not Ménière’s Disease?

Dizziness is a common complaint, with approximately 35 percent of adults reporting dizziness, with the prevalence increasing dramatically with age (Agrawal, 2009). As the profession of audiology has evolved, so has our understanding of the various disorders that cause imbalance and dizziness. This article will walk you through the case of Sunny Susan (patient’s name changed to protect identity), a woman who I first saw as a balance patient after she had spent over 22 years struggling with recurrent dizziness and progressive hearing loss.

Topic(s): Dizziness, Balance/Vestibular, Meniere’s Disease (MD), conductive-mixed hearing loss, Hearing Loss, Tinnitus, Patient care

Author(s):

Anne Hogan

Publication Issue: Audiology Today March/April 2018

Tinnitus in 10: What Every Audiologist Should Know to Provide Research-Based Care

Tinnitus is an invisible condition affecting 10 percent to 15 percent of adults (Hoffman and Reed, 2004). Chronic tinnitus is defined as the persistent perception of sound when there is no external source (Jastreboff, 1990). It generally is accepted that tinnitus is manageable and not bothersome for about 80 percent of those who experience it (Davis and Refaie, 2000; Hoffman and Reed, 2004; Jastreboff and Hazell, 1998). That is, most people who experience tinnitus tend to ignore it and are not interested in receiving specialized clinical services.

Topic(s): Hearing, Tinnitus, Sensorineural Hearing Loss, Meniere’s Disease (MD), tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT), Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI), tinnitus education (TED), tinnitus masking (TM)

Author(s):

Candice Manning

Publication Issue: Audiology Today May/June 2019

Dizziness, Confusion, Caffeine, and Salt

Beck (2015) reports that no two people experience dizziness the exact same way. What one patient describes as vertigo, another may describe as light-headed, woozy, dizzy, and more. Similar to tinnitus, headaches and lower back pain, one cannot disprove these sensations. However, it’s not just the variation in which words the patient uses, but the variation in the words the clinician uses, may also add to the confusion.

Treatment of Meniere’s Syndrome or Disease

Syed et al (2015) evaluated the evidence-based treatments of Meniere’s Syndrome and/or Meniere’s Disease (MS/D) over the last two decades. One hundred and four (104) studies from the first decade (1994-2003) and 101 from the second decade (2004-2013) were included. They report a statistical decline in surgeries (from 43 percent to 27 percent, from the first decade to the second, respectively) and an increase in intratympanic steroid injections and an increase in use of the Meniett device.

MRI, Transtympanic EcoGs, and Meniere’s Disease

Hornibrook et al (2015) reported on multiple groups of patients with various otologic diagnosis and the percentage of positive results for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with gadolinium contrast, and transtympanic tone burst electrocochleography (TB-EcoG) and transtympanic click-evoked (CE-EcoG) with regard to percentage of correlation with their primary diagnosis.

Falls, Dizziness, Diagnosis, and Medications

Migraine, Meniere’s Disease (MD), and vestibular migraine (VM) likely share a common pathogenesis. Unfortunately, there is no “gold-standard” lab test to identify the “correct” diagnosis. Further, the audiologist, otolaryngologist, or neurologist (or other) must interpret the case history, physical findings, and test results to establish the differential diagnosis. Unfortunately, overlapping terms may be used to indicate the same (or highly similar) phenomena (Beck et al, 2013).

Mental Health, Subjective Well-Being, and Meniere’s Disease

The largest study ever published to investigate the relationships among Meniere’s Disease, an individual’s mental health (MH), and subjective well-being (SWB) was recently published by Tyrrell et al (2015). The authors reported on 1,376 people who self-reported having Meniere’s Disease (MD) through the United Kingdom’s (UK) Biobank and compared these results to 500,000 controls.