How bad is swimming for Meniere’s disease? I had written on an earlier post how I was reluctant to get in the water because of my meniere's. The fear that water would get into my ears and I would have an attack right there in the water.
Well, a couple of weeks ago I went swimming with my son in a small and relatively shallow pool. The son loves to swim and he loves to jump into the water. He constantly tries to get me to jump in but I tell him over and over again that I can't. All that I do is walk around in the water making sure that my head stays dry. He is only seven and I think he tries to understand my limitations but sometimes he can't. I hate to disappoint him.
So I thought that since the pool was shallow I could probably jump in and still keep my head above water. The pool had a ladder on one side so I decided to first try to jump off the top step into 4 feet of water. I pushed off the ladder and somehow I got my foot caught landing flat on my back into the water. I went completely under. I could feel the water fill my ears. I got out of the pool as quickly as possible. I sat down and waited to see if my plunge would have any effect on me. It didn't, but it gave me a good scare.
Now I am not saying that I am going to start jumping off the high dive or anything like that but I might try to go underwater again to see if there is any problem. Should I be concerned about water in the ears anyway? Water coming into the outer ear shouldn't be able to make its way to the membranous labyrinth where the fluid endolymph is, should it? I don’t think it would.
My next Doctor’s appointment I’ll have to ask him about all this.
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Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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12 comments:
Have you thought about an experiment in the bath? You could try going underwater without the worry of bringing on an attack in public.
There's no reason to think your ears on the outside are less waterproof than anyone else's (unless you have a perforated eardrum or a grommet). For a long time I let shower water go into my ears as a way of gently cleaning them.
Bear in mind your response to the caloric reflex test, though, if you've had it. My aunt (who also has meniere's) had the test years ago and still talks about the horrible vertigo it brought on.
I never had a caloric water test so I don't know if that would affect me. But that is go advice about the bath.
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Temperature changes cause attacks for me. So putting my head under water is fine if the water temperature is warm enough, but I can't swim in cool mountain streams any more (even though the water itself doesn't get past my ear drum).
I've had similar problems with air temperature changes - eg. going from warm inside to cold outside without my ears covered, or stepping into a shop on a cold day and having a heater blast hot air at my head.
But it has always just been a little embarrassing , rather than life-threatening. And people are great - once you've let them know that you're about to start vomiting uncontrollably they can't do enough for you!
I never had any problems with air temperature changes but I can understand how it could be a problem.
thanks for the comment!
I've occasionally noticed an air temperature effect as well, when it's very cold outside. Nothing dramatic, just one of those sensations you get with Meniere's whereby you feel something's not quite as it should be.
This doesn't happen predictably, however, and I suspect that like some other symptoms it only happens when you're in a particular state already. To me Meniere's symptoms are mostly cumulative - some are always there and others then stack up, one on top of the other, as you react to something like stress or doing too much.
Jeff,
I agree with you about meniere's being cumulative it seems that the worst attack always comes when all the meniere's triggers are in place.
David
I went to the hospital for some tests yesterday and the main one was the caloric test. They circulate a little water through your ear for 30 seconds in order to change the temperature - it's a temperature test not a water test as such. First they do it above body temperature, then below, for each ear.
Apparently the *normal* response, that is if your balance is working, is to feel slightly dizzy. I did (less so for my bad ear), and it's only very short and light, nowhere near an attack. They check your eardrums for intactness first.
After they've done the circulation they watch your eye movements for a couple of minutes (you're wearing a special headset) as your eyes reflect the inner state of your balance system. As you feel dizzy your eyes are moving slightly, and the direction of movement should relate to the ear/temperature combination they've just done.
Overall it takes a little time as they give you rest periods to settle down between each test, but it was no big deal. I took the opportunity to ask lots of questions of the test administrator! He said that you wouldn't normally have this kind of experience in the shower or a pool, as the water is more splashing in your ear than circulating through it for a while.
The net result was that my balance in my bad ear is about 12% less than that in my good ear, which they don't consider to be much of a problem. He was surprised that after 4-5 years of Meniere's it hadn't been more damaged.
Jeff,
that sounds like good news after your caloric test. I was going to have this type of test done a while back but never did I am a little sorry I didn't now. of course right now I am in the middle of a series of gent injections so my eardrum wouldn't be considered intact because of the tiny holes in it from the injections.
I am still leery about swimming I might be irrational but I am holding off getting into the water for awhile
talk to you later
David
My mom is suffering from it. she also had tinnitus from 4-5 years and has a hearing loss in left ear. now she is having vertigos from last few days and ENT has prescribed medication but in morning when she wakes up virtigos are on height in morning and i don't know how should i help. :( .
she is on 10 days medication as of now.
it like symptoms that let to tinnitus and hearing loss in left ear.
have seen the best doctors around in India and did find any cure, and reports were all normal.
is there any cure?
Rahul,
I am sorry to hear about your Mother's condition. Sometimes it takes awhile for medications to help that is just from my experience (I'm not a Doctor)
For meniere's there isn't a cure but there are procedures and medications that help relieve the symptoms.
Good luck and stay in touch
David
I am one of the fortunate people who responds well to Serc and so have nearly eliminated the vertigo symptoms, although having to live with major hearing loss and tinnitus. Prior to Serc, I used to have severe vertigo attacks but didn't let that stop me swimming or even scuba diving (yes I know that's contrary to diving medicine advice). I've had a vertigo attack at 22m underwater - extremely unpleasant but relatively safe provided you don't panic. I certainly don't think swimming is going to provoke an attack unless you shake your head a lot.
Hi,
Im glad to hear that the serc has worked for you. that must have been quite an experience to have an attack underwater.
thanks for the comment and stay in touch
David
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