Is antivert good or bad for meniere’s?

I have written many times about how antivert has helped me out when I think an attack is about to happen. Whether it was the medication that helped or maybe I just wasn’t about to have an attack, I don’t know. I used to feel that way about valium but I stopped taking that because it seemed to be making me awfully tired. Of course antivert does the same thing. In the past couple of weeks I have taken the antivert and it almost seemed like really wasn’t helping much at all. In fact I felt worse the rest of the day and even the following night. I am starting to reconsider whether to take meclizine at all.

This would be a real turnaround for me because I have depended upon this med for a long time. I carry it with me wherever I go and at the slightest feeling of dizziness I take one, unfortunately taking this med means that I will be groggy the rest of day.  But you probably remember that one doctor earlier this year told me to stop taking it because it didn’t help even though other doctors suggested that it did. It is all very confusing.

But the big question is what if I feel that an attack is about to come on, what do I do? Since I am on disability (with a private insurance company from my previous employer) I don’t drive very much and I spend most of my time in my home so when an attack hits I will just lay down. I will see what happens and let you know.

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Prism lens, Meniere’s disease and juggling

Our balance depends on a few things; vision, the inner ear and sensory input, which is contact from your arms, hands and feet among other things. As most of you with meniere’s know the inner ear stuff is a big problem for me and lots of other folks.  The vision, I believe, is also very important. I have had vision problems since I was a kid and in the past few years I had cataract surgery plus glaucoma. After the surgery the meniere’s seemed to be worse. A coincidence, maybe but I don’t think so.  I am not saying that I shouldn’t have had the surgery because it certainly has helped my vision, but it definitely had an effect on my meniere’s.

A recent comment came from FP who lives in Belgium who described their situation. FP was put on medications such as Betaserc and given treatment to help put the “crystals” back in place, which is a treatment that some doctors use for vertigo.  FP also started to juggle balls to improve hand eye coordination which helped. It is really interesting to see how innovative some folks can get when they are stuck with this disorder.

Then FP was introduced to prism lens

“The consultation lasted two hours: I did tests I had never encountered before and was prescribed prism lenses. Not fully understanding how they work, please bear with this certainly unscientific explanation: apparently research has shown that by changing the light refraction using prisms in glasses, this can alleviate motion sickness and the sense of instability experienced by people with vestibular asymmetry. There’s nothing odd-looking about these glasses - they don’t look ‘different’. 
When I put on these new lenses for the first time, it felt as if an invisible wire above my head was pulled tight and forced my head to the upright position. It was rather bizarre - and quite uncomfortable for the first six weeks with these new lenses. But after this - I threw the medicine away, and suddenly I came out of the fog: my concentration was back, my sense of spatial awareness returned. I no longer felt as if I would fall if I did not take extreme care walking down stairs nor did I waver when rising to make presentations nor did I feel disoriented after long flights. In short, I felt human.”

FP goes on to say that prism lenses don’t cure meniere’s disease but it does seem to help.

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Cerebro-spinal fluid and Meniere’s disease

A couple of weeks ago Peggy left a comment about Cerebro-spinal fluid, which is something that I hadn’t heard about before.

What is CSF?

CSF is a clear, colorless fluid, that is around the subarachnoid space and the ventricular system which is in the spinal cord and the brain. It acts as a cushion and a type of protection for the brain and spinal cord.

  Luckily I found that Dr. Hain had written about it here is an excerpt…

“Cerebrospinal fluid depletion may be caused by a leak, a shunt, inadequate production or too rapid absorption. Symptoms commonly include headaches, which are more severe in the upright position and are alleviated by supine or head-lowered below chest(Trendelenburg) positioning. Horizontal diplopia, change in hearing, tinnitus, blurring of vision, facial numbness, nausea, and upper limb radicular symptoms (tingling) may occur. These symptoms are nonspecific as they are commonly encountered in migraine and post-traumatic headache. Cognitive decline has also been reported (Hong et al, 2002; Pleasure et al, 1998).”

In another passage Dr. Hain that CSF sometimes resembles Meniere’s.

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Voice recognition and Meniere’s disease

How many hearing tests have you had? I have had quite a few the common theme in every one of them is that my hearing in my left ear is getting worse, to the point of not being able to hear at all.  Fortunately the hearing in my right ear is pretty good although at times I am not quite so sure. The hearing test finds out more than if you can just hear a sound it also tests the level of voice recognition. Lauri’s comment last week was the inspiration for this post.

Here is her comment…

When my left ear became deaf from Menieres

(except for the 24/7 tinnitus!)

I asked my Dr. about a hearing aid, but was told that the regular aid would not work for me due to my ear no longer having what they call "voice recognition". The Dr. said I could look into the bone anchored hearing aid.

Voice recognition really seems to be my problem also. I hear people talking (not always) but I just can’t make it out what they are saying. It can really be embarrassing when you have to constantly ask people to repeat what they just said, some folks are okay with it and others at times seem to be irritated by it.

Is voice recognition a problem for you also? And if you have a hearing aid is it helping you?

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