Menieres Diagnosis

[jojomac23]

After having a couple of vertigo attacks and continued daily dizziness and nausea I spoke to my ENT consultant on a phone consultation

He seems to think I might have menieres and when I asked what test they would do all he said was a hearing test. Surely there are more tests than that .

Is this right . Would love some advice

[Happyrosie]

I really don’t know how doctors distinguish between menieres, BPPV and labyrinthitis. They have similar symptoms.However, you can go to the NICE site. This is the UK’s National Institute of Clinical Excellence and has recommendations to doctors on a suggested pathway for various conditions.

Go to NICE then Ear Nose and Throat conditions where you get a flowchart. Click on menieres & vertigo and see how you get on.

The site is intended for doctors but there’s no reason why members of the public can’t read it. The trouble is it uses words with which we are not necessarily familiar like nystagmus.

While you’re on the NICE site, put tinnitus into their search box too. I just mention this as the forum we’re in at the moment is a tinnitus one.

[jojomac23 in reply to Happyrosie]

Thankyou . I will do this 😀

[Pantu]

Hi There!

Almost 9 years ago I started to develop signs of Meniere's. Doctors took over a year among consultations, different tests, appointments, etc to confirm Meniere's. It could have been a little faster...

About my experience and according to those Doctors' opinions and tests, they mainly look for 3 signs to diagnosis:

-Tinnitus

-Hearing Loss

-Vertigo (and how it happens)

If they find those signs on a patient they already have a general idea of what's happening there. Then they are going to slowly look and discard other things if possible. I've had from blood tests to mri, but don't panic those were all attempts to understand what was going on. If there isn't anything else they are prone to diagnose Meniere's, because Meniere is basically those 3 conditions, even if one of them is not totally present it might be considered a Meniere's syndrome as well. That's why they need the hearing test.

Doctors even can disagree among them about how accurate and necessary is one or another test to identify Meniere's and they can ask for different ones or none of them, because they can consider the 3 signs enough...

There was one test, that was considered old at that time, which consisted of filling your ears with water/liquid and then doing some movements with your head and following a red dot (they tried to trigger the vertigo episode or something like that) maybe doesn't exist anymore. There was another that measured the pressure on my ears, but none of them came back with a Meniere's label, just more info.

Finally, this is just my personal experience, pls follow Doctor's advice, don't be afraid of re-asking your doubts or even look for a second opinion if you want reassurance.

[Hidden]

I don’t think there’s a specific meniers test, it’s more by eliminating the others like BPPV. One thing most associated with meniers is the pressure and that the hearing loss is in the low frequency range. Age related hearing loss is in the upper range usually.

If you do get a diagnosis it is a bit earth shattering but I believe most of us cope. Over 5 years my attacks got more infrequent and more manageable, I’m now about annually (or longer!). Eat healthily and low salt, but no need to go crazy you could drive yourself nuts trying to find out what triggers them.

A journal might help I think salt I’d a thing for me but I think it needs to be a lot. I think just follow normal health guidelines for eating is enough.

I get patches of ear discomfort (I’ve had a few weeks of it just recently - weather changes? Who knows). I have tinnitus all the time but as long as the attacks stay away I’m coping on my own. I wish it wasn’t here but I like most manage.