Symptoms of Meniere's disease

Synonyms

Meniere's disease

definition

Menière's disease is a complex disease of the acoustic system of the human body, which consists of three different symptoms and can affect the patient in different ways.

Symptoms

The 3 symptoms consist of:

• Feeling of pressure in the ear
• Dizziness and
• an increasing Hearing loss

This complex of symptoms can appear in different forms and in different time sequences. At the moment when the patient describes all three symptoms, Menière's disease should be suspected.

1. The Feeling of pressure on the ear usually arises as a non-specific problem, i.e. it is usually best tolerated by the patient and initially ignored. In most cases, the patient's symptoms are caused by another harmless cause (e.g. Otitis media) suspected and initially no further medical steps were taken.

2. He comes dizziness In addition, patients usually become more attentive and seek medical advice. The vertigo symptoms are considered in almost all cases Vertigo, nearly never as vertigo described. The symptoms can vary in severity, but usually limit the patient very much.

In the case of pronounced vertigo, it can also nausea and Vomit come. This often agonizing symptoms then leads almost all patients to the doctor. Meniere's disease usually occurs in seizures on the Minutes to hours can stop. Depending on the severity of the severity, the intervals between the seizures can be shorter or longer.

There are also factors that affect the Increase seizure frequency can. In some cases the patients complain of vertigo active movementse.g. Get up and run. At an advanced stage or at severe disease courses can already do it laying come to the excruciating feeling of constantly turning.

Appropriate Balance problems With Instabilities and unsteady gait can be added. In pronounced gradients it can become massive General condition deterioration of the patient come, which culminates in the fact that the patients can no longer leave their home and have to be brought to a clinic by ambulance.

At weaker gradients the disease or in Initial stages are the patients at night mostly symptom-free during sleep, the dizziness usually only starts then after getting up. If the disease progresses at an advanced stage or if it is severe, the patients cannot rest even when lying down; sleeping is only possible in stages, which can also lead to a loss of strength in the patient in the long run.

3. Another symptom of Meniere's disease is the Hearing loss described. He begins unnoticed at first and then intensifies without treatment. In most cases it is Low frequency range affectedi.e. Particularly deep tones can increasingly no longer be heard by the patient.

In most cases they will find Discomfort in only one ear instead of while a bilateral Meniere's disease extremely rare occurs. In many cases, in addition to hearing loss, there is also one Whistling in the ear. This whistling is often associated with the clinical picture of the Tinnitus mistaken.

The tones that can arise in Menière's disease are varied and range from loud squeak up to deep humming tones. What is striking, however, is that, unlike in the case of tinnitus, the Noise in the ears not permanent and be stronger at several times of the day and at others may have disappeared completely.

The cause of this complex disease of the ear is not yet fully understood. It is assumed, however, that there is a so-called Hydrops of the inner ear comes. It comes to one Increase in pressure of the fluid in the inner ear.

This pressure works on that too Labyrinth system of the earwhich for that balance responsible for. An increased pressure on the system leads to a reduced function of the system and thus to the vertigo symptoms described.

The described symptom triad also leads to a not inconsiderable degree psychological effects. So one should actually speak of four leading symptoms. Depending on the stage at which Menière's disease is treated, there are also more or less pronounced psychological symptoms.

These range from Imbalance up to Anxiety disorders and Panic attacks. The full expression of the psychological symptoms can be in a complete Loss of strength and cause a breakdown as severely affected patients neither sleep properly and can come to rest, one more everyday life free from giddiness can spend.

Although the triad of symptoms of Menière's disease is very severe and the patients are very stressed, this makes it easier full expressiong of all symptoms to the doctor Diagnosis, since the diagnosis is almost certain when all symptoms are described, further clarification usually does not have to be carried out and with a prompt treatment can be started.