Meniere's Disease and Allergies

Meniere's Disease and Allergies

Update: April 28, 2007: I have not had a significant onset of symptoms since my last update. When I say significant I mean no symptoms that have debilitated me or altered my life style. I still have tinnitus, stuffy ears, hyperacusis and some mild vertigo. Lately I have been extremely sensitive to changes in the barometric pressure, especially a rapid increase. I get a general feeling of malaise and "headiness". When the pressure levels out then I am fine. I avoid wheat but don't worry much about corn, eggs and yeast. (see article below)

My hearing has been stable in my last three visits to the Ear Clinic. Considering my age, 68, that is good. I don't like being in crowds and noisy places. Conversation is very difficult for me in such circumstances.

I give myself a weekly allergy shot with serum provided by the House Ear Clinic. Medicare pays almost all of it and I have another insurance that covers the rest. One concession that I have made is that I no longer hike by myself. I walk the neighborhood alone but when I'm at our condo in northeast Utah I find someone to set out with on a hiking trail. I broke my ankle coming off a pretty steep trail, slipping on some shale, and fortunately I was with two thirty-year olds who got me to the trail head.

My general health remains quite good and I am usually in good spirits. I could change my well being by having a bran muffin but that would be dumb.

Update: October 2, 2005: After eight years of almost symptom free living I was put in a situation where I had little control over what I was eating for a five day period. I was attending back to back conferences in Sacramento, California and rather than let the attendees break for meals they kept us "captive" by feeding us while we listened to endless speeches, etc. I ate too much wheat and wheat products, ate dishes that were way too salty and consequently came down with a major attack of symptoms. I had spinning vertigo, vomiting, nystagmus, hyperacusis, loss of cognitive ability, increased tinnitus in both ears - the whole litany for about a week, subsiding after a month.

I have now been mostly symptom free for the rest of the year being very careful about my diet and exercising more. Of course, the American holiday season is approaching so I have to be extra diligent.

Please read the narrative below and especially My Story.

I am not a physician. I have been diagnosed with bilateral Meniere's disease that has its etiology in food allergies. I am a lucky sufferer because my physicians at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles, California were able to diagnose and prescribe a treatment and diet plan that has kept me virtually symptom free since the fall of 1996. There are many Meniere's patients who do not have the successful outcome that I am enjoying. I might add that I do have a graduate degree in developmental neurophysiology and that makes it easier for me to read and attempt to understand the medical research articles.

The physicians that have been the most help are my original Ear, Nose & Throat specialist, Robert Bayer, M.D. in Camarillo, California who referred me to Dr. Antonio De la Cruz at the House Ear Clinic. When Dr. De la Cruz diagnosed me as having bilateral Meniere's he referred me to the resident allergist, Dr. M. Jennifer Derebery in the same clinic. I have been under Dr. Derebery's care since the spring of 1996.

The World Wide Web has been a useful resource for me as I sought relief from the symptoms that are so debilitating. You may jump to a listing of internet links that I have compiled for your use. My endeavor here is to try to make Meniere's sufferers and their physicians aware that they should not limit themselves in their quest to find the cause of the disease in the traditional but search the possibilities in "non-traditional" areas such as allergies. It may turn out to be more common than anticipated.

I want to be able to expand on the list of links and to help others get relief. If you have an allergy related link I need to know about please let me know.

I refer you to the following article that is not available on the internet. You may need to go to a medical school library and get a copy of M. Jennifer Derebery's article, The Role of Allergy in Meniere's Disease, Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, Volume 30, Number 6, December 1997.

Also, go to Healthy Hearing or Allergy Prevention for more information.

I'm not cured but neither am I suffering. You may go to my story and read a chronology of my symptoms, treatment and outcome.