Patients with Meniere’s disease have episodes of vertigo, lasting hours, that are associated with hearing loss and tinnitus. Following on from an episode, or cluster of episodes, hearing tends to improve (but may not go back to completely normal).

1 in a 100 adults will develop Meniere's every year.

The cause of Meniere’s disease is not yet fully understood. The most popular theory is that Meniere’s is caused by inner ear pressure build up. The inner ear is filled with fluid: this fluid is continuously replaced by fresh fluid, whilst the stale fluid is removed. It is believed that in Meniere’s disease, the stale inner ear fluid cannot be easily removed, and as such the inner ear gets overfilled with fluid. Eventually, as the pressure within the inner ear becomes too high, it forces the stale fluid out. It is thought that the wave of exiting stale fluid triggers the episode of vertigo.

At 2 years, nearly 60% of patients are cured, 70% at 8 years.

Over time the episodes become less frequent and eventually stop, leaving the patient with reduced hearing in that ear.

In less than 20% of patients the condition progresses to involve the good ear at 2 years.

Your specialist will ask questions and do a thorough examination of your ears, balance and hearing systems. They will undertake a hearing test and imaging of the brain and ears. Based on the above they will be able to ascertain whether you have Meniere’s disease.

Since the condition gets better over time, the aim of treatment is to reduce how often and how bad each episode is.

Most specialists advocate a low salt diet, as it reduces inner ear pressure and has many other health benefits, with no side effects.

In addition, there are 2 main treatments that have been shown over and over again to work in reducing how severe and regular the episodes of vertigo are: Steroid or Gentamicin injections in the affected ear. Important deciding factors between treatments include how much hearing you still have and how severe the vertigo attacks are.

Your specialist can walk you through the individual risks and benefits.