Meniere's Disease Essay

Meniere’s disease is a controversial inner ear disorder that has a variety of symptoms. It was first discovered by French physician Prosper Meniere in 1861 after seeing a variety of patients with episodic vertigo attacks. (John Jacob Ballenger, 1996). After a variety of research, Prosper Meniere theorized that the symptoms that his patients were experiencing such as tinnitus and vertigo were not coming from the brain but were actually coming from the inner ear. These findings lead to the research of inner ear disease and its association with inner ear balance disorders. (P.J. Haybach).

So what exactly is Meniere’s disease? Meniere’s disease is a disease that affects the inner ear. It is characterized by unilateral sensorineural hearing loss mainly in the lower frequencies that often fluctuates, tinnitus, irregular intervals of vertigo that can last anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours (John Jacob Ballenger, 1996). What are these symptoms? Sensorineural hearing loss is a type of hearing loss that is caused by the damage or alteration of the sensory mechanism of the cochlea or other neural structures (Clark, 2012). Tinnitus is ear or head noises. It is usually described as a ringing or hissing sound in the ears. Vertigo is a sensation that one feels that makes them feel as if they or the room is spinning (Clark, 2012). People with Meniere’s disease often report experiencing that their ear has a sense of fullness. The patient may also report symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and excessive sweating. When the patient is experiencing a vertigo attack that is often when the fluctuation of hearing is experienced as well. After the vertigo attack, the patient suffering from Meniere’s disease is generally left exhausted a...

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...uditory and vestibular system. (Orji, 2014).

Patients with Meniere’s disease tend to be more depressed and have a poorer outlook on life when compared to patients suffering from other illnesses. In a study by Van Crujsen et al, patients with Meniere’s disease documented poorer quality of life scores when compared to normative values. These patients had a worse perception of their general health as well as poorer social functioning. It was also found that a poorer quality of life was reported in those patients who had more severe symptoms. It was also found that when comparing the patients with more severe symptoms to those with less severe symptoms that the severity of the symptoms affected the quality of life more than it did the coping or daily stressors. Coping strategies and the frequency of daily stressors were found to be the same in both groups. (Orji, 2014).