After getting diagnosed with Meniere’s disease, you likely spent several few weeks looking through resources after resources. You hope to shed light on your condition and understand how it will impact your life. But even after scanning through different documents and patient guides, many questions remain unanswered.  Can Meniere’s disease go away? Is it something you can manage with medications alone? What are your options for relief? 

The truth is, thousands of patients diagnosed with this vestibular disease share similar concerns with you. After all, Meniere’s continues to be a poorly misunderstood health problem. Studies are still trying to figure out its root cause and how people can prevent it from developing. 

Allow us to help you figure how this disease works and how long it takes to find lasting (or maybe permanent) relief. 

Setting Your Expectations: How Meniere’s Disease Affects the Body

Patients diagnosed with Meniere’s disease tend to have varying symptoms and complaints. Some are quite fortunate to have mild symptoms that rarely bother them. On the one hand, others aren’t so lucky as they have chronic vertigo attacks, ringing in the ears, temporary hearing loss, and ear congestion. 

Regularly, upper cervical practitioners meet with several patients who have a miserable and frustrating life because of Meniere’s. Many can’t enjoy doing the things they love. Others heavily rely on their family members or private nurses to do simple activities like eating or going to the bathroom. 

It’s a good idea to work with your GP, ENT, or neurologist to understand the full scope of your Meniere’s disease. It will also help you identify whether you have other pre-existing conditions that contribute to your pain and discomfort.

Can Meniere’s Disease Go Away or Does it Last Forever?

“Can Meniere’s disease go away on its own?” is, undoubtedly, one of the most frequently asked questions of patients. The answer is it depends on various factors, such as: 

• The severity of the symptoms
• Presence of cervical subluxation
• The patient’s general health
• Additional health problems that may aggravate the condition  

The more you understand the factors we listed above, the faster you can determine what options might relieve your symptoms. It will also help you determine if your symptoms need additional medical intervention. 

Here are some examples of the tests that doctors and other healthcare professionals use to determine the severity of Meniere’s disease.

Balance test 

Patients with ongoing balance or proprioception problems often need to undergo balance assessment to gauge the damage inside the inner ear. Some doctors recommend the following diagnostic procedure:

• Videonystagmography (VNG) - The VNG focuses on the inner ear and the eye's role in detecting motion and balance changes. It involves using specialized goggles to check eye movements and stimulating the inner ears using cool and warm air.
• Electrocochleography (ECoG) - This test helps doctors check if your inner ear still responds to sound stimuli. It also comes in handy in detecting abnormal fluid buildup inside your inner ear chamber.
• Rotary-chair testing - Like the videonystagmography, the rotary-chair test also involves checking for uncontrollable eye jerking movements. Your GP or ENT will require to sit still on a rotating chair which will stimulate your inner ears.
• Dix hallpike maneuver - This test checks how your eyes respond to sudden movements in your surroundings. While this test is a standard procedure used for BPPV patients, it also helps ENT and audiologists to provide a more precise diagnosis to patients with Meniere’s disease. 

Make sure to wear comfy clothes when you undergo balance tests. Additionally, talk to your doctor about the results and determine what lifestyle changes you need to implement to address the problems. 

Hearing test

As mentioned, Meniere's can sometimes lead to temporary or permanent hearing disability. That's why doctors ask their patients to have their hearing function assessed. Like in balance diagnostic tests, hearing examination can sometimes include varying techniques such as the Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response or BAER Test and Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE). Feel free to talk to your physician about the tests and how they can help you seek better patient care.

Your Neck and The Different Meniere’s Disease Symptoms

Meniere’s continue to affect thousands of patients in the country. In fact, the latest count says that about 0.2 percent or roughly 615,000 individuals have this highly debilitating disorder. If you’re part of the statistics and you don’t know how to move forward in seeking relief, we recommend talking to an upper cervical chiropractic doctor. 

We have seen countless patients experience massive changes in their symptoms after having their C1 and C2 bones adjusted by a neck chiropractor. That’s because upper cervical care aims to solve some of the potential reasons behind Meniere’s symptoms, such as:

• Poor fluid drainage in the head
• Signal transmission interference in the brain
• Brainstem and nerve compression
• Impaired vestibulocochlear nerve 

It also helps your cervical spine heal from damage after a neck or head trauma, and protects you from other factors that could worsen your condition. If other remedies for vertigo attacks, tinnitus, ear congestion, and other Meniere’s symptoms didn’t provide you with the results you need, you could try upper cervical care. 

Additionally, if you still have doubts about our discussion on “can Meniere’s disease go away?” we strongly suggest scheduling your consultation with an upper cervical care doctor near you. This way, you can determine if you have a cervical subluxation and understand the value of restoring your spine’s neutral curvature. 

Request for an appointment with a nearby upper cervical doctor today!

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