Meniere’s disease is a disorder in the inner ear with the following warning signs:
In the majority of cases, Meniere’s disease only affects one ear. There is also the chance of unexpected vertigo episodes or a short-term period of hushed hearing or tinnitus. These symptoms may happen one after another within a day or in the course of a few days. Meniere’s bring severe vertigo episodes that can make a person drop to the ground due to loss of balance. Sometimes Meniere’s patients complain of a feeling like someone is pushing them to fall over.
Meniere’s disease can happen to anybody, but it is more rampant among people aged 40 to 60 years old. A report from the NIDCD indicated that 615,000 cases of Meniere’s disease get treated every year. Additionally, there are 45,500 more cases diagnosed yearly.
Table of Contents
There is one prevailing theory of why Meniere’s disease develops: it is caused by the excessive build-up of fluid in the inner ear. However, this is not true for all cases of this disorder.
Let us discuss some insights about what happens to people with fluid build-up in their ears.
Housed within the inner ear are compartments called the labyrinth. The labyrinth houses the organs of balance composed of otolithic organs and the cochlea. It also has two sections – the bony labyrinth and the membranous labyrinth.
The membranous labyrinth contains endolymph. It is a fluid that helps the balance organs to detect movement. These receptors transmit information to the brain about the body’s current position, enabling proper spatial awareness. The endolymph becomes compressed in the cochlea in response to sound vibrations. After that, the signals travel to the brain by these sensory cells. For people with Meniere’s disease, the congestion of fluid interrupts the appropriate function and hearing. As a result, patients experience vertigo and other symptoms of Meniere’s disease.
As mentioned above, there are some instances of Meniere’s disease where excess fluid build-up is not a factor in causing many other symptoms. A study has linked the connection between whiplash events involving the neck and head injuries to symptoms of Meniere’s.
Researchers discovered that a misalignment in the upper cervical spine can possibly result in Meniere’s disease. In addition, they learned that it would often take 15 years before a lesion starts to develop on the Eustachian tube. As a result, it can affect hearing and balance of a person.
What are the possible consequences of a lesion on the Eustachian tube?
These facts call for a meticulous examination of patients’ medical histories. Doctors need to investigate head and neck trauma in particular. Sometimes, even a simple trip and fall accident in the past may have aftermaths 15 years later. Incidents such as car accidents and sporting injuries are usually the reasons behind the shifting of the atlas (C1) or axis (C2) vertebrae of the upper cervical spine out of alignment.
What can a person do to prevent Meniere’s disease from happening in the future or deal with it now?
It is so important to visit an upper cervical chiropractor the moment you suffer from any head or neck injury or trauma, whether you had it from a whiplash injury or a fall from stairs or ladders.
One particular study focused on the effects of upper cervical chiropractic care in 139 Meniere’s disease patients. The researcher made some interesting discoveries.
Firstly, there is one crucial fact about all of these 139 participants. Each patient experienced a head or neck trauma in the past before the onset of their Meniere’s disease symptoms. Thus, every patient received specific adjustments from an upper cervical chiropractor for two years.
Secondly, the results are compelling:
Upper cervical chiropractic care is an excellent method that offers relief to people with Meniere’s disease. Doctors of this practice use a precise and gentle technique. Their goal is to encourage the atlas or axis bone of the upper cervical spine to return to its proper alignment.
Seek the nearest upper cervical chiropractor in your city by using our search button. We encourage you do if you suffer from Meniere’s disease so you can experience firsthand what upper cervical chiropractic care can do for your health and well being.
TV show host Montel Williams describes how specific chiropractic care has helped his body.
The content and materials provided in this web site are for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to supplement or comprise a medical diagnosis or other professional opinion, or to be used in lieu of a consultation with a physician or competent health care professional for medical diagnosis and/or treatment. All content and materials including research papers, case studies and testimonials summarizing patients' responses to care are intended for educational purposes only and do not imply a guarantee of benefit. Individual results may vary, depending upon several factors including age of the patient, severity of the condition, severity of the spinal injury, and duration of time the condition has been present.