If you suffer from Meniere’s disease, you may find the limited treatment options frustrating. As a result, you look for natural ways to manage the disease on your own. We’re going to provide you some tips that may help you get relief without the side effects.

Lifestyle Changes that Can Affect Meniere’s Disease

One thing you can do is to make a couple of important lifestyle changes. If you are a tobacco user or heavy drinker, you may want to quit. These habits may be increasing the frequency and severity of your symptoms. When it comes to tobacco, this is a blood flow issue. Using tobacco restricts the blood vessels, and this can lead to increased vertigo, tinnitus, and other symptoms. As far as alcohol is concerned, it would be a good idea to track how consumption affects your symptoms. You may be able to get away with reducing alcohol intake, but for some patients, it has proven beneficial to stop drinking alcoholic beverages altogether.

A positive lifestyle change you can make is to drink more water. Water helps your body to clear out toxins and other impurities. It can also help you to stay properly hydrated, which is important because even mild dehydration can lead to increased vertigo severity and frequency.

Stress Management Techniques

One of the major Meniere’s disease triggers is stress. As a result, you need to find ways to keep stress under control (without alcohol and tobacco, for the reasons we explained under the previous subheading). This may mean discovering new stress coping techniques. Here are a few suggestions:

• A regular exercise program – This may even fall into line with some of your resolutions for the new year. Cardio, in particular, can get the blood flowing properly and release hormones that make you feel good. These hormones combat the hormones that are released when you are stressed.
• A new hobby – Many people find a hobby relaxing. Whether it be something related to the arts, music, or just reading a good book in the tub, find something that helps you get your mind off the stresses of daily life.
• Massage – Whether it is a loved one or a massage therapist who provides the massage, the goal here is to relax and destress.
• Talk it out – You can choose a trusted friend or relative who won’t judge you, hire a therapist, or join a support group. Just being able to talk out your feelings may be all it takes to keep your stress down and stop stress hormone levels from becoming too elevated.

Try a Meniere’s Disease Diet Plan

Many patients find that a low-sodium diet significantly reduces the frequency and severity of Meniere’s symptom flare-ups. Salt increases fluid retention in the body, and if that fluid is retained in the ears, it can definitely lead to all of the primary symptoms of Meniere’s, from a feeling of pressure in the ears to long and severe episodes of vertigo. Just make sure to increase your water intake when reducing sodium in your diet. Without retaining fluids, your body is more likely to become dehydrated (which can also make Meniere’s worse).

Additionally, there are a few other things you can cut out or reduce your intake of in order to try and manage your symptoms. Sugar causes the body to retain fluids, so you don’t want to have a diet that is high in sugar. However, artificial sweeteners are even worse, so don’t just substitute natural sugar with artificial sweeteners.  The other thing to think about is caffeine. A little caffeine can be good for you, but too much may increase your symptoms. You have to learn to listen to your body and see what affects you.

One other thing to think about is food sensitivities. An exclusion diet, which involves cutting major allergens out of your diet and reintroducing them one at a time to see which ones affect you, can help you to identify any food sensitivities you have. Avoiding these may help because the body’s reaction to foods you are sensitive too can often include things like increasing fluid in the ears.

Make Sure Your Atlas Is Properly Aligned

A misaligned atlas (the top bone in the neck) can affect the central nervous system and the ears. This may be why hundreds of patients in case studies saw Meniere’s disease symptoms significantly improve after having an upper cervical misalignment corrected and maintained. Patients often saw major benefits in the first six weeks and continued improvement over the course of two years of care.

Because of the proximity between the atlas and the eustachian tubes, it is possible that a misalignment can affect how well these tubes drain excess fluid away from the ears. Reducing fluid in the body is one thing but restoring the mechanism that allows the body to remove the fluid naturally offers long-term benefits with fewer lifestyle adjustments.

To learn more about how upper cervical adjustments may help you, schedule a consultation with an upper cervical chiropractor today. The search feature on this website can put you in touch with one of our preferred doctors in your area.

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