The onset was sudden and unexpected. On Thursday morning I attempted to get out of bed and could not. As soon as I rose to a sitting position, such a wave of dizziness and nausea came over me that I was unable to control my physical response and fell back and to the left. My ears felt plugged and there was ringing in both. Both my wife and I have enough of a background in first aid to recognize symptoms of stroke and aneurysm, and we both quickly ruled that out. Deep down I knew that the diagnosis made by a Rapid City ear specialist seven years ago had finally caught up with me. After so many years of remission, my Meniere's disease was back with a vengeance.
The cause of Meniere's disease is unknown and there is no cure. I'm not an expert about the workings of the inner ear and I won't bore you with words I can't spell and you may not understand. Put simply, there are tiny organs inside our inner ears filled with fluid. They work like little gyroscopes in coordination with our eyes to give us what we call our sense of balance. People with Meniere's disease experience disruption in the function of these inner ear organs, a disruption manifested in four primary symptoms.
In my case, progressive hearing loss and tinnitus, which is persistent ringing, buzzing or roaring noise in the ear, were the initial symptoms. My affliction remained in this state for many years as I took a regimen of prescribed medications and nutritional supplements. Then, on my flight to Orlando last month, there came a sense of my ears being plugged. Many people have ears pop on airline flights as the pressure inside and outside the ear equalizes, but my left ear never has been right since that flight. Over the last week I've noticed worsening hearing.
Then on Thursday, I entered the most-feared stage of Meniere's disease, one I had hoped I would be spared.
People with advanced Meniere's disease experience episodes of severe dizziness, vertigo, nausea and incapacitation. Experiencing it reminded me of a halibut fishing trip years ago in the Gulf of Alaska when we hit rough seas. The deck of the 22-ft. boat pitched, yawed and rolled in 8-ft. swells, making it impossible to do anything but lie on the deck and be sick. Thursday morning I had that same sensation, only I was trying to sit on my bed.
Meniere's is not contagious or life threatening. It can, however, be life altering, depending on the frequency of the attacks or "episodes." Such events may last a couple of hours or a few days. Time between episodes may be measured in days, months or even years. Those who have it must live with the knowledge that there's a bomb in their heads that can go off at any time.
Research is ongoing, but so far there are only treatments to diminish symptoms and, hopefully, prolong periods between episodes. Alcohol, caffeine, smoking, stress, and high-sodium foods seem to aggravate the condition, so doctors recommend restricting or diminishing such things in a person's life. The medical community is experimenting with various kinds of drugs, some of which are used to treat motion sickness, to combat the dizziness and nausea. In extreme cases there are surgical procedures that have had some success in altering the way the inner ear functions or "disconnecting" the affected nerves from the brain so a person can experience some form "normality" in life, but these procedures are not always successful and do carry risks.
Onset of Meniere's disease is most often in adults between 30 and 50 years of age, and it equally affects men and women. Commonality of occurrence in the general population is about 1 in 1,000 people. Some studies suggest those with a history of ear surgeries or ear problems may be more susceptible.
So now I must begin a new phase of life to learn to manage the ticking time bomb in my head. With God's help I'll succeed, just as many who've faced other life challenges such as diabetes, cancer and multiple sclerosis have. But even armed with knowledge, I have to admit I'm scared.