The beginning of my story of Meniere's Disease

5 years ago I was in a slight car accident. I was hit from behind. My neck snapped a little and I was feeling woozy. The ambulance came and took me to the hospital. As I was being driven there I became very nauseous and began throwing up. The EMT were baffled because that type of accident usually doesn't result in someone throwing up. This continued while I was at the hospital. I was released and sent home.

Two weeks later I was driving home in the evening as I turned into the driveway I became very dizzy and sick to my stomach. My wife worried that I was having a heart attack. I wasn't, I was having my first Meniere's attack.

I went to an ENT the following week and he tested my hearing and suggested what my problem might be. It was either vertigo or a rare disease called Meniere's. Which he described as a category that doctors put patients who have problems with their balance but don't have vertigo.

Well, I was tested for vertigo and I didn't have it.

So, my journey with Meniere's began.

Tried the low sodium diet, the diuretics and the balance exercises....

After the initial diagnosis of Meniere's disease I went on the low sodium diet which at first seemed to help but then stopped. I was also put on a diuretic, which makes you go to the bathroom many times a day. Didn't help. I was given exercises to help with my balance, like the sodium diet it seemed to help but in the end I was still getting sick.

Difficult times became worse

It seemed like every day I was having an attack. On the good days I would take my antivert and within an hour the spinning would go away. But on the bad days, the spinning would be intense, I would become nauseous and I would start to throw up.
The sweat would be pouring off me and i would usually end up on the floor. Unfortunately, most of the severe attacks happened at work. On 5 different occasions the EMTs would have to wheel me out of the place I work to an ambulance then to the emergency room. It was very embarassing.

Finally I went to my ENT and told him that I had to do something because this was making life unbearable especially for my six year old son who had to see his daddy this way.
He recommended a specialist who only dealt with inner ear problems.

Hoping the new treatment will work...

My new doctor was a well known inner ear specialist in Atlanta. From what I read about him he was on the leading edge of all things dealing with the inner ear, such as tinnitus and Meniere's disease.
At first he suggested the Meniett device, a relatively new device that blows pressure in your ear and supposedly lessens the chances of having an attack. Unfortunately the device is so new that the insurance companies don't cover it.
The next step was the gentamicin injections, a procedure that I describe later in this lens. I would get 4 injections total with the injections being spaced out every 2 weeks.
At this point I was ready for anything but the attacks were still coming.

The gentamicin injections

Gentamicin injections are given to Meniere's patients to kill the balance hairs in the inner ear; these hairs send signals to the brain about your balance. The injections are given in the ear that has the Meniere's disease. (Ask your doctor about how he determines which ear is bad. In my case the ear that I had the most hearing loss was treated)

I was given 4 injections over the course of eight weeks. Although my doctor told me there would be little pain, the procedure seemed very painful to me and I felt dizzy after each session.
When all the injections were given, I felt like I had made great progress. The dizzy spells were almost gone and I felt pretty good. But that didn't last long.