14 year old daughter newly diagnosed with Minieres.

Hi Jessica- Sorry to hear about your daughter.

I posted about this a few months ago and since then have met more people who have friends and family with Meniere's who have been able to live a "normal" life. What I have found for me (and for some of these other people), is that all of us have been watching our diet like a hawk. In particular, avoiding all sources of sodium, not just added salt. What I mean by that is that I stopped eating anything w/ sodium (no olives, no chips, no cheese other than goat cheese, no soy sauce). I read the labels of every peanut butter container and found one that has 40mg / 2 tsp. I bought the most low-sodium can of tuna, yogurt, cheese, butter etc. And I stick with mainly eating salads, vegetables, fish (I don't eat most meat) and other food that I can cook and not add much processed things to it.  I researched a lot of ingredients on the internet to see what is high in sodium so I know to avoid it.  When I eat out at restaurants, I tell everyone I'm allergic to salt, caffeine and alcohol and make sure my waiter/waitress understands there can't be ANY salt in my food. I won't go to restaurants if I don't see anything I can eat (Pizza, Mexican, Italian, etc. is almost impossible because the sauces and cheese are loaded with sodium).  It took about a week for me, but after changing everything about my diet, I haven't had any vertigo spells nor have I felt dizzy at all. It's a massive relief, and I hope I've solved this for myself. I think the Meniere's symptoms significantly in people, so maybe it may not be that easy, but it's worked for me, and it sounds like it's working for other people I know. And as a bonus, I feel super-healthy.  

Your daughter is so young, if it is Meniere's, if she can control her vertigo symptoms by just managing her diet, hopefully she can continue to do the same things she was doing before.

Good luck, this disease can be terrible.

 

Maybe you should get another ENT for a second opinion?  They diagnose Meniere's by eliminating all other things that would cause vertigo.  There is no test that really diagnoses Meniere's.  If after all sorts of tests, including otic blood panels, they don't find something else, they will call it Meniere's.  Does your poor girl have spinning vertigo attacks?  A lot to deal with for a 14 year old.  Some people are allergic or sensitive to sulfa drugs, which Triamterene htc is.  My mother can't take it, though it is working for me and stopped the vertigo.  Mom didn't have a racing heart, though, but just a headache from it.  Hope things get better for her soon..

Can you inform me of the exact results of the tests?

Eleftherios S. Papathanasiou, PhD, FEAN

Clinical Neurophysiologist

Fellow of the European Academy of Neurology

Firstly you need to address her prescription especially since it is causing a racing heart so go back to your specialist or doctor ASAP. Does your daughter have tinnitus and loss of hearing? These are the two main symptoms of MD along with vomiting and vertigo. If your daughter does not have these I would question the diagnosis. How long has your daughter had a racing heart beat? Do these dizzy spells happen when she has a racing heart? How long do these attacks last? I'm asking this because I am MD sufferer but 10 years ago I was diagnosed with SVT  Supra ventricular tachycardia which  is an abnormally fast heart rate of over 100 heartbeats a minute. Mine used to be 220. When having an attack it causes dizziness, vomiting and you can faint. These attacks can come and go anytime without warning. This is treated with a simple operation called an ablation. I wonder if this is what your daughter has only because of the hear racing this could be be due to the prescription? If the her racing started  since having the new prescription it is probably them causing it however if she had it before I would ask to be checked for SVT. Take care

At the age of 14 it is not unusual for that kind of thing to happen. It is usually hormone driven but she should have an evaluation done to look for other issues.It could also be dehydration. She needs to be drinking enough fliuds to make up for what the triamterine pulls out (her urine should be pale colored). The med is to help pull excess sodium out of her system. She should still be avoiding sodium in her diet. I have my granddaughter, now 16, who was having the same issue. The culprit was not eating and drinking enough because she was feeling stressed. I still took her in and got an EKG and basic bloodwork to rule anything else out. All of this may be a little overwhelming for her, their coping mechanisms may not be well developed yet. She may well benefit with a little extra emotional support. You may want to get her to talk to some of the people on this forum so she can start working this out, be there with her, she needs you too. But definitely get her checked out and I am pulling for her that things will go well for her.

I don't understand about the diagnosis. It's not possible to definitely confirm menieres. It's just a list of symptoms, not a disease as such. They diagnose menieres if there is nothing else that they can find, causing the symptoms.