Alcohol and Meniere's

Thanks for posting this question. It's something I'm curious about too! I have had MD for two years and, at present, am not drinking any alcohol. I really miss it. I stopped drinking entirely becasue I did notice that I sometimes felt more unbalanced when I had even a little alcohol. I don't think it ever triggered a full attack, but just the fear that it will made me stop. I have continued to have a half cup of coffee each morning though. I'd love to hear others' tips! 

Great topic. I have cut way back on my drinking alcohol as I'm too nervous what it may trigger. I do still drink coffee daily. I drink a large coffee each morning then I drink a gallon of water daily. I've done this much water for years. So not hard for me. I will occasionally drink a beer when we're out. But that's it. Would love to hear what others do!

Hi Goldie, Ive written various stuff on this site over the years, in the height of my Mennieres I, like you guys tried every bit of advice going, I totally gave up alcohol, and I like a drink!, but still suffererd the random attacks, gave up salt, sodium, etc, still the same, at one point, being a traveller ( buisness) I would avail myself of the hotel steam and sauna rooms, I thought the raised body temperature may exacerbate the attacks,still the same, and if you think about it, if it was that specific as to say yeah its booze, or salt, we would all know, and be sorted, but unfortunatly no one actually knows how to stop it,crikey its hard enough getting a diagnosis and when you do the "cures" vary from Betahistine, 8mg to 64mg daily to gromets, surgery and more, so to nutshell my thoughts, Mennieres is a generic term for anyone suffering from violent sudden giddy spells, and there is no definitive cure for all, so just keep a log of your attacks and what you did in the previous 24 hours and see if theres a common denominator, there wasnt for me and so I went back to having a drink as and when and a curry, and stuff I liked in a normal life, good luck

Hi, I've had md for a while now and am only 38. I gave up alcohol for a while but now I've started drinking again at social events. I find I'm ok if I stick to certain things. No wine this makes me bad. I find as long as u drink lots of other fluids during the day before and after really helps x

I had already given up alcohol 8 yrs before so I guess i was lucky. Problem with alcohol is that it makes you light headed anyway so probably not good combination with MD when you are continually looking for the onset of MD. Bottom line everyone has different experiences of MD and our specialists don't have enough patients to seriously experiment with. So to some degree we have to listen to advice but also try things to see what happens for ourselves. I haven't had any vertigo since April 2015 and have now reduced my betahistine from 48mg three times a day down to 16mg three times per day. Taken a while to get brave enough to try to reduce it as easier to stay with what is working. Or what you think is working!!! My current betahistine intake is lower than what is thought effective which probably means the medication is not doing anything and my vertigo and dizziness have just gone away. For how long?? Still have tinnitus, deafness and fullness in my right ear. Difficult to tell what causes attacks. I had one after quite a bit of chocolate but have since (a long time after) had a similar amount of chocolate with no attacks. Had another attack after a barbecue where I had some sausages (high in sodium) but have since had a few sausages with no attack. If you can't live without alcohol try it in small amounts and see how it goes. My guess is that if you have an attack after you have had some drinks it may be unpleasant enough to put you off for a long time. I went to 1000mg sodium per day for a time(maybe 6 months) but have since eased off a bit so I can eat out.

I have suffered from loss of hearing in both ears and tinnitus for 5 year. I was diagnosed with Meniere’s for about 6 weeks ago having had the symptoms for 5 months, quite bad I think? The smallest movement of my head make me dizzy. I constantly have to grab things to stop myself falling over. I drink at the weekend not as much as I did and nothing during the week, it makes no difference. So I may as well carry on. 

I was diagnosed with MD 7 years ago. I have lost most of my hearing in my left ear and much of my hearing in my right ear because of it. I suffer from Tinnitus most days. Some days are worse than others. I have noticed alcohol does have a significant effect on my symptoms and attacks. I can have about 3 lite beers and be ok. However, if I have many mixed drinks or more beer than that it will cause a horrible vertigo attack. Also, if the barometric pressure changes drastically and suddenly I have more attacks. My potassium also bottoms out at time and that causes attacks. I haven't cut back on my sodium or coffee. This is a horrible disease.

I still drink wine. I still feel the same with or with a few glasses of wine after testing how I was feeling. To be honest, being home bound and feeling so rubbish a few glasses help me relax! Maybe text yourself and see?