Scary Information

I was diagnosed two years ago & last year I had four steroid injections in my affected ear. I had an MRI scan before to rule anything else out. The injections were painless & have really helped. I have 20% hearing in my bad ear & normal in the other . I have a hearing aid but very rarely use it as it emphasises noise & it's too much. I find this Forum good as you can ask & other people have had the same experience & can help. I don't know if light bothers anyone or not but before I had the steroid injections I was walking across the park and I saw a flash out off my left eye & everything started spinning. Another time I went upstairs onto our unlit landing & opened the bathroom door which was immediately filled with bright sunshine. I now wear permanently tinted vari focals, it might look daft in winter but it helps..,

Hi Barbara.....not sure what the MS means by saying MD is progressive and comes in three stages....can you clarify?  You will not necessarily become deaf in the affected ear and just because you have MD in one ear does not mean you will get it in the other ear.  The chance of having bilateral MD is about 40% over your lifetime and is unlikely to occur in the near future.  As I've stated numerous times on this forum, I've had MD in left ear for 40 years and just last year developed it in right ear....so I now have bilateral MD.  I can still hear from both ears and am now taking 75mg of a diuretic (water pill) that pulls fluid from inner ear and lessens ear fullness, tinnitus and eliminated the vertigo from right ear.  I had gentamicin injection for left ear 35 years ago (read my earlier entry on a different thread) and never had another vertigo attack from that ear.  I've also recommended that when MD starts affecting your emotional well being and your social behavior it is time to seek psychological treatment  before these behaviors become habitual.  Emotional and behavior problems can last a lifetime if they are not caught early and are therefore worse than even the vertigo.  We need to attack MD on both fronts if we are to live life fully and on our terms....eliminate the vertigo and stop negative thoughts/behaviors before they start....otherwise the disease will win the battle.

Good luck to all....

OK....thanks Barbara.  Permanent hearing loss usually does develope with MD but that loss is rarely a total loss.  The hearing loss is in the low decible range but you can still hear in upper ranges.  And the loss in the lower decible range is not total either but usually in the 25% - 75% range.  But this loss is in one ear only...your good ear will still function normally unless you do develope bilateral MD.  And yes you likely will lose some balance function but remember that loss is in the affected ear only....you still have balance function in good ear which will compensate for loss in other ear.  When you see your GP ask about being put on a diuretic like dyazide.  Start at 25 mg and see if that improves things.  If not improved after a month request higher dose.  And make sure you stay away from salt, caffeine and stress (as well as possible).  You can be on betahistine and dyazide at same time. 

Also, for those MD sufferers who also have allergies (or non allergic rhinitus), vertigo flairups could be caused by allergies.  Please consider going on a nasal SPRAY anithistamine and NOT an ORAL antihistamine.  Oral antihistamine counteracts the betahistine.