1. Community
  2. Ears, nose, throat and mouth
  3. Meniere's Disease

Streptomycin injections in ear .

Posted , 4 users are following.

Dean1946
Dean1946

i am new to this site and see that I’m not alone. I’ve have Meniere’s disease For one and a half years. I’m on daily steroids and a diuretic. I’ve had two series of steroids in my right ear and one cycle of steroids in the left. One month ago had three days of streptomycin injections In my right ear. I’ve not had any vertigo episodes, but balance is worse and daily fatigue. Has anyone else had the streptomycin injections and did they work?

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • tanney
    tanney Dean1946

    Posted

    are you sure is was streptomycin and not gentamycin that was injected into your right ear?  Gentamycin injection is the normal treatment for MD symptoms (vertigo) that are uncontrollable by other treatment.  Gentamycin injection will likely cause balance problems for a week or so because it destroys the balance nerve in your right ear that causes the bad signals sent to the brain resulting in vertigo.  Each of us have two balance nerves....one in each ear, so the good ear's balance nerve (your left ear) will soon take control and restore most of the balance function that you lost in the bad ear.   Sounds like your vertigo episodes have been eliminated....wonderful!!  Hang in there.....you will be fine in a couple weeks. 

    • Dean1946
      Dean1946 tanney

      Posted

      He used streptomycin because for past 20 years he has been using it and preferred it over gentamicin. I was told that there was a low rate of hearing loss and a high rate of improvement of quality of life with these injections. My problem is that I have MD in both ears. I don't see physician for several more weeks. So I'm concerned if I will always have vertigo because I wouldn't think he would do this to left ear also. I guess I need more patience and maybe balance will improve. Thank you for info as I was a little confused to how injection stopped the vertigo.

    • ruthie21143
      ruthie21143 Dean1946

      Posted

      I had the same three day procedure from Dr Shea at the Shea Clinic in Memphis.   He used streptomycin and prednisone for my right ear.   That was late July. I haven't had a vertigo attack since. He did say balance issues might happen but you need to walk and walk and walk. It should come back if you walk and do the exercises he advised.   Good luck and don't forget to walk!  

    • Dean1946
      Dean1946 ruthie21143

      Posted

      Dr. Shea also did my injections. At the time he did tell me I may have some balance problems for two weeks. He didn’t say anything about the walking, but I have not had my follow up visit. I’m really concerned about my left ear as I have MD in it also so I guess I could still have vertigo episodes. I will be glad when I see him. I have a lot of questions. Thank you for telling me to walk. I’m so out of balance that I don’t go anywhere alone, so I’ll just do house walking for awhile.

       

  • christine_35821
    christine_35821 Dean1946

    Posted

    Hello Dean. I’ve only recently been diagnosed with MD although I’ve had regular attacks of vertigo since having pneumonia last December. I was diagnosed with labyrinthitis at first. Since you are more advanced than me I guess I have the balance symptoms to look forward to. The only treatment I’ve had is betahistamine which prevents vertigo and helps with nausea. My experience with the ent doctor was brief and perfunctory. I regularly practice balance exercises such as standing one one leg with eyes shut. It took a couple of weeks to master this but it helps keep the vestibular system functioning. I belong to another web site for labs and MD and have gained helpful information from that. I am in UK and there seems to be less available treatment here. 
    • Dean1946
      Dean1946 christine_35821

      Posted

      Christine, so sorry you have MD. Does your ENT doctor do the intratympanic steroid injections. After my first set of injections, I was vertigo free for a year. Then I started again with vertigo and was found to have it in the other ear also. It is a very frustrating disease, but maybe the injections would hel p you. I don't know is betahistamine is available in the US. If it works I would sure give it a try. Will talk to my doctor about this drug on next visit.

  • christine_35821
    christine_35821 Dean1946

    Posted

    Thanks for the reply. I actually don’t have an ENT guy. The only appointment I had with him was just for a diagnosis which he made after asking a few questions and a short hearing test. He confirmed I had hearing loss which was not news to me as I have worn hearing aids for 10 years!  He had nothing to compare it to as my aids are high quality ones I bought privately not NHS which were huge and useless. So even if he did offer any kind of injection I wouldn’t have it. We do have experts in a university hospital but I suspect I would have to be non functioning to qualify. It’s the not knowing what I should do to help prevent further hearing loss or even just basic advice - I drive myself crazy with internet searches of course and I belong to another support group who are very responsive. 
Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.