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What can I do to help my husband?

Posted , 9 users are following.

emma90045
emma90045

Hi All,

My husband was diagnosed with meneires disease 11 years ago. He has suffered from attacks and hearing loss over the past 11 years but the last nine months have been awful for him. He has at least two attacks a day lasting anywhere between 15 minutes and 6 hours, over the past month they are even starting to come at night and are waking him up. He has a constant noise in his head that never stops and he losses his balance doing simple tasks such as getting dressed. He has now lost 74% of his hearing in his right ear and 65% in his left ear. He wears a hearing aid in his right ear and has one for his left which he does not wear as it sets off his attacks. He has not been able to work for 7 months, has had to give up being a football coach to teenagers (which he was passionate about) and has given up on socialising as it's so difficult for him. He does not go out even to the shop without me or one of our children. He saw the ent consultant today who had put him on the list for a brain scan and after the results are in wants to give him steroid injections in both ears. What are your experiences of the injections? We have special equipment shower seat, vibrating alarm clock etc I recently bought him a V shaped pillow so when he is having an attack he can keep his head still and comfortable which he said has made a difference. Do you have any tips or ideas on things that can add comfort or elevate symptoms of an attack? I really don't know how to help or what I can do it's so upsetting. He is becoming more and more isolated and I am so worried.

 

0 likes, 37 replies

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  • Reena2017
    Reena2017 emma90045

    Posted

    Hi Emma,

    I'm so sorry for how you feel and I know exactly how your husband feels as I have isolated myself too. I do have MD in my left ear w/o hearing loss yet but my hearing results were very bad in left ear compares to right ear. I just had the Transtympanic Injection last Wed in my left ear, which had left me very dizzy N nauseas and out of it for about a week....I feel like yesterday was the first day I could walk straight without toppling over. I still hear the noises in my left ear and am dizzy but have alot of pain in my ear. I'm going back to see my ENT on Wed again and he'll look at next steps.

    I wish you all the

    • emma90045
      emma90045 Reena2017

      Posted

      Hi thank you for your reply. Sorry to hear you have been unwell from the injection 🙁. Did you need someone at home with you for the week after you had the injection? 

    • Reena2017
      Reena2017 emma90045

      Posted

      Unfortunately no one around, but I managed it as all I did was lay in bed and get up to go to the bathroom when I got sick. I have a cane that was my support. I've had alot of stress also, that doesn't help. But your husband is very lucky to have you and he may be fine because mentally he has you and like we know with Meniere's everyone reacts differently to the procedures and he may be fine. I pray all goes well.

      Reena

    • emma90045
      emma90045 Reena2017

      Posted

      Thank you Reena, I think I will book a week off work so I can be home with him after as it sounds like it maybe difficult for him. I hope you get on well at your appointment Wednesday.
  • Willow4
    Willow4 emma90045

    Posted

    Emma

    This disease is horrible and he’s lucky you are a champion for him.  Stress brings symptoms on, so he needs to try and keep stress low.  I take Promethazine before bed to help with the night time spells.  It helps with the nausea in the morning.   Also, keep the salt intake low 1500mg is what I do.  Also, depression plays a part.  So get him help with that.  If that is an issue.  Meditation and yoga, Tai Chi,  acupuncture can help.  No two people with this disease are the same.  Treatment is different for everyone.  What works for one may not work for someone else.   When I have a spell I just take a Valium and sleep.  I have had the injections and they do help a great deal.  

    Good luck to you both. 

    • emma90045
      emma90045 Willow4

      Posted

      Thank you for your reply. I try to keep life as stress free as possible for him but it is causing him to be depressed. I have suggested anti depressants to him and he has told the consultant he is depressed and feels exhausted but they have not offered him any help with it. I am defiantly going to suggest the yoga to him as I think that maybe a help and a nice thing we could do together.
  • Bertman
    Bertman emma90045

    Posted

    Hello Emma, So sorry to hear of your situation, I do understand these issues, I just wanted to mention if he is in fact suffering from depression, this only magnify his meniere's symptoms, I feel that most everyone in this group will agree with me that stress can trigger many symptoms pertaining to meniere's. I would suggest that you make your husband an appointment with someone in the mental health profession to assess his depression.Typically an ENT doesn't treat patients suffering with mental health issues. Wishing you and your husband the best. 

    ø¤º°`°º¤ø-:¦:-•:*'""*:•.Bertman •:*'''''*:•-:¦:-ø¤º°`°º¤ø

    • emma90045
      emma90045 Bertman

      Posted

      Thank you for your reply I will defiantly look into this on Monday and see if he can get any help with the depression. He used to exercise jog and play football which I think helped him cope with the depression from the hearing loss  but now he does not feel able to jog with me as he cannot always even walk in a straight line. 
  • christine_35821
    christine_35821 emma90045

    Posted

    Hell Emma. I am currently under a neurotologist as my attacks were not properly controlled by my gp so now my betahistine has been increased to 24mg 3 times a day. This has stopped the vertigo and the tinnitus is very quiet. I’m keen to preserve hearing as I already had 50% loss before Meniere’s struck. The ear pressure is very slightly there still so I will see what my next appointment brings. He mentioned steroid injections. Has your husband tried betahistine and injections?  I do understand the isolation it brings. If it weren’t for my husband I would become a recluse. 
    • emma90045
      emma90045 christine_35821

      Posted

      Hi Thank you for your reply I am glad to hear you have managed to control the vertigo. My husband has been taking betahistine 24mg  three times a day for 6 months and an anti sickness tablet that goes under the tongue and a tablet that he has to take for the next 6 weeks that helps dry up the fluid. The betahistine does not help anymore  (started on 16mg then increased to 24mg 3 times a day all it seemed to do was change the pitch of the noise from high pitch to a deep hum) anti sickness tablets help during an attack. We are now waiting for the steroid injections in both ears.  His hearing has gone from 60% loss  in right ear to 74% loss and 15% loss in left to 65% loss in 9 months.  He can hear very little especially with the humming noise in his head.
  • stephen61100
    stephen61100 emma90045

    Posted

    High Emma,

    I'm so sorry your husbands going through such a hard time at the moment,

    After 11yrs you probably no as much about meniere's as i do..

    you said it's been the last 9 months as anything changed in your life

    style that may of brought on a lot of added stress or anxiety? or as his

    medications changed or other medical conditions he may have that maybe

    causing a change,..I'v had meniere's for 17 yrs in my right ear i am also

    having my left ear checked..I'v not had the steroid treatment but as i understand

    it..the steroids relaxe the inner ear thus relieving the pressure on the inner ear

    and slowing down the fluid in the laberynth ..its this fluid that causes the vertigoe

    good luck to both of you and i hope things calm down soon...

     

    • emma90045
      emma90045 stephen61100

      Posted

      Hi Stephen, thank you for your reply. There was no changes to his medication health conditions or changes in our lives that started the severity of the disease. He just seemed to go from having one or two attacks a month and a few weeks a year of having pressure, noise and headaches to suddenly having a minimum of two attacks a day, vomiting, constant noise pressure headaches and rapid hearing loss. 
  • Bluesmann
    Bluesmann emma90045

    Posted

    steroid injections helped me for awhile.....what is happing when the attacks come?...does he have hyperacusis is that why he doesn't wear the hearing aid in the one ear?...hyperacusis is sensitivity to certain frequencies.....does he have mennieres in both ears?...how old? what medications is he on so far? states or other?

    • emma90045
      emma90045 Bluesmann

      Posted

      Hi, he does have meneires in both ears. He hasn't been told he has hyperaccosis and I haven't heard of it but I will research it. He just says when the hearing aids in the left ear it hurts his head and brings on an attack. He is on 24mg betahistine 3 times daily anti sick tablets and is about to start a new medication we collect monday that drys up the fluid in the ear that he has to take for 6 weeks. He is 46.

    • emma90045
      emma90045 Bluesmann

      Posted

      When he has an attack he goes dizzy, can't walk straight has to sit and stay in one possision head straight forward and he does not speak. Sometimes he has a hot flush a few minutes before an attack and sometimes if we are not quick enough with the anti sick tablet he will vomit. Attacks range from 15 mins to 6 hours. The worst attack he had I had to call paramedics as he was on all fours vomiting and gripping the edge of the carpet, I could not move him so much so that when the paramedics tried to lift him he pulled the carpet up with him and went on the stretcher on all fours.

    • Bluesmann
      Bluesmann emma90045

      Posted

      wow...I would say the ent needs to try some other things what works for one doesn't for another.....we are all pretty much on xiureticsa--pills that dry up the fluid.....im surprised if he is not....come hereafter there are other things they can try such a a shunt in the ear to relieve pressure and fluid etc......does anything trigger the attacks?

    • emma90045
      emma90045 Bluesmann

      Posted

      We are in the U.K. our NHS is slow and under funded! Which has made this all more difficult.
    • stephen61100
      stephen61100 emma90045

      Posted

      High Emma,

      I can relate to the heat thing as i'v had attacks in the kitchen cooking meals

      my kitchens small so a bit of a heat trap and also the hot steam in the bathroom

      has set off an attack..i do my shopping at night when my tinnitus is bad its

      much quieter then..coming to terms with the things you cannot do and cannot eat

      or drink is the hardest part for me that's where depression sets in ..i was suffering

      depression before Meniere's from an Anxiety disorder and told my doctor that

      i didn't want an Anti Depressant that was going to blitz me out and was adictive

      so he perscribed a low dose of citolaprame for the depression which may take a

      while to kick in and the doseage can be raised to suit ..they do make you a bit

      drowsy for a short while but your body soon gets used to them..there comes a 

      time that if your husband has been depressed for a while the brain serotonin

      level will drop and thats what citolaprame does (replaces the serotonin) also

      you dont have to take them all the time you use them as a crutch to get over

      the hard times may be this will help him..meniere's as slowed me right down

      but now i take more in i take in the birds trees flowers scenearys all the things

      you take for granted living with the pace of the world now....

       

    • emma90045
      emma90045 stephen61100

      Posted

      Thanks Stephen great advice about anti depressants. I don't think my husband has yet come to terms with the limitations  this disease has put on his lifestyle it's going to take time to adjust. 

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