Ménière's Disease: Symptoms

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Symptoms

Symptoms of Ménière's disease are:

• Vertigo attacks that occur suddenly and last from several minutes to hours. The spinning sensation caused by vertigo is often bad enough to cause nausea and vomiting.
• A low-pitched roaring, ringing, or hissing sound in the ear (tinnitus).
• Hearing loss (often of low-frequency sounds) that may return to normal after the attack or that may be permanent.
• A feeling of pressure or fullness in the ear.

Vertigo is not the same as feeling dizzy. Dizziness is feeling unsteady or unstable. Vertigo is a sensation of whirling or spinning. Symptoms of dizziness and vertigo may be caused by many conditions other than Ménière's disease.

Sometimes you may sense that an attack is about to occur. The signal might be:

• An increasing feeling of pressure in the ear.
• Sounds seeming louder than normal.
• Nausea. A few people have nausea before an attack. But nausea can have many causes, so nausea does not always mean that an attack is about to occur.

Last updated:	October 20, 2008
Author:	Monica Rhodes
Reviewed By:	Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine, Barrie J. Hurwitz, MD - Neurology
Editors:	Maria Essig, Pat Truman, MATC