MENIERE’S DISEASE – DESCRIPTION
Prosper Meniere, a physician to the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb in Paris described the condition that bears his name in 1861.
This is a disorder which affects the organ of balance located close to the inner ear. Twelve pair of nerves arise direct from the brain rather than the spinal cord and control structures mostly in the head and neck.
The eighth cranial nerve consists of two separate parts, the auditory and the vestibular.
These differ in their function and in the area of the brain to which they are connected.
The end organs, that of hearing and balance, lie close together but have separate functions.
True Meniere’s disease involves balance and hearing.
There are paroxysms or sudden attacks of vertigo or giddiness associated with a progressive deafness and tinnitus or ringing in the ears.
Meniere’s syndrome is a term applied to periodic attacks or vertigo without tinnitus.
The cause of this disease is unknown but is believed to be a degenerative process.
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