Meniere's Disease

[victorzamora]

Hey all, I've got a buddy that is/was a diver but has Meniere's Disease. He went to one physician that said he wasn't sure but he wouldn't risk it. Since then, he's been VERY hesitant about diving. Well, he can equalize just fine but he's still hesitant. Any opinions on how serious Meniere's+Diving is?

 

[Dnaber]

Contact DAN and speak to one of their doctors. My instructor thought that maybe I had it but after speaking to the doctor at DAN he said that it was more likely something I ate.


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[TSandM]

The big issue with Meniere's disease is vertigo.

I am not an ENT doc, but one of the common treatments for Meniere's is a diuretic called acetazolamide. Assuming that the diuretic is working by reducing fluid volume in the inner ear, I would think that immersion diuresis of diving would do something similar, and therefore, becoming symptomatic from Meniere's while underwater (if you were not symptomatic before you went in) would be unlikely.

Hopefully doctormike, who undoubtedly knows a great deal more about this than I do, will weigh in here shortly.

 

[victorzamora]

So my buddy most definitely has Meniere's. It's been diagnosed and confirmed and has been an issue for years. As far as DAN goes, I'll call them. TSandM, I don't think he's on any diuretics...but that sounds exactly like what he's got. I know that salt and caffeine causing fluid retainment make the fluid in his ear worse. My thought was that increased pressure of the water wouldn't increase the pressure on his ear (depth wouldn't make it worse)....and that at worst case he'd have to be extra salt/caffeine free the day before diving to make sure he doesn't get vertigo at depth.

From what he's told me, he has rather mild vertigo from his condition. Mild loss of hearing in one ear is his main complaint with a small loss of balance being occasional and mostly due to a weird orientation/position (like a Yoga pose, for example).

 

[victorzamora]

So for what it's worth, my buddy's physician told him the only reason to not dive is hearing loss. My buddy's right ear has pretty bad hearing, and his physician told him to not dive because diving has an inherent risk of hearing loss, and as he's down to one good ear he'd better not chance it.

DAN said that the risk of hearing loss, subsequent permanent damage, failure to equalize, etc was all minimal. He said the only real concern would be succumbing to a bout of vertigo while underwater.

So, I know that that's not a great quantity of information to go on....but I think it's enough to make an informed decision about whether or not to take the risk for the occasional dive. Thanks for the help, guys.

 

[Silent Diving]

A little non-scientific information.

Many years ago, a friend was diagnosed with Meniere's. He was a dive buddy when this happened, and this was when we were first starting to consider "technical" diving... in particular staged decompression and cave diving.

He discussed with his family doctor (also a dive buddy) and a specialist. There was a surgical option (a shunt of some sort), but he opted instead to ONLY DIVE WHEN A DIRECT BAILOUT TO THE SURFACE was possible... so no staged deco and certainly no overheads.

Having assisted a diver inwater suffering from vertigo and facing a moderate hang-time, I'd suggest your buddy follow a similar path to my mate and stay away from anything from which a direct bailout is not possible... if indeed he continues to dive.

 

[victorzamora]

So, my buddy has never wanted to do the Tech/Cave stuff so that wasn't an issue. However, what he decided was almost what you suggested. He's going to continue diving, but he's not going to push it with very deep dives or even diving often. He's only going to dive when it's properly worth it.

 

[NancyLynn]

Hmm...now I don't know whether to be hopeful or scared. I'm currently being evaluated for Meniere's Disease. High frequency hearing loss since ~2007 in one ear and tinnitus for the same duration, with three bouts of vertigo added in the last 2 months (two of them several days in duration). So far they are mild - and I wouldn't have been a danger to myself or another diver except for brief periods at the peak of each of the two longer bouts. But my understanding is that they are likely to get worse.

The quick information I found was that it was one of the few absolute contraindications to diving because the vertigo could strike at any time without warning. I was hoping for a brain tumor - since the particular one that might be confused with Meniere's Disease is generally operable - I might lose my hearing, but I'm likely to do that with Meniere's anyway.

Guess I'll just take it one day at a time and hope I haven't been underwater for the last time.