Treatment

There is currently no cure for Ménière’s disease, and since symptoms can vary widely, assessing the effectiveness of treatment options can be challenging. Your doctor may suggest one or more of the following management strategies to help cope with your symptoms:

Dietary and lifestyle changes. Reducing salt intake to between 1,500 and 2,000 milligrams per day and taking a diuretic (“water pill”) may help manage Ménière’s disease symptoms. Quitting smoking can also lessen the severity of the symptoms.

Medications. The most debilitating symptom of a Ménière’s attack is dizziness or vertigo. Prescription medications can help relieve dizziness and shorten the duration of an episode, especially if taken soon after the dizziness begins.

Rehabilitation or vestibular therapy. Your doctor may recommend rehabilitation or vestibular therapy if you have chronic balance issues.

Injections. Injecting the antibiotic gentamicin into the middle ear helps control vertigo, but it significantly increases the risk of hearing loss, as gentamicin can damage the tiny hair cells in the inner ear responsible for hearing. Corticosteroid injections are an alternative, often reducing dizziness with little or no risk of hearing loss.

Surgery. Surgery may be recommended when other treatments have failed to alleviate dizziness. One surgical procedure decompresses the endolymphatic sac. Another, less commonly used, involves severing the vestibular nerve.