Dec-30-2006

• Added to the Diagnosis Page:
  • Added to and clarified the information about possible mimics of Meniere's Disease (diseases and conditions contended by some patients to be mimics of Meniere's Disease, but for which there are no authoritative sources to that effect).

Dec-28-2006

• Added to the Doctors Page:

  • MedifocusHealth.com's "Centers of Research" for Meniere's Disease.

    • NOTE WELL:  We have no information on what constitutes a "Center of Research."  We do not endorse this list; we merely provide the link.

    • MedifocusHealth.com's List of American "Centers of Research" for Meniere's Disease (begins with California and lists other states).

    • MedifocusHealth.com's List of International "Centers of Research" for Meniere's Disease (begins with Australia and lists (as of December 27, 2006):

      • Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

  • California

    • San Diego:  U.S. Naval Medical Center.  Drs. Michael Hoffer and Richard Kopke. (Qualifying patients only.)

• Over time, we have been adding our "Direct Links" and linked Tables of Contents to our pages.  We completed that initiative today.  The following pages now have "Direct Links" and linked Tables of Contents at the top of each page.  "Direct Links" link directly to text on a page (as opposed to the top of the page itself) and are signified by this icon:  .

  • About

  • Cause

  • Diagnosis

  • Disability

  • Doctors

  • More Topics

  • Prognosis

  • Research

  • Serc

  • Start

  • Symptoms

  • Treatment

• We have revised the Treatment Page as follows:

  • Diuretics:  A patient's Meniere's Disease symptoms may not be responsive to one diuretic drug yet may be very responsive to another diuretic drug.

  • Prednisone:  A doctor who suspects or just wants to confirm or eliminate the possibility of an immune-mediated etiology (cause) may prescribe a round of prednisone, even in the absence of diagnostic tests that indicate an autoimmune etiology.  Some patients may not be responsive to a low-dose trial of prednisone yet may inexplicably respond remarkably to a high-dose trial of prednisone.  If the patient's symptoms are reduced by the prednisone, then longer-term immunosuppressant treatment may be recommended.

Dec-21-2006

• Added to the Treatment Page, Meniett Section:
  • December 2006 -- A study published in the medical journal Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, published by the American Medical Association, reports highly encouraging results in a two-year survey of patients using the Meniett Device.  (Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2006 Dec;132(12):1311-6.)
• See our brief comments on the above-described study at our Blog.

Dec-20-2006

• Added to the Famous Patients Page:
  • Waldo Jacquith, blogger.
    • His Meniere's page.
    • His blog.

Dec-19-2006

• Added to the Doctors Page:

  • Virginia

    • Richmond:  Virginia Commonwealth University.  Dr. Aristides Sismanis and others.

      • Information on Meniere's Disease may be found here.

Dec-18-2006

• Added to the Doctors Page:

  • District of Columbia

    • Washington ENT Group.  Drs. Catherine Picken, Thomas Troost, David Schessel, and Antonio Pereira.

      • There is a page on Meniere's Disease here.

  • California
    • The California Ear Institute has a page on Meniere's Disease here.

  • Iowa

    • Iowa City:  University of Iowa Health Care.  Drs. Bruce Gantz, Marlan Hansen, and others.

      • There is a page with brief information on Meniere's Disease here.

  • Missouri

    • St. Louis:  Washington University School of Medicine has a page about Meniere's Disease here.

  • Oregon

    • Portland:  Portland Otologic Clinic.  Dr. John Epley.  Dr. Epley is internationally famous as the developer of the famous "Epley maneuvers" for treatment of BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo).

      • A page with information about Meniere's Disease is here.

  • Pennsylvania

    • Pittsburgh:  Pittsburgh Ear Associates.  Drs. Moises A. Arriaga, Douglas A. Chen, and Todd A Hillman.

      • Meniere's Disease is mentioned here.

  • Texas

    • The Ear Institute of Texas has information on Meniere's Disease here.

Dec-13-2006

• Added to the Doctors Page:

  • Warrenton, Va.:  Fauquier Ear, Nose, & Throat Consultants, PLC.  Drs. David Phillips and Christopher Chang.  Offering possible treatment with the Meniett Device.

Dec-05-2006

• Added to the About Page:
  • We have a new email address.

Dec-01-2006

• Added to the Famous Patients Page:
  • Mandy Stefanczak, fitness competitor.  Diagnosed at age 15.
    • Article, Lowell (Mass.) Sun, December 1, 2006.
    • Article, FitnessAtlantic.com.
    • Article, ApexFitness.com. 

Nov-23-2006

• Added to the Doctors Page and to the Start Page:

  • There is no one "best doctor."  There is only the best doctor for you. 

    • Meniere's Disease is difficult to diagnose and can be difficult to treat. 

    • You will need a doctor who is technically knowledgeable about Meniere's Disease, who experienced in treating Meniere's Disease, who actually listens to you, who actually explains your options to you and why, and in whom you have trust and confidence. 

    • You will need to be a full partner with your doctor in your medical management.

Nov-22-2006

• Added to the Diagnosis page:
  • Another mimic of Meniere's Disease.
    • Endolymphatic sac tumor.  See this entry in PubMed.

Nov-16-2006

• Added to the Famous Patients Page:
  • Dana Davis, author.
    • Davis is the author of The Mask of Tamirella and short stories.
    • Visit her website and biography here.

Nov-13-2006

• Wanted:  Information on having Meniere's Disease in the U.S. armed forces.

  • Update:  We received little response to our plea, and the service member's case has concluded.  But -- we still have a lack of information on our website, and we would like to fill that gap, so please send your references to publicly-available authoritative sources such as published decisions, published guidance, regulations, court cases, etc., to us at our email address.

  • A member of the U.S. armed forces who has been diagnosed with Meniere's Disease while on active duty has asked for information on the consequences.  This member faces a medical board, apparently to determine fitness for duty and, if unfit for duty, whether the Meniere's Disease will be found to be service-connected and, if so, the percentage of disability benefits to be awarded.   We have little information on the subject, so we appeal to our readers to tell us what they know.  We will forward the information to the service member and possibly publish publicly-available authoritative sources or links here at MenieresInfo.com.  Please email your personal experiences with both formal and informal medical boards, and/or authoritative sources or links (such as published decisions, published guidance, regulations, court cases, etc.), to us.  Our email address can be found here.  Many thanks for your help.

Oct-18-2006

• Added to the Famous Patients page:
  • Famous patient Ken Ramsey, sheriff of Kane County, Illinois, retires to take on a new job.
    • Article, (Chicago Area) Daily Herald, October 17, 2006.

Oct-16-2006

• Updated U.S. Social Security Administration Blue Book excerpts to the June 2006 edition.

Oct-13-2006

• We restored our blog to http://www.menieresblog.com/wp.

Oct-03-2006

• Added to the list of mimics on the Diagnosis Page:
  • Yet another possible mimic of Meniere's Disease: 
    • Spontaneous intracranial hypotension. 

Oct-01-2006

• Added to the Famous Patients Page:
  • Additional information about saxophonist Chris Potter:
    • Article, Emusic.com.  Subsequent to a diagnosis of Meniere's Disease, Potter made a CD entitled "Vertigo."

Sep-24-2006

• We have restored the current "What's New" section to the home page.
• Added to the Famous Patients Page:
  • Famous patient and photographer Daniel Pancy has produced a DVD that demonstrates what it's like for Meniere's Disease patients to have an attack.  The DVD is a slide show of Pancy's photography that demonstrates what it is like to have Meniere's Disease, with information and descriptions of symptoms matched to the photos.  The slide show has a "white noise" sound track in the background to represent ringing in the ears (tinnitus).  The DVD runs about 18 minutes and is offered for $15.00,  including shipping and handling, at Pancy's website here.  This would be an excellent way to show friends, family, bosses, co-workers, etc., how Meniere's Disease affects us.

Aug-21-2006

• We've created a blog right here on our website:  http://www.menieresinfo.com/blog.
  • Ask questions.  Get answers.
• All future "what's new" issues will be posted to the blog.
• Oct-13-2006:  We restored our blog to http://www.menieresblog.com/wp.
• What's New after August 21, 2006, will be posted on our new Blog
• [Sep-24-2006:  We restored the current "What's New" section to the home page.]

Jun-29-2006

• Added the following resources to the Doctors Page:

  • Top 10 Reasons to Fire Your Doctor

  • Should You Change Doctors?

  • The Right Doctor for You

Jun-06-2006

• Added to the list of mimics on the Diagnosis Page:
  • Arachnoid cyst of cerebellar-pontine angle.
    • PubMed extract of medical journal article.

May-17-2006

• Added to the Famous Patients Page:
  • Brian Evans, Meniere's Disease patient and Brigham Young University Chief Financial Officer, adds duties of Administrative Vice President.  Evans was diagnosed with Meniere's Disease three years ago and has lost most of the hearing in one ear.
    • Article, BYUNewsNet, May 16, 2006.

Apr-29-2006

• Added to the Treatment Page:
  • Study shows Meniett Device and Enttex P-100 device "beneficial," equally so.  The Enttex P-100 device was preferred for its greater convenience and its much lower cost compared to the Meniett device. 

Apr-11-2006

• Added to the Doctors Page (find a doctor):
  • Direct links -- look for this icon:  .

Apr-07-2006

• Added to the Famous Patients Page:
  • Carrie Carter, M.D.
    • According to her website, Dr. Carter is mostly homebound and often wheelchairbound due to symptoms of Meniere's Disease.

Mar-22-2006

• Added to the Treatment Page:
  • Surgical approaches [to vestibular nerve section (VNS)].  There are a number of different approaches from which a surgeon will open up the skull to reach the part of the nerve to be sectioned.  Here are some:
    • Translabyrithine.
    • Retrolabyrithine.
    • Retrosigmoid.
    • Middle fossa.
    • Retrolabyrinthine/retrosigmoid vestibular neurectomy (RRVN) (great illustrations).

Mar-19-2006

• Added to the Famous Patients Page:
  • Famous patient and artist Aaron Reiser has produced a DVD that demonstrates what it's like for Meniere's Disease patients to have an attack.  The DVD is an outgrowth of his exhibit "Virtual Meniere's" that was shown at a Chicago gallery in May 2001.  Reiser is offering the DVD to the public for cost at $20 $15 [reduced Jan-03-2007] plus $2 shipping at his website here.  This would be an excellent way to show friends, family, bosses, co-workers, etc., how Meniere's Disease affects us.

• Added to the Famous Patients Page:
  • Chris Potter, saxophonist and band leader.
    • Article, San Francisco Chronicle, February 26, 2006.

• Added to the Disability Page:

  • ABA Disability Lawyers Directory; lawyer locator.

• Added to the Calendar Page:
  • May 1-7, 2006 -- Cover the Uninsured Week.
  • September 17-20, 2006 -- 2006 Annual Meeting and Oto Expo of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) in Toronto.  (Also added to the Research Page.)

• Added to our Disability Page in the section on Veterans Affairs:

  • The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes Meniere's Disease as a potentially "rated" disability in 38 C.F.R. § 4.87, Disability Code (DC) 6205.
  • Link (.pdf).
    • 6205 Meniere’s syndrome (endolymphatic hydrops): 
      • Hearing impairment with attacks of vertigo and cerebellar gait occurring more than once weekly, with or without tinnitus:  100
      • Hearing impairment with attacks of vertigo and cerebellar gait occurring from one to four times a month, with or without tinnitus:  60
      • Hearing impairment with vertigo less than once a month, with or without tinnitus:  30
    • NOTE: Evaluate Meniere’s syndrome either under these criteria or by separately evaluating vertigo (as a peripheral vestibular disorder), hearing impairment, and tinnitus, whichever method results in a higher overall evaluation. But do not combine an evaluation for hearing impairment, tinnitus, or vertigo with an evaluation under diagnostic code 6205.
  • Note that in addition to monthly payments, a disability rating provides access to medical care by the VA.  This could be even more important than the monthly payments.
  • We are grateful to the reader who brought this information to our attention.
  • Click here to search for more information on this regulation as it applies to Meniere's Disease.
  • Department of Veterans Affairs Fact Sheets on Compensation and Pension Benefits.
    • Department of Veterans Affairs Fact Sheet on Disability Benefits.
  • Veterans Benefits Manual by the National Veterans Legal Services Program.

  • Two problems with obtaining veteran's benefits due to Meniere's Disease can be causation and timing.  Meniere's Disease is considered by most authorities to be "idiopathic endolymphatic hydrops," with "idiopathic" meaning "cause unknown," and it is difficult to establish the time period during which Meniere's Disease began.  If the cause is unknown, it is hard to say that it was caused by line-of-duty military service.  If the cause is known, say from military service, then perhaps the diagnosis should not be Meniere's Disease.  See more information on this subject on our Cause Page.

    • Tip to Service Members:  Be sure that symptoms of Meniere's Disease and anything else are documented in your medical records, ESPECIALLY in your separation physical.

• Added to our Disability Page:
  • Direct links -- look for this icon: 

• Added to the Calendar Page and to the Research Page:
  • The Prosper Meniere Society's 12th International Symposium will be held March 4-11, 2006, at the Hotel Theresa in Zell im Zellertal, Austria. 

• Rearranged the names of patients on our Famous Patients Page into alphabetical order.

• We wish you a happy, healthy new year.

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