daveb@reed.UUCP (David Billstrom) (05/01/85)
I've noticed a number of useful and specific suggestions from folks who've personally experienced Meniere's disease; thought I'd put my two cents in: I work on an ambulance, and last year we treated a patient who had symptoms very similar to yours, which we field diagnosed as cardiac in origin. We transported, anticipating an arrest in route. The patient told us that one week earlier he had been hospitalized, and his doctor diagnosed some form of arrythmia. At the hospital a different doctor immediately diagnosed an acute episode of Meniere's disease. The ekg at the scene and in the hospital showed a normal sinus rythm; the episode had a sudden onset; the blood pressure was elevated; and the patient experienced extreme nausea, e.g. by moving his head an inch or so. One symptom we had failed to detect, in our "tunnel vision" on the cardiac evidence, was the pupillary movement. Apparently, in acute episodes of Meniere's, the pupils will move rapidly side-to-side, similiar to the pupillary movement of someone who has been spun around and around -- a direct side-effect of the equilibrium disruption. (this same symptom, less dramatically, can indicate serious intoxication). The moral of the story: not every doctor will recognize Meniere's disease, even when presented with all of the symptoms.