Natural Remedies For Meniere's Disease

Any small ear infection can lead to serious ear problems and one such condition is Meniere's disease. It is caused due to the increased fluid levels in the inner ear, which is associated with hearing and balance.

Characteristics

This disease is characterized by frequent or occasional bouts known as attacks. It's during these attacks that the symptoms mainly ear pain, vertigo, imbalance and tinnitus occur. Hence, unlike most other diseases, the sufferers of this disorder don't have symptoms all the time. The frequency and the duration of attacks vary from person to person. For some, it may last for 20 minutes while for others it may last for 2 hours or more. As far as frequency of attacks is concerned, it may occur within short intervals of time or weeks, months, or even years may pass between each attack.

Symptoms

The symptoms are ear pain, tinnitus or ringing ears, nausea, vertigo, imbalance, hear loss, and dizziness. However, it's not necessary that all patients suffer from the same symptoms; it changes from person to person.

Remedy

Surgery is often suggested in some cases but the success ratio is not that encouraging. Though it is done to control vertigo and to prevent hearing loss, more than not it causes adverse results. Another option is destructive surgery where the affected inner ear is destroyed. With destructive surgery, patients may get relief from vertigo and ringing ears but hearing loss in the affected ear is also possible. However, these surgeries are done only when one ear is affected with this condition.

Why Natural Remedies?

As this disorder is incurable, the objective of conducting surgery is just symptomatic relief. In such a situation, it is always advisable to try other alternative remedies before thinking about surgery. The safest option would be to try natural remedies as these are found to be more effective in dealing with this condition. Moreover, natural remedies do not produce side effects thus making it the safest form of treatment. Following are some natural remedies that help to cope with this disorder. However, consult a naturopath before you decide on the treatment, as self-medication is dangerous.

• Herbs like ginkgo biloba, rosemary, vinpocetine, ginger root, butcher's bloom, golden seal and scutellaria, Siberian ginseng, are very effective for the inner ear pain. Homeopathic ingredients such as bryonia alba, lobelia inflata, cocculus indicus, salicylicum acidum, natrum salicylicum nux vomica and chenopodium are equally effective.
• Eat six small meals instead of three large meals every day as it helps to regulate the fluid levels in the body.
• Include protein rich food such as chicken, fish, cheese, lean red meat, eggs, legumes, tofu, and whey powder in your diet to normalize the blood sugar level and to strengthen the immune system.
• Cutting down on salt, caffeine, alcohol, aspirin, and nicotine definitely brings about positive results.
• Avoid aspartame found in sugar substitutes and diet soft drinks, MSG or monosodium glutamate, HVP or Hydrolyzed vegetable protein found in almost all food products and cysteine as it worsens ear ailments.

In short, dietary and lifestyle changes can reduce the severity of the symptoms considerably.

Know more about the causes of - inner ear deafness.