Meniere’s disorder that affects the inner ear and is known to cause severe vertigo and dizziness. As most people know, the sense of balance is actually controlled and coordinated by the movement of fluids throughout the ear canals and the action of tiny hairs that detect these fluids and which give us an idea of our orientation.
Imagine holding a glass filled with water. If you tip the glass sideways, the water will stay in the same place while the glass moves around it. Thus the side of the glass will get wet and not the bottom. Now imagine that’s your ear and on that side of the tube are lots of tiny hairs capable of interpreting that wetness and creating nerve signals to send to the brain.
Meniere’s disease also causes hearing loss and a feeling of fullness or congestion inside the ear. It is often associated with tinnitus and can have a range of different causes. Generally, though, it is the result of fluids building up and not being properly drained.
This is a serious but also quite interesting condition with lots of useful and interesting facts. Read on to learn 10 of them…
1. It’s Highly Common
Although the jury is out on what precisely causes Meniere’s disease, it seems pretty certain that the condition is highly common and actually going up as well. A shocking 615,000 individuals in the US are diagnosed with this condition right now. There are 45,000 new cases diagnosed each year and this seems to be going up. So the question is: why? It may be because we’re better at diagnosing it, but perhaps there is something else even stranger responsible?
