Meniere's disease

Meniere's disease is a chronic inner ear disorder recognized by several things that come together: spontaneous vertigo that returns again and again; fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss, meaning hearing loss that comes from the inner ear and rises and falls; tinnitus, the ringing a person hears with nothing there to make it; and a feeling of fullness, of a plugged ear.

What is found when the inner ear is examined has a name: endolymphatic hydrops. Endolymph is the fluid that fills the membranous labyrinth, the inner ear structure where hearing and balance live, and in this disease there is too much of it. That excess episodically disrupts the workings of the cochlea and the vestibular system, the part that hears and the part that keeps you balanced. The labyrinth works with just the right amount of fluid, like a tank with a fill line, and here the level sits above that line.

It is worth being clear about how much is actually known. The exact cause is still not fully understood, and that same hydrops has also been found in people who have no symptoms at all.