What is Meniere's Disease and How is it Treated?

There are so many different names for diseases and illnesses, and it’s important to understand and research anything you doctor diagnoses you or is treating you for. Meniere’s disease is an interesting name for a disease, named after the French physician Prosper Meniere, who wrote an article in 1861 that suggested a single disorder for all of the disease’s symptoms.

What is Meniere’s Disease?

In the simplest of terms, Meniere’s disease is a disorder of the inner ear. The symptoms associated with Meniere’s disease are tinnitus (a ringing in the ear), vertigo (a spinning sensation), and a feeling of congestion or fullness within one’s ear. Typically, these symptoms only affect one ear, but over time can eventually affect both ears. These symptoms may be worsened by smoking, high-salt diets, or an infection.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders:

There is no definitive test or single symptom that a doctor can use to make the diagnosis. Diagnosis is based upon your medical history and the presence of:

Two or more episodes of vertigo lasting at least 20 minutes each

• Tinnitus
• Temporary hearing loss
• A feeling of fullness in the ear

How is Meniere’s Disease Treated?

There is no cure for Meniere’s disease. However, there are many ways to help treat and alleviate the symptoms for a better quality of life. There are medications to help with dizziness as well as dietary salt and diuretics to help lower the amount of water your body retains to lower pressure in your inner ear. There are other dietary options to avoid that have been shown to help worsen to the symptoms of Meniere’s disease. These foods are caffeine, chocolate, and alcohol.

If you're suffering from any of these symptoms, we also encourage you to make an appointment at Florida Ear Nose Throat. To schedule an appointment, give us a call at (877) EAR-NOSE.

What Allergies Does an Allergy Screening Look For?

Allergy tests can help determine things you might be allergic to eating, touching, or even inhaling. Allergy tests can be done by blood tests, skin tests, or challenge tests. Blood tests can be more reliable when looking for a specific allergy, but skin and challenge tests are helpful in determining different allergy triggers. Read more about the common allergens the different types of allergy tests can look for:

Blood Test

Blood tests are typically very helpful in diagnosing food allergies. When performed, doctors also tend to test for the 10 most common allergy triggers. Blood tests are also helpful for individuals who have severe allergic reactions. A blood test does not require exposure to the allergen, where a skin test will expose the patient to each allergen.

Here are the common foods a blood allergy test can look for:

• Cow's Milk
• Egg Whites
• Peanuts
• Soybeans
• Wheat
• Codfish
• Sesame seeds
• Almonds
• Cashews
• Walnuts
• Hazelnuts (Filberts)
• Tuna
• Salmon
• Shrimp
• Scallops

Skin Test

A skin allergy test can be completed in a few ways. These can be done by a skin prick test, an injection, a skin scrape, a patch test, or simply by applying an allergen externally. The most common types of allergens tested during a skin test are:

• Pollen
• Mold
• Trees
• Grass
• Plants
• Pet Dander 
• Dust Mites & Bugs
• Specific Foods

Challenge Test

Depending on your exact allergy, a challenge test can help determine what amount of allergen triggers a reaction to your skin or body. Your doctor will closely watch how strongly your body reacts to different levels of exposure to the allergen. These tests can be performed for any allergen after one is identified as a potential reaction from the patient.

If you're suffering from allergies, we also encourage you to make an appointment at Florida Ear Nose Throat. We offer allergy screening, allergy management, and immunotherapy. To schedule an appointment, give us a call at (877) EAR-NOSE.

Do I Need a Hearing Aid?

As we get older, we slowly start to lose our hearing. Treatment can help your hearing, but there is no cure for the majority of hearing loss. You also may inherit hearing loss from genetics, overexposure to loud noises, head injuries, and more. You can help prevent some causes of hearing loss by protecting your ears and avoiding excessive noise or injury. If you start to feel like you’re losing your hearing more and more, follow these steps to help determine if a hearing aid is right for you:

Take a Hearing Test

If you’re unsure if you need hearing aids, you can take a hearing test to help determine your quality of hearing. Schedule an appointment with your ENT doctor to have an audible hearing test. You can also take an online hearing test like this one here. It’s not easy to determine on your own how bad is too bad. Some people can live easily with mild hearing loss, and wouldn’t necessarily realize off-hand that they’re having issues hearing without taking a hearing test. Sometimes it’s not the difference between hearing and not hearing, but the slight difference between just hearing and hearing and understanding clearly.

Ask Close Relatives & Friends

Does your significant other complain that you don’t understand or miss pieces of information they’ve told you? Do you catch yourself asking others to repeat themselves over again? It’s helpful to get an opinion from a close friend or significant other. It’s easy to be self-conscious and think that you don’t hear words or context often -- but it is normal to miss words on occasion. It can be beneficial to know from a second-party if they feel as if you are missing information or not hearing clearly on a consistent, more-than-normal basis. They can also help you judge based on your surroundings, for example, do they find that you listen to the TV much louder than needed? Have they noticed that you don’t hear the doorbell easily? Use your friends and relatives for support and feedback.

Group Conversations

One other way to realize you may need a hearing aid has to deal with that difference between just hearing and hearing and understanding clearly. Do you find that you have difficulty talking in group settings? And is it difficult for you to hear one speaker who is talking with you when there is a lot of background noise? These can be signs that you are experiencing hearing loss. It’s not that you can’t hear any sound at all, it’s the ability to understand and comprehend the information delivered to you in an everyday setting. If you are finding that you’re having issues hearing in larger group settings, it may be helpful to schedule an appointment with your ENT doctor.



If you’re concerned about your hearing, set up an appointment with your Orlando ear nose throat doctor at Florida ENT today! Offices serving Orlando and Kissimmee.

Are My Tonsils Really That Important?

It’s not uncommon for children to have their tonsils removed while they’re young. If you still have your tonsils, you might be wondering if you should have yours removed or if there’s any value to keeping your tonsils. You might only know your tonsils as those two round lumps in the back of your throat, but they do more! When healthy, your tonsils stop both viral and bacterial germs from entering your system. Read our latest blog to learn more about the usefulness and purpose of your tonsils:

Part of your Immune & Lymphatic System

Your tonsils are made out of tissue similar to your lymph nodes and are a part of your immune system. Because your tonsils are the first line of defense as a part of a larger system they can be very beneficial when healthy. However, since they are also your first line of defense in your immune system, it is not uncommon for your tonsils to become swollen, infected, or enlarged. Sometimes, the harm of your tonsils becoming infected outweighs the benefits that they provide. In these cases, your doctor may recommend having your tonsils removed.

Catch Incoming Infections

Your tonsils are your first line of defense to infections from your mouth and nose -- essentially they “test” bacteria as it enters the body to see if there’s a risk of infection. Because of the functionality of your tonsils, they have an increased chance of becoming infected and continually causing bacterial issues. Your tonsils do play a part in fighting off bacteria and are believed to help create specific antibodies once a bacteria is detected, to help stop bacterial infections before they start.


If you have more questions, contact us at Florida Ear Nose Throat. We offer allergy screenings, allergy management, and immunotherapy. To schedule an appointment, give us a call at (877) EAR-NOSE.