Treatment Options for Meniere's Disease

Drug Therapy for Meniere' Disease

Goals of medical (drug) treatment for vertigo attacks include:

• Management of the acute vertigo attacks
• Reduction in the frequency of attacks
• Elimination of future vertigo attacks
• Management of nausea during vertigo attacks

Medications prescribed to reach these goals may include:

• Antihistamines - e.g., meclizine (Antivert)
• Anticholinergics - e.g., scopolamine (Isopto)
• Benzodiazapines - e.g., diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan)
• Phenothiazines - e.g., prochlorperazine (Compazine)
• Vasodilators - e.g., betahistine (also called Serc). Serc is used in Europe to treat Meniere's disease but has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It may reduce vertigo symptoms by increasing blood flow to the inner ear. Some patients claim that it is effective in preventing attacks and delaying disease progression as well as improving tinnitus and aural fullness.
• Immunosuppressant drugs - e.g., corticosteroids and methotrexate. This treatment is based on evidence that some people with Meniere's disease have antibodies associated with autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss or may have inflammation in the inner ear. Increasingly, physicians recommend intratympanic administration of corticosteroids for local control of vertigo where a steroid is injected through a small surgically placed tube directly to the middle ear and it seeps into the inner ear via the round window membrane. This method eliminates the side effects of systemic steroids. Results among studies vary considerably and there is no consensus among specialists regarding this treatment. For more information about this treatment, please click on the following link:
  
  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=PubMed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=15547441&ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.PubmedResultsPanel.PubmedRVDocSum