Water may cure patients with Meniere disease

Laryngoscope. 2006 Aug;116(8):1455-60. doi: 10.1097/01.mlg.0000225904.78569.0c.

Abstract

Objectives/hypothesis: We examined whether sufficient water intake is effective in the long-term control of vertigo and hearing activity in patients with Meniere disease (MD) for whom conventional therapy has proven unsuccessful.

Study design: The authors conducted a time-series study with historical control.

Methods: Eighteen patients with MD in group 1 drank 35 mL/kg per day of water for 2 years. Twenty-nine patients with MD treated with the conventional dietary and diuretic therapy for more than 2 years during 1992 to 1999 at the same hospital were enrolled in a historical control of group 2.

Results: Patients in group 1 dramatically relieved vertigo and significantly improved in the hearing of the worst pure-tone average of three frequencies (0.125, 0.25, and 0.5 kHz) (low PTA) during the last 6 months of the study period. In contrast, patients in group 2 became worse in both the four- (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) frequency PTA and the low PTA, although their vertigo did improve. The number of patients whose hearing were improved, unchanged, and worse were 4, 12, and 2 in group 1 and 2, 11, and 16 in group 2, respectively.

Conclusion: Deliberate modulation of the intake of water may be the simplest and most cost-effective medical treatment for patients with MD. Larger studies will be needed to confirm these results in a larger patient cohort.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Drinking*
  • Female
  • Hearing Disorders / therapy
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Meniere Disease / therapy*
  • Middle Aged
  • Vasopressins / blood
  • Vertigo / therapy

Substances

  • Vasopressins