The key difference between Meniere’s disease and vestibular neuritis is that Meniere’s disease leads to vertigo and hearing loss, while vestibular neuritis leads to severe vertigo, dizziness, balance problems, nausea, and vomiting.
The inner ear has three main parts: the cochlea, semi-circular canals, and the vestibule. The cochlea typically supports hearing, while the vestibule and semi-circular canals support the balance. Some disorders, such as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, drug-induced ototoxicity, herpes zoster oticus, Meniere’s disease, vestibular neuritis, purulent labyrinthitis, and vestibular schwannoma, can affect the inner ear.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Meniere’s Disease
3. What is Vestibular Neuritis
4. Similarities – Meniere’s Disease and Vestibular Neuritis
5. Meniere’s Disease and Vestibular Neuritis in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Meniere’s Disease and Vestibular Neuritis
What is Meniere’s Disease?
Meniere’s disease is an inner ear disorder that mainly leads to dizzy spells or vertigo. It usually starts between the ages of 40 to 60 and is identified to be a lifelong condition. Symptoms of Meniere’s disease may include regular dizzy spells, hearing loss, ringing in the ear, and a feeling of fullness in the ear. Meniere’s disease is caused by a fluid buildup in the inner ear due to poor fluid drainage, autoimmune disorders, viral infection, and genetics. The complications that arise from this condition include unexpected vertigo attacks, losing hearing long-term, stress, risk of falls, and accidents.
Moreover, Meniere’s disease can be diagnosed through health history, hearing assessment (audiometry) and balance assessment (electronystagmogram or videonystagmography, rotary chair testing, vestibular evoked myogenic potentials testing, computerized dynamic posturography, video head impulse test and electrocochleography), lab tests, and imaging scans. Meniere’s disease is treated through motion sickness medicines (meclizine or diazepam), anti-nausea medicines such as promethazine, diuretics and betahistine, rehabilitation, hearing aid, middle ear injections such as gentamicin, steroids, surgeries like endolymphatic sac surgery, labyrinthectomy, and vestibular nerve section.
What is Vestibular Neuritis?
Vestibular neuritis is an inner ear disorder that affects the vestibulocochlear nerve of the inner ear. This nerve sends signals about the balance and head position from the inner ear to the brain. When this nerve is swollen, it disturbs how the brain reads information from the inner ear. This result in symptoms of vestibular neuritis. The symptoms of vestibular neuritis may include sudden and severe vertigo, intense dizziness, severe balance problems, nausea, vomiting, concentrating difficulties, severe motion sensitivity, nystagmus, light-headedness, difficulty walking in busy environments, and anxiety. Vestibular neuritis is caused by viral infections in the inner ear (chickenpox or viral hepatitis). The complications of vestibular neuritis include chronic or long-lasting unsteadiness, dizziness or spatial disorientation, permanent hearing loss, or damage to the inner ear.
Moreover, vestibular neuritis is diagnosed through physical examination, hearing test, vestibular test battery, and MRI. Treatment options for vestibular neuritis may include anti-nausea medications (ondansetron and metoclopramide), drugs to reduce dizziness (meclizine, diazepam, compazine, and lorazepam), drugs to reduce inflammation (corticosteroids), antiviral medications (acyclovir), physical therapy, and vestibular rehabilitation therapy.
What are the Similarities Between Meniere’s Disease and Vestibular Neuritis?
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- Meniere’s disease and vestibular neuritis are two types of inner ear disorders.
- Both disorders lead to symptoms like vertigo, dizziness, anxiety, etc.
- They can be diagnosed through hearing tests and imaging scans.
- Both disorders can be treated through specific medications.
What is the Difference Between Meniere’s Disease and Vestibular Neuritis?
Meniere’s disease is an inner ear disorder that leads to vertigo and hearing loss. At the same time, vestibular neuritis is an inner ear disorder that leads to severe vertigo, dizziness, balance problems, nausea, and vomiting. Thus, this is the key difference between Meniere’s disease and vestibular neuritis. Furthermore, Meniere’s disease is caused by fluid buildup in the inner ear due to poor fluid drainage, autoimmune disorders, viral infection, and genetics. On the other hand, vestibular neuritis is caused by viral infections in the inner ear (chickenpox or viral hepatitis).
The infographic below presents the differences between Meniere’s disease and vestibular neuritis in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Meniere’s Disease .vs Vestibular Neuritis
The disorders that affect the inner ear can lead to hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, and imbalance problems. The hearing loss caused by inner ear disorders can be conductive, sensorineural, or mixed. Meniere’s disease and vestibular neuritis are two types of inner ear disorders. Meniere’s disease results in vertigo and hearing loss, while vestibular neuritis results in severe vertigo, dizziness, balance problems, nausea, and vomiting. So, this is the key difference between Meniere’s disease and vestibular neuritis.
Reference:
1. “Meniere’s Disease. ” NHS Choices.
2. “Vestibular Neuronitis.” Statpearls – NCBI Bookshelf.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Anatomy of the Human Ear” By Lars Chittka; Axel Brockmann – Perception Space—The Final Frontier, A PLoS Biology Vol. 3, No. 4, e137 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030137 (Fig. 1A/Large version), vectorized by Inductiveload (CC BY 2.5) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Depiction of a person feeling dizzy” By Myupchar.com (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia