Maniere or Vertigo? What's The Difference?

My medical school class through Brandeis focused on dizziness this month.  There are lots of causes of dizziness, from dehydration to Maniere disease.  The latter is a disease of the inner ear which effect both hearing and balance.  Maniere disease has effected many famous individuals over the years, including Vincent Van Gogh, Alan Shepard, Emily Dickinson, Peggy Lee, Les Paul, Martin Luther, and Jonathan Swift.

The majority of people who see a doctor for repeated dizziness suffer from benign positional vertigo.  This means that dizziness occurs when changing the head position, like getting out of bed or bending over.  There are exercises that can be done to reduce the length and frequency of these episodes.  Maniere disease is another story.  Those with this disease also have positional vertigo.  It's typical symptoms are dizziness, ringing in the ears, sudden episodes of vertigo and loss of hearing.  It is caused by fluid in the circulatory canals in the inner ear, and may ultimately cause death.

The first course of treatment is usually diet.  Physicians recommend a low salt diet and possibly a diuretic, to reduce fluid in the patient.  Maniere disease can lead to loss of hearing and even complete deafness.

Why do I call it Maniere Disease rather than Maniere's Disease.  Physicians now have dropped the 's at the end of disease named for a person.  The only exception to this is Lou Gehrig's disease.  Why they keep the 's for Lou Gehrig's Disease and not for other diseases is a mystery to me.

Dizziness, if it persists, should not  be ignored.  Give your doctor a complete list of symptoms and some medical history so he or she can make the proper diagnosis.