The MRI will rule out an acoustic neuroma. As my doc said after I had the MRI, "Just as we suspected, we found nothing in your head." <g>

Hearing loss is usually the initial problem...vertigo is a "fun" addition. However, it is strange that you have little or no vertigo, as serious hearing loss usually means that by then you've developed at least some vertigo. I was surprised to regain some hearing after being deaf for a year, but I'm not surprised that I didn't gain any when I first turned things around with adequate doses of hormones after four years of not hearing on one side. Another thing to note is that Meniere's hearing loss generally includes two additional things: recruitment (sharp loud sounds are horribly magnified, to the point of being painful) and distortion (you can hear that someone's speaking but cannot understand anything). Both of those were greatly reduced once I got on a good HRT (hormone replacement therapy) program. I even have an appt. for a new hearing test next month to see if there's some possibility that, now that recruitment is far less, I might be able to wear an aid in my useless ear and enhance what I hear.

There really is no way that a doc can look at anything and say definitely that you do (or do not) have Meniere's. It's not like a broken bone, where the X-ray says everything and the course of treatment is obvious. On top of that, there is no cure or treatment for Meniere's, other than maintaining a diary to figure out what triggers bad days or, worse, crises. In my case, although low hormone levels were the trigger, many times I didn't know why I was having an even worse day than usual. When your primary balance function (inner ear) goes bad, you tend to use your eyes (second balance system). That, however, is very bad because every time you move or move your head, you change your focal point, lose track of where you are in space. That's why it's so very important to learn to use proprioception, regardless of what's causing the vertigo or what we refer to as "V and V" (vertigo and vomiting). I've made and heard every bad joke about puking!!!! At the worst, you can have crises that each last as long as 12 hours or more, up to three times a week. Let me tell you, that's not a place you ever want to be! Been there, worked through it for four years, wasn't any fun at all. That was before I learned about VRT, which is how I pretend to be normal. I feel that I've done really well, in spite of the damned disease, as I'm far more active than many people 20 years younger--all due to daily VRT.

OK, it's going to actually rain here tomorrow, so I have to go out and clean gutters, which isn't something you'd expect someone with Meniere's to do. The good thing is that the challenge to my vestibular system will mean I have improved balance for the next 2-3 days.