Diagnosing Meniere's Disease really doesn't result in a firm diagnosis (regardless of the magic number the doc uses to get reimbursed by insurance). There is no way to diagnose Meniere's other than to eliminate what it is not. In addition, most ENTs don't have the additional training necessary to make a firm diagnosis (but use the "magic" Meniere's number to get reimbursed). Unfortunately, there aren't lots of neurotologists; they have the additional training necessary to come closer to a correct diagnosis. It's estimated that 80% of those diagnosed with Meniere's actually have something else--and, unlike Meniere's, some of those diseases can be treated successfully.

Be aware of MAV (migraine-associated vertigo) and sticky platelets: both of these disease are commonly diagnosed as Meniere's, but both can be treated: MAV with migraine meds, sticky platelets with baby aspirin.

Another thing to be aware of is that many women wind up being diagnosed with Meniere's in the mid-40s, due to low hormone levels. My life is lived as though I'm normal as long as I take adequate hormones every day. I do have Meniere's. After it went bilateral May 24, 2019 (!!!), I struggled for a year to find a local doc willing to prescribe hormones for someone in their late 70s. During that year, I was functionally deaf and began to have ever-increasing crises where I had to lie flat for hours, vomiting into a kitchen garbage bag. No fun at all! Once I got on a good hormone replacement program, within TWO WEEKS my hearing returned to the level it had been prior to going bilateral and the crises stopped. The formula for replacement hormones: 2½ times as much progesterone as estrogen, to protect against cancer. I've taken very large doses of hormones for extended periods of time, and I did have breast cancer (Stage 1, very slow growing). However, the cancer didn't appear until more than 20 years after I'd taken large hormone doses every day, plus my mother had both breast and uterine cancer. Thus, bad genes may well have contributed more toward my breast cancer than the hormones I'd taken.