Meniere's - positive diagnosis?

[Tom Boismier]

In article <4tjhee$3ig at Usenet.Logical.NET>, danny3 at capital.net says...
>
>boismier at umich.edu (Tom Boismier) wrote:
>
>>In article <31fafcb4.8752902 at news.accessone.com>, steve at accessone.com 
says...
>>>
>>>Is there any positive diagnosis for Meniere's, or is it deduced from
>>>symptoms?
>Generally a menieres patient has vertigo, the spinning complete loss
>of control of balance type, tinnitus, and ear pressure.  It is a
>complicated diagnose, many physicians may not give the same diagnosis.
>
>"danny3 at capital.net"
>"A fortunate one"

Your description could also cover generic endolymphatic hydrops. Meniere's is 
a symptom complex which includes hydrops, along with other specific signs. 
Vertigo occurs in discrete spontanous (not provoked by movement or activity) 
attacks, accompanied by a low roaring tinnitus, aural fullness and 
fluctuations in hearing. Hearing in the affected ear fluctuates with attacks, 
and a gradual permanent loss, often starting with the low frequencies, occurs 
over time. The nystagmus during an attack will change direction as the attack 
progresses then resolves. Nystagmus direction is under some dispute, depending 
on the authors you read, it either starts out beating toward the sick ear 
(irritative), then switches to beating away (paretic), or vice versa. Some 
authors report that nystagmus direction will change 3 or 4 times during an 
attack. The dispute probably arises from the fact that it's incredibally 
difficult to start recording the minute the attack begins, since the patient 
isn't usually wired up at the time, (and they may have to wait until they're 
done vomiting to get to the office...).