PHOTOGRAPHY, MENIERE'S, AND ME

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I am a photographer. I am a person with Meniere’s. I have tried to blend the two together into my world and develop my own sense of style, expression, and an unique outlook on life.

Meniere’s is a disease for which there is no known cure and it is not even known how it occurs. It is usually referred to as Meniere’s Disease or Meniere’s Syndrome. It can be debilitating; leading to heartache, frustration, and depression. It is associated with severe vertigo.

Many of those who suffer from Meniere’s end up having to leave their jobs or professions. I have had to medically retire from teaching Special Education after 25 years of service.

Once a teacher, always a teacher, I guess. I have taken my photography skills and my experiences with Meniere’s and combined the two to create a photographic slide show simulating the symptoms of Meniere’s.

Daniel Pancy

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Meniere’s Information

Meniere’s Disease is named after a French physician Prosper Meniere for his work with balance disorders in the inner ear.

The symptoms of Meniere’s vary between patients. Classic Meniere’s is made up of four symptoms:
   1. Vertigo either rotational or sense of dizziness.
   2.   Hearing loss that fluctuates usually in the low frequency ranges either in one ear or both.
   3. Tinnitus, the ringing or roaring in one or both ears.
   4. Fullness or pressure inside either ear at same time or not.

Attacks of vertigo can be severe, incapacitating, and usually unpredictable and can last from a few minutes to a few hours to a few days. These attacks are usually accompanied by increased tinnitus, temporary hearing loss, nausea, vomiting, sweating, and other symptoms; followed by extreme exhaustion.

People with Meniere’s may suffer from “Drop Attacks” where he or she may suddenly fall without warning and may not be able to get up for hours.
Many have injured themselves by such drops.

Other symptoms may include: exhaustion, drowsiness, headache, depression, confusion, forgetfulness, or short term memory loss. Many Meniere’s patients refer to this as “Brain Fog”.

The vertigo attacks may increase in time as well as the other major symptoms of the syndrome. Some patients become housebound, lose employment, or even the ability to drive. Hearing loss may become permanent and a patient maybe become “bilateral” meaning that Meniere’s has effected both ears.

Information provided by reference.com