July 31, 1998.

Printed below is part of a letter I received from an individual with Meniere type symptoms. I would like to know whether any other visitors to this page have ever had similar experience. Please let me know as briefly as you can whether you have found chewing gum or repeated swallowing to have any effect on your symptoms. Send me (Alec Salt) an e-mail by clicking here

The letter (edited slightly to reduce length):-

In February of 97, I started with my first episode of what I beleive to Meniere's, a most unpleasant experience. At first I thought I'd had an ear infection, however, a few weeks later the same classic symptoms occured, blocked ear, build up of pressure, eventually extreme vertigo, vomitting etc,. I'm sure you've heard it all before. Anyway after several visits to my Doctor and several more episodes I managed to get a referral to the local hospital to see a specialist.

I continued to have various episodes sometimes a month apart, sometimes only a few days and with its intermittent nature it really started affecting my life. I found that for most waking moments I was wondering whether or not today would be the day, could I get home safely if it happened or would I be stuck in some airport the world spinning around me.

I then noticed that after having a large meal my ear would feel less blocked for a while. I decided that there was something about eating which helped my ear and I speculated that it could be the chewing and swallowing. In short I decided to start chewing gum, from the moment I wake up till the time I go to bed.

This for me has cleared my ear, so long as I keep chewing, I have had no more episodes in over four months, my life has returned back to normal, no more worrying about episodes happenning when I can't get home, to me a miracle cure!

So folks! What do you think? I would like to perform an informal poll to know whether any of you have observed anything similar. Or is this just something that helps this individual solve their problem? Let me know either way.