Hearing Loss (at worst time)
Hearing Loss (at best time)
Tinnitus: Ringing or noises in ears (at worst time)
Tinnitus: Ringing or noises in ears (at best time)
Vertigo: spinning sensation (at worst time)
Vertigo: spinning sensation (at best time)
Feeling of fullness in the ear (at worst time)
Feeling of fullness in the ear (at best time)
Responses are shown as red bars for the "worst time" and green bars for the "best time". The averages allow the severity and fluctuation of different symptoms to be compared.
It is notable that the symptom that ranked highest at the worst time was vertigo, while this also ranked as the least problem between episodes. Second in ranking, and almost as severe a problem was the sensation of "fullness", which also showed a considerable degree of fluctuation. This emphasizes the highly disturbing nature of the fullness sensation which is often overlooked. The third ranked symptom was tinnitus. Hearing loss, which is the symptom most easily quantified in the clinic, ranked as the lesser of the four symptoms during the worst time. During better times (i.e. not during episodes of vertigo) tinnitus and hearing loss represent the greatest problems for this patient population.
Of the 76 respondents who answered this question, the majority (68%) classified themselves as salt-sensitive to some degree. It is interesting to compare that of the patients who classified themselves as not sensitive to salt, only 12.5% (3 of 24) were currenly following a low salt diet, while of the patients who classified themselves as salt-sensitive over 40% (21 of 52) were following a low-salt diet. The percentage on a low-salt diet did not correlate very well with the stated sensitivity to salt. The percentage was similar whether they described themselves as slightly sensitive to salt (35% on low salt diet), moderately sensitive to salt (47% on low salt diet) or extremely sensitive to salt (38% on low salt diet) .
Of the 52 women in the study, 44 answered this question. Some post-menopausal or post hysterectomy women chose not to answer it. Of these 44, almost two-thirds (64%) described their symptoms as varying with their menstrual cycle. This figure is far higher than that reported in a previous study by (Andrews and Honrubia, 1993) in which an 8% incidence of sensitivity was reported. It is possible that this figure is increasing as more women become aware of the potential link and start correlating it with their episodes.