Meniere's Disease: Raise Awareness
Meniere's Disease: Raise Awareness
Why this petition matters
We are speaking on behalf of the millions of people, worldwide, who suffer lifetime's filled with constant ‘vertigo’ from a little known and very misunderstood disease, known as Meniere's disease.
Meniere’s disease steals lives, leaving it's victims unable to function as they once did. Many sufferers are reduced to bystanders to their own existence, unable to work, drive, attend family gatherings, or simply play with their kids. Meniere’s causes dizziness, severe vertigo, drop attacks, tinnitus, and sensitivity to light and sounds. Meniere’s attacks leave their victims so dizzy, and unable to walk or balance, with even the slightest movement bringing hours of nausea and vomiting. If that wasn’t enough, most Meniere’s sufferers develop hearing loss and many go completely deaf.
This petition has two functions: To raise awareness with the support of U2, and to request the NIH to raise funds for Meniere's research.
It is now known, that the REAL REASON Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear, was because he too, was a Meniere's sufferer: "A medical report published in JAMA contends that Vincent van Gogh was not mad and did not have epilepsy, as has been speculated, but had a painful inner ear disorder that caused him to cut off his left ear and eventually to kill himself." ~ New York Times
"We intend to correct the historical error that Vincent Van Gogh's medical problems resulted from epilepsy plus madness, a diagnosis made during his life but for which no rigid criteria are apparent. Review of 796 personal letters to family and friends written between 1884 and his suicide in 1890 reveals a man constantly in control of his reason and suffering from severe repeated attacks of disabling vertigo, not a seizure disorder. His own diagnosis of epilepsy was made from the written diagnosis by Dr Peyron, the physician at the asylum of St Remy (France), wherein on May 9, 1889, Van Gogh voluntarily committed himself to the asylum for epileptics and lunatics. However, the clinical descriptions in his letters are those of a person suffering from Meniere's disease, not epilepsy. The authors point out that Prosper Meniere's description of his syndrome (an inner-ear disorder) was not well known when Van Gogh died and that it often was misdiagnosed as epilepsy well into the 20th century." ~ JAMA
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/382683
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/25/arts/at-last-medicine-really-listens-to-van-gogh.html
Recently, the founder of the Trans Siberian Orchestra, Paul O'Neill died from the effects of Meniere's. His band mates said: "For Paul, this was a constant battle, causing him to race against time to write and record as much music as possible, before, like Beethoven, his ears ultimately betrayed him. At the time of his death, he was writing two rock operas."
Another musician Ryan Adams, is a long time Meniere's sufferer, and has had to stop many shows just because someone in the audience used a camera flash. To a person with Meniere's, a mere flash can send them tumbling down into a severe vertigo attack lasting hours. The video link below shows one occurrence for Adams :
This April, singer Huey Lewis had to cancel his entire 2018 touring schedule because he had suffered severe hearing loss from Meniere's, making him unable to sing, or hear his bands music.
In the research paper “Impact of Meniere’s Disease on Quality of Life” by the University of California at San Diego, researchers found that the quality of life of Meniere’s patients, while not actively experiencing vertigo, was comparable to adults with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer and AIDS. They further discovered that during periods of ‘acute vertigo’ their quality of life dropped to a point that Meniere’s sufferers were on par with non-institutionalized Alzheimer’s, Cancer and AIDS patients six days from death.
In a 2009 study on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) performed by Kirby, S.E. and Yardley, L. it was found that the incidence of (PTSD) and health anxiety, is much higher than in non-sufferers. Nearly one in eight people with Ménière’s were found to meet the criteria for full PTSD, compared to the general population where just one in sixty has PTSD.
Sadly, Meniere’s remains relatively unknown worldwide, and dramatically underfunded when it comes to crucial research dollars. Presently, The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have "0" dollars directly allocated for Meniere's research based on their 2019 online report found here:
NIH Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC)
budget:https://report.nih.gov/categorical_spending.aspx
This is why we are reaching out to you Bono, and your U2 band mates, to read the thousands of heartbreaking comments from petition supporters and decide to help us in our cause to 'raise awareness' for this debilitating disorder. We are respectfully asking that you would consider creating a simple public service video for 'YouTube', possibly using your song "Vertigo", to help all the people suffering from Meniere’s disease. If you had another idea to help, we would be glad to listen. Your support would greatly help the worldwide Meniere's community to spread awareness for this complex disease, and hopefully increase the 'desperately needed' research dollars within the NIH that will enable us to have better treatments, and ultimately find a cure.
Right now there are Meniere's sufferers waiting in Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Canada, Colombia, Cyprus, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hong, Kong, Iceland, Ireland, India, Israel, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russian Federation, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Virgin Islands and Wales, all who have supported this petition.
Petition Supporter:
Dr. Jose A Lopez-Escamez MD PhD
Our Meniere’s Awareness petition has received the support of the prominent Meniere’s researcher, Dr. Jose A Lopez-Escamez MD PhD who's research team in Genyo, Granada, Spain has identified the ‘first genes’ causing familial Meniere's disease. We welcome Dr. Lopez- Escamez’s support and commend his work, which brings those who suffer from Meniere’s disease, one step closer to a cure.
Dr. Jose A Lopez-Escamez is the author of 120 research studies addressing Meniere's disease and other vestibular disorders:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jose_Lopez-Escamez/publications/4
The Vestibular Disorders Association
VEDA's Mission is to inform, support, and advocate for the vestibular community. VEDA envisions a global community where vestibular disorders are widely recognized, rapidly diagnosed, and effectively treated. VEDA recognizes their responsibility to be a champion for the vestibular community and to achieve measurable results. VEDA serves all people with vestibular disorders with dedication, understanding and compassion.
http://vestibular.org/understanding-vestibular-disorder/types-vestibular-disorders