What autoimmune disease affects your ears?

Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) is an inflammatory condition of the inner ear. It occurs when the body's immune system attacks cells in the inner ear that are mistaken for a virus or bacteria. AIED is a rare disease occurring in less than one percent of the 28 million Americans with a hearing loss.

What auto immune diseases can affect your ears and nervous system?

Susac syndrome is a rare, autoimmune disease. Autoimmune means that your immune system mistakenly attacks your own tissues. In Susac syndrome, your immune system attacks the smallest blood vessels in your brain, retina (part of the eye), and inner ear. The blood vessels become blocked.

How do you test for autoimmune inner ear?

Conclusions: A diagnostic test panel for autoimmune inner ear disease should include an ESR and the Western blot for hsp70. More specific laboratory testing for systemic disease is warranted when the ESR is elevated.

What is the treatment for autoimmune inner ear disease?

Steroids (dexamethasone, prednisone, prednisolone) are often used for the treatment of AIED. High doses, often in doses of 40-80 gm/day, may be useful in the initial management of AIED.

Is autoimmune ear disease curable?

Introduction. Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) is a reversible form of sensorineural hearing loss when immunosuppressive treatment is given. AIED is described as progressive, bilateral although asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss that responds to treatment with corticosteroids.

Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease Causes Symptoms and Treatments

What causes autoimmune ear disease?

What Causes AIED? The causes of AIED can include: The body's uncontrolled immune system attacks the inner ear protein, forming immune complexes and antibodies and causing progressive hearing loss in both ears. Cochlin is a protein located in the inner ear that is attacked by the immune system.

Does lupus affect your ears?

Yet, lupus and its ability to attack any part of the body, can affect those very hearing and balance systems that lie within the ears. The effects can include: Sensorineural Hearing Loss: the most common form of difficulty in hearing sounds.

How does Sjogren's affect your ears?

Ear lesions, leading to severe sensorineural hearing loss may be an early manifestation of SS, even if it is also a less common feature of other autoimmune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis.

Is Meniere's autoimmune disease?

The immune response in Meniere's disease is focused on inner ear antigens. Approximately one-third of Meniere's disease cases seem to be of an autoimmune origin although the immunological mechanisms involved are not clear.

Does rheumatoid arthritis affect ears?

It may surprise you to learn that if you have rheumatoid arthritis (RA), you're at an increased risk for ear problems – in particular, hearing loss and autoimmune ear disease. This is because RA affects the tiny bones, joints and cartilage in the inner ear.

What autoimmune disease causes tinnitus?

Conditions like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are linked to hearing loss and tinnitus.

What is Cogan's syndrome?

Cogan's syndrome is defined as a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown origin, an autoimmune disease, characterized by bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, vestibular symptoms, inflammatory ocular manifestations with variable risk of developing into a systemic disease.

What is Polychondritis disease?

Polychondritis, also called relapsing polychondritis, is a rare disease in which cartilage in many areas of the body becomes inflamed. The disease most commonly affects the ears, nose and the airways of the lungs. The cause is not known, and it occurs most often in people in their 50s or 60s.

Can scleroderma affect the ears?

Abstract. Systemic sclerosis is a multi-systemic disease with widespread small-vessel vasculopathy and fibrosis. Involvement of the middle and inner ear and hearing loss has been reported as an uncommon manifestation of scleroderma in some studies.

Does Sjogren's affect hearing?

Analysis showed that definite hearing loss was evident in 33% of patients with Sjögren's syndrome and polyneuropathy, while pathological test results on audiometric testing were found in further patients resulting in 80% of patients in total indicating hearing dysfunction.

Does ankylosing spondylitis affect the ears?

A study finds that hearing loss is quite common among people with ankylosing spondylitis. In a study, 48% of those who had ankylosing spondylitis also had at least a mild hearing loss.

What can be mistaken for Meniere's disease?

For example, some of the more common conditions that mimic Meniere's include: Inner ear infections (particularly if you haven't had attacks very long) A disturbance of the cilia, the tiny hairs in the inner ear. A type of migraine known as vestibular migraines (the most common culprit)

What virus causes Ménière's disease?

Viruses as a cause of Meniere's disease

-- Herpes virus (HSV) antibodies are found more commonly in Meniere's patients (Arnold and Niedermeyer, 1997).

Can tinnitus be autoimmune?

Tinnitus in systemic autoimmune diseases is mainly found in association to hearing loss. It has been established that the decrease of peripheral input following hearing loss can trigger neuroplastic reactions up to the auditory cortex responsible for the onset of tinnitus.

What were your first symptoms of Sjogren's?

What does a Sjogren's flare feel like?

Joint pain is one of the most common symptoms of Sjögren's syndrome. Multiple joints are painful, usually episodically with periods of joint pain, known as “flares”, followed by periods of little or no joint pain. Tenderness and swelling of the joints, when present, are indicative of inflammatory arthritis.

What happens if Sjogren's is left untreated?

Sjogren's comes with serious complications if left untreated, including: an increased risk of lymphoma and multiple myeloma. oral yeast infections. dental cavities.

Can lupus affect your inner ear?

Lupus is characterized by self-attacking antibodies known as autoantibodies that can injure the body's tissues and organs, which can result in damage to the inner ear. Periodic testing for hearing loss is especially important in the lupus population.

What does a lupus flare feel like?

During a lupus flare, you could expect to have rashes, joint pain, and possibly a new symptom, too. Some common symptoms of lupus flares include: Painful and swollen joints. Rashes.

Does lupus show up in blood work?

No one test can diagnose lupus. The combination of blood and urine tests, signs and symptoms, and physical examination findings leads to the diagnosis.