meniere's boy

A Friend's Guide To Meniere's Boy* - how to hang with and love on a meniere's boy - *this is not medical advice

Meniere's Boy Timeline

Hi! I'm meniere's boy. I have meniere's disease, it's only in my right ear - and I like writing in cursive. Diagnosed June 2021.

Some stuff has so much sodium that I don't eat it at all (fish & soy sauce, cured/deli meat, most cheeses, olives, most pickled things, pizza and basically all prepared/take-out/restaurant food) [cute drawings of aforementioned foods]. Other stuff is Ok, but I just can't have as much - [drawing of bread] ~150mg/slice (I can eat 1/meal), [drawing of smiley face with fried eggs for eyes, tongue sticking out playfully] 75mg/egg (yolk has almost no sodium), [drawing of hen] ~65mg/4oz (most meat is similar unless brined)

No one knows what causes Meniere's Disease. The symptoms are caused by a buildup of fluid (aka endolymph) in the internal ear. [labeled drawing of the inner ear]

Symptoms include: painful pressure, light-headedness and dizzyness, tinnitus (ringing) [a drawing of a cartoon demon screaming into meniere's boy's ear] my friend, screaming ear demon

(symptoms list continues) Also: headaches, [drawing of brain with cloud over it] brain fog (hard to focus on stuff), hearing loss... but also loudness sensitivity.

(symptoms list continues) But wait! There's more: [drawing of meniere's boy inside spiral with spirals for eyes] Crippling attacks of vertigo which can last for minutes or hours. Fortunately these are very rare for Meniere's Boy

[drawing of prosper meniere with goofy glasses looking confusedly at a wacky graph with 'le time' on the x axis and 'le symptoms' on the y axis] Symptoms can fluctuate a lot daily and hourly, not all symptoms happen together.

There isn't much in the way of treatments, [drawing of meniere's boy taking pills] you can a diuretic so that your inner ear retains less fluid (hopefully) (it might work), [drawing of meiniere's boy with a syringe going into his ear] you can get steroids injected into your middle ear (not as bad as it sounds) (it might work)

The main thing you can do to control the symptoms is to eat a low sodium diet. [drawing of salt and pepper shaker with salt shaker crossed out] Pepper, my only friend [drawing of meniere's boy with thought bubble] audieu, bon ami. [drawing of takeout container, crossed out] [drawing of pizza box, crossed out] [drawing of deli, crossed out]

Eating low sodium is pretty doable but requires a lot of changes. [drawing of meniere's boy with speech bubble] Just say Na (Na as in the chemical symbol for sodium). I used to eat maybe 4000-6000mg of sodium on a normal day. Now I try to stay around 1500/day [drawing of scale with a lot of salt on one side and very little on the other. [drawing of nutrition facts label from food package] Nutrition facts / Serving Size: less than you think / Calories - meh / Carbs - who cares / Protein - ??? / Sodium 10,000% / Ingredients: Salt, more salt

Some foods that have little/no sodium and are easy to find: [each food accompanied by a little drawing of that food] frosted mini-wheats, fruits & veggies, unsalted chips [chip bag has tiny logo featuring drawing of Prosper Menière], pasta & rice, terrestrial meat (seafood sometimes), dried fruit, nuts (unsalted), maybe granola, eggs! Some cheeses are ok like swiss (if < 60mg/oz), cream cheese (if < 100mg/oz), fresh moz (depends on how it's prepared)

Cooking & Meal Planning: [drawing of meniere's boy with mouth wide open with egg, lettuce leaf, and bread slice flying into his mouth] Meniere's boy tries to keep each meal to 200-400g of sodium. Although 1500mg/day is the goal, it's important to avoid big spikes of sodium [drawing of a graph with time on the x axis and sodium on the y axis showing a big spike, next to graph Prosper Menière exclaims 'le bad']

Choosing food for meniere's boy: Ok snack foods: < 60mg/serving [drawing of snack food bag labeled 'lightly salted'], Great snack foods: < 10mg/serving [drawing of snack food box labeld 'unsalted' with an outline of michigan]. You _have to_ check the nutrition facts [the words 'nutrition facts are depicted inside a nutrition label. The 'serving size' for the nutrition label says 'less than you think'] for every brand of food. Pay attention to serving size!

Salt Substitute (KCl). Potassium Chloride: aka NoSalt, potassium salt, the artist formerly known as salt. Available most places, this salt alternative has no sodium. It can be used as a 1:1 replacement for regular salt. Can have a funny aftertaste. Great for baking. Good to have on hand for meniere's boy. [drawing of a small cardboard tube package of NoSalt. The label on the package is a drawing of the musical artist Prince. The label has a small kosher symbol (Ⓚ) next to a similar small rendering of the prince symbol inside a circle].

Beware! [drawing of a bottle of soy sauce labled 'Low Sodium'] Lots of foods labeled 'low' or 'lower' sodium are still very salty. 'Less Sodium' soy sauce still has ~600mg/tablespoon - more than a whole meal's worth of sodium. [drawing of meniere's boy saying EEK!]

Eating at restaurants: [drawing of meniere's boy looking confused while three people talk at him] When it's noisy, meniere's boy can't hear very well (especially in groups). Often, meniere's boy wears an earplug to protect his ear (which makes it harder to here). [Drawing of hamburger, fries, fish fillet, bowl of lettuce, bottle of oil, and bottle of vinegar] Most restaurant food is too salty for meniere's boy to eat, so he usually sticks to basics like a burger, fries, fish, or a salad)

Tips for going out with meniere's boy: [drawing of a heart shape with 4 smiling faces inside] Atmosphere and company > food. Meniere's boy can't eat _any_ of the exciting food, so choose good ambiance. Call ahead to see what can be made w/o sodium, it's hard to figure it out w/ a busy server later. [Drawing of meniere's boy talking on an old tabletop rotary dial phone with a speech bubble that says 'salt?']

Tips for having a great time with meniere's boy: It's easier to socialize in quieter places, background music can be too much sometimes [drawing of a smiling face saying 'psst' to meniere's boy who is replying 'hey']. [Drawing of meniere's boy with a sign hanging above his head that says 'Time out'] Sometimes meniere's boy just needs a break for a few minutes.

Partying with meniere's boy: [drawing of meniere's boy chugging a bottle of beer] Meniere's boy drinks, but not much, alcohol isn't great for the ear. [Drawing of meniere's boy with a trucker hat that says '#420', meniere's boy's eyes are spirals] Meniere's boy loves to use marijuana, it really helps with symptoms (and it's fun!). Edibles are great but smoking or vaping is really bad for the ear. [Drawing of meniere's boy with eyes closed and a bunch of Zs] meniere's boy needs a lot of sleep, and often goes to sleep early. [drawing of meniere's boy with small mushrooms for hair, in his eyes are a galaxy and a bunch of stars, his mouth is open in wonder] Meniere's boy also enjoys changing his mind with the mushroom sacrament. It doesn't do anything bad to his ear.

Hearing Aid: Meniere's Boy wears one to help hear stuff. It also helps to make the tinnitus quieter and less distracting. [drawing of meniere's boy with lines radiating from his right ear and the word 'ouch!'] Sometimes meniere's boy has to turn it down or switch it off because it can make things too loud. [Realistic line drawing of the back of an ear with an over-the-ear hearing aid, different parts are labeled 'cute blue hearing aid' (small plastic unit behind ear), 'teeny wire' (small wire going from plastic unit to ear hole), 'lil speaker (hiding in ear, it's shy)']

Let's talk about ear (Baby). [Drawing of meniere's boy, a speech bubble coming from off the image says 'how are you?', meniere's boy is responding 'lol. bad.' with a big smile on his face] Sometimes it's annoying to answer that question a lot. Try instead: how is your body feeling? What's new? Meniere's boy often uses the 'spoons' analogy to describe how much energy he has. Think spoons == energy [draing of meniere's boy with spoons radiating out from above his head with a speech bubble that says 'look it up']

Meniere's Boy Loves: [drawing of meniere's boy with a small bird perched on his head and a butterfly nearby] Nature! hiking, swimming, camping. Boating and every kind of boat [drawing of meniere's boy sitting in a small sailboat named 'nauti boi']. [Drawing of a journal with the words 'Dear Diary, I have feelings' written in it in cursive] Journaling (and talking about it). [Drawing of a frying pan that is made to look like a face with two fried eggs for eyes and a strip of bacon for the mouth, it has a speech bubble that says 'sizzle', one of the egg yolks is a tiny meniere's boy face] Cooking!

[Drawing of meniere's boy inside of a heart shape] I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed drawing it! [Drawing of Prosper Menière with a speech bubble that says 'c'est fini, mes babies' in cursive]

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This page is drawn by Luke Hospadaruk. The page and all images are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License