“I Was Dizzy All the Time”: A Ménière’s Patient’s Story
Willard Sheppy Dipl. OM, LAc, BS
Willard Sheppy is a licensed acupuncturist (LAc) and Founder of Valley Health Clinic specializing in using Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat acute injuries and chronic conditions, and to improve sports performance and rehabilitation.
Table of Contents
You cannot always control when the room will spin. That is the part of Ménière’s disease that wears people down — not just the vertigo itself, but never knowing whether rolling over in bed is going to cost you the next two hours.
I see this constantly in the clinic, and I have my own history with it, so I do not treat it as an abstraction. What I want to share here is one patient’s account, in her own words, of what changed for her between her first visit and her fourth. She sat down on camera and described it better than I could summarize it.
Quick answer
A Valley Health Clinic patient diagnosed with Ménière’s disease came in dizzy every day, with vertigo triggered by simply rolling over. By her fourth acupuncture visit she reported getting up in the morning and turning over in bed without the room spinning, and described the care as “a godsend.” Between visits she uses a home routine of ointment, spray and gentle scraping. This is one person’s individual experience — results vary, and dizziness with new hearing changes should always be evaluated by a physician.
What She Came In With
She arrived with a diagnosis already in hand. In her words: “I came in because I was told I had Ménière’s disease, and I have a real problem with balance and vertigo.”
What she described is the version of this that people who have not lived with it tend to underestimate. Not occasional attacks — constant background dizziness, with position changes as a reliable trigger. “When I first came in, I was dizzy all the time. If I had to roll over on the table, my head would start spinning.”
That detail matters clinically. Turning over on a treatment table is a small, slow movement. When that is enough to set the room going, the problem is not fatigue or stress. Something in the vestibular system is reacting to head position, and it is shaping how the person moves through an entire day — how they get out of bed, whether they bend down, whether they drive.
“With the acupuncture treatments, I’m rolling over in bed, and I’m just not getting dizzy. So it’s been just a godsend.”
— Valley Health Clinic patient, describing her own experience
What Changed by Visit Four
“I think this is my fourth visit, I think, and I feel so much better. It’s just amazing. When I get up in the morning and roll over, I don’t get dizzy anymore, so it’s just been so nice.”
Notice what she is actually reporting. Not that Ménière’s is gone — she never says that. What changed is the specific trigger that was governing her mornings. The movement that used to start the spinning stopped starting it.
These are the changes she named, in the order she named them:
- Rolling over in bed — the movement that used to start the spinning no longer does.
- Mornings — “When I get up in the morning and roll over, I don’t get dizzy anymore.”
- On the treatment table — turning over during a session no longer sets her head spinning.
- Overall — “I feel so much better. It’s just amazing.”
That is usually how improvement shows up with vestibular complaints, and it is why I ask patients about ordinary moments rather than about a pain score. Can you roll over? Can you look up at a shelf? Can you get through the first twenty minutes after waking without bracing for it?
Four visits is also a realistic marker to give people — not a guarantee, but roughly the point at which I expect to know whether we are moving in the right direction. If nothing has shifted by then, that is useful information too, and it means we change the plan.
“Oh, Needles” — The Fear Almost Everyone Brings
“I’ve never been to an acupuncturist, and I thought, ‘Oh, needles,’ you know?”
I would guess that is the single most common sentence said in my treatment room, and I would rather people say it out loud than quietly decide not to come. The mental image most people carry is a hypodermic needle — a hollow tube designed to push fluid through skin. An acupuncture needle is solid and closer to the width of a human hair. The two things are not really in the same category.
What she said it was actually like
Her account: “It’s just amazing because you don’t even feel them, you know? I fall asleep in the treatments because they’re so relaxing.”
Falling asleep on the table is common enough that I stopped remarking on it years ago. It is also not incidental — when someone’s nervous system settles enough that they doze off, that shift is part of what we are after, not just a pleasant side effect.
Where the needles usually go
A review of 232 published reports on acupuncture for Ménière’s found the most frequently used points clustered around the head, the ear and the Shaoyang channels — Baihui (GV20) and Fengchi (GB20) as the most common pairing, with auricular points, Tinggong (SI19) and Yifeng (TE17) also recurring. That is local treatment combined with distal points, which is what you would expect for a problem centred on the inner ear.
Your points will not be identical to hers. Pattern, not diagnosis, decides the prescription.
If you are needle-averse
Say so at the start. There are gentler approaches — fewer needles, shallower insertion, and non-insertive options — and it is a much better conversation to have before the first treatment than halfway through it.
The Part That Happens at Home
The part of her account I find most useful is the part that happens without me in the room. She and her husband work a routine between appointments.
“We’ve been using the ointment. We spray on my shoulders, and Rich will rub that in. And then we spray up to right at the top of my ears and my hairline. And it’s really helped.”
Why that pattern makes sense
Two things stand out about how she does it
First, her husband does it. Care that requires a second person tends to actually happen, because someone else is holding you to it.
Second, the areas she names — the shoulders, the neck, the mastoid area behind and above the ears — are the ones I most often find tight in patients whose dizziness has a cervical component alongside their inner-ear diagnosis. Ménière’s and neck-driven dizziness are not mutually exclusive, and plenty of people carry some of both.
Build the smallest routine you will actually keep
Two minutes a day that happens beats twenty minutes a day that does not. Attach it to something you already do — before bed, after a shower — and ask at your next appointment whether it is the right two minutes for your pattern rather than copying someone else’s.
A note on what she is using
Her routine is hers, worked out in the clinic
The ointment, spray and gentle scraping she describes were chosen for her presentation, not prescribed off a list. If you want something similar, ask for it to be matched to what is actually going on with you — that is a five-minute conversation at an appointment, and it is worth having.
Why Between-Visit Care Matters With Ménière’s
Ménière’s does not keep office hours. Attacks come at 3 a.m., on a Sunday, three weeks into a stretch where everything had been going fine. The clinic visit is one hour out of a very long week, and what happens in the other 167 hours does a lot of the work — sleep, salt, stress load, hydration, and how quickly you have someone to ask when something changes.
Research
The autonomic angle is being studied seriously
In a single-blind randomized controlled trial, transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation added to betahistine produced significantly greater improvement than sham across dizziness handicap, tinnitus handicap, aural fullness and pure-tone thresholds at 12 weeks. Separately, an animal study of electroacupuncture at GV20 and SI19 found reduced cochlear hydrops and changes in the vasopressin–cAMP–aquaporin-2 signalling of the endolymphatic sac.
Neither of those is proof that acupuncture treats Ménière’s in humans, and I will not pretend otherwise. What they suggest is that the autonomic and fluid-regulation side of this condition is a real target — which is the same territory that daily habits, sleep and stress load occupy.
What that means for the other 167 hours
If autonomic state is part of the picture, then the things that move it — sleep timing, breath work, stress exposure, hydration and sodium — are not soft extras around the edges of treatment. They are part of the treatment, and they happen at home.
How I cover that gap
This is the reason I work with people through Chorus for Life Premium as well as in the treatment room. It is built for the between-visit part: assessments every two to four weeks, custom herbal, breath, diet and lifestyle protocols, live doctor-led sessions, and a secure portal so a question at 3 a.m. does not have to wait until the next opening in the schedule. It also includes a heart-rate-variability monitor, which gives you something objective to look at rather than guessing at your own stress load.
It is not a replacement for care from your physician or ENT, and it is not a treatment for Ménière’s disease. It is structured support for the daily terrain around it.
“When I get up in the morning and roll over, I don’t get dizzy anymore, so it’s just been so nice.”
— Valley Health Clinic patient
Chorus for Life Premium
Care that covers the days between appointments
Full assessments every 2–4 weeks, custom herbal, breath, diet and lifestyle protocols, five live doctor-led sessions weekly, a heart-rate-variability monitor and 24/7 secure portal access. Your first month on Premium is free — cancel before the month is out and you are never charged.
If You Are Dealing With Dizziness
Her advice, unprompted, at the end of the interview: “I would tell them, go see Will Sheppy. He’s really, really good.”
I will take the compliment and then give you the more useful version of it.
Get the diagnosis right first
Ménière’s, BPPV, vestibular migraine and cervicogenic dizziness feel similar from the inside
They are managed very differently, and starting treatment for the wrong one wastes months. If you are dizzy most days and nobody has worked through that differential with you, that is the first appointment to make — not this one.
Once you know what you are working with, acupuncture is a reasonable thing to add. The research base is honestly still thin: most of what exists is small, and the mechanistic work on endolymphatic hydrops has been done in animals rather than people. I would rather tell you that than oversell it. What I can tell you is what I see in the clinic, what patients like this one report, and that the downside risk of trying it is low.
Please get evaluated by a physician right away — not by me, and not next week — if you have sudden hearing loss in one ear, a new severe headache alongside dizziness, double vision, slurred speech, weakness or numbness on one side, dizziness after a head injury, or vertigo that comes with chest pain or fainting. Those need a different kind of assessment than anything described here.
If you are already under the care of a physician or ENT for Ménière’s, keep that care. What I do sits alongside it.
References
Wu D, Liu B, Wu Y, Wang Y, Sun J, Yang J, Duan J, Liu G, Cao K, Zhang Y, Rong P. Meniere Disease treated with transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation combined with betahistine mesylate: a randomized controlled trial. Brain Stimulation. 2023;16(6):1576–1584. Link →
Wen J, Han P, Wu HH, Zhang ZD, Liu JX, Zhang X, Zhang XP, Jia CS, Li XF. Analysis on clinical application characteristics of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of Meniere’s disease based on topology model by complex network. Acupuncture Research. 2022;47(10):918–926. Link →
Jiang L, He J, Chen X, Chen H. Effect of electroacupuncture on arginine vasopressin-induced endolymphatic hydrops. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine. 2019;39(2):221–228. Link → (animal study)
Chorus for Life Premium membership details. Link →
Research citations located via PubMed.
FAQ's
Does acupuncture cure Ménière's disease?
No. Ménière’s is a chronic condition, and nothing described here treats or cures it. What patients often report is a change in specific symptoms — in this patient’s case, being able to roll over in bed in the morning without the room spinning. Keep your care with your physician or ENT; acupuncture sits alongside it.
How many visits before I know if it is helping?
The patient in this story noticed a clear difference by her fourth visit. That is roughly the point at which I expect to have a read on whether we are moving in the right direction — not a guarantee, but a fair checkpoint. If nothing has shifted by then, that is useful information and we change the plan.
Does acupuncture hurt? I am afraid of needles.
Almost everyone says some version of “oh, needles” before their first appointment. An acupuncture needle is solid and closer to the width of a hair than to a hypodermic needle. This patient’s description was “you don’t even feel them” — and she added that she falls asleep during treatments because they are so relaxing.
What can I do between appointments?
This patient and her husband work a home routine of ointment and spray on the shoulders and up to the ears and hairline, plus gentle scraping. Patients who do something consistent between visits generally get more out of the visits. Ask at your appointment what makes sense for your situation rather than copying someone else’s routine.
When should I see a doctor instead?
Right away, if you have sudden hearing loss in one ear, a new severe headache with dizziness, double vision, slurred speech, one-sided weakness or numbness, dizziness after a head injury, or vertigo with chest pain or fainting. Those need a different kind of evaluation than anything on this page.
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