Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Huey Lewis Talks Meniere's Disease: 'It Can Get Better. It Just Hasn't Yet'
www.rollingstone.com ^ | 05/07/2018 | By Daniel Kreps

Posted on 05/08/2018 1:48:23 PM PDT by Red Badger

Huey Lewis talked about his battle with Meniere's disease for the first time in an interview with Today on Monday.

"It can get better. It just hasn't yet," Lewis said of the inner ear disorder. "I haven't come to grips with the fact that I may never sing again. I'm still hoping I'm gonna get better. They say a positive attitude is important."

In April, Huey Lewis and the News announced the cancellation of all 2018 tour dates following the singer's diagnosis. "I can't hear music well enough to sing. The lower frequencies distort violently making it impossible to find pitch," Lewis said in a statement at the time.

On Monday, Lewis spoke of when the disorder – which causes vertigo, ringing and hearing loss – first surfaced. "As I walked to the stage [in Dallas], it sounded like there was a jet engine going on," he said. "I knew something was wrong. I couldn't find pitch. Distorted. Nightmare. It's cacophony."

Like singer Ryan Adams, who also struggled with Meniere's disease for a number of years, Lewis is searching for a solution for the incurable affliction. "It's a syndrome based on symptoms, and it affects people differently," Lewis said of his treatment. "All they can come up with as treatment is diet. No caffeine, lower salt and keep your fingers crossed."

While Lewis is unable to perform, he can still hold conversations with people or talk on the phone. The singer has been testing experimental technologies to help with the disorder but remains sidelined from the stage.

The Meniere's disease struck just as Lewis was finishing up a new album and working on a Broadway production based on his music. Like his previous statement, Lewis was exceedingly apologetic to his fans.

"I want to say I'm sorry. Clearly we're not spring chickens, but I've always prided myself on being reliable," Lewis told Today. "I really feel bad for my guys, my team that we've been doing this for so many years together."


TOPICS: Education; Health/Medicine; Music/Entertainment; Society
KEYWORDS: hearing; hueylewis; menieres; news
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last
I know how you feel, Huey...................
1 posted on 05/08/2018 1:48:23 PM PDT by Red Badger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Very sad. There’s no cure. Doctors can only mitigate some of the symptoms.


2 posted on 05/08/2018 1:51:53 PM PDT by Nachoman (Following victory, its best to reload.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

He needs a new drug.


3 posted on 05/08/2018 1:52:38 PM PDT by bigbob (Trust Sessions. Trust the Plan.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bigbob

Nope, just the Power of Love.................


4 posted on 05/08/2018 1:56:37 PM PDT by Red Badger (Remember all the great work Obama did for the black community?.............. Me neither.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

He’s a bright guy, he scored 800 on his math SAT.


5 posted on 05/08/2018 1:58:25 PM PDT by Fair Paul
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Blue Jays

"...Huey Lewis..."


He sounds like a decent and honorable person who is disheartened with the unexpected change.

6 posted on 05/08/2018 2:01:55 PM PDT by Blue Jays ( Rock hard ~ Ride free)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I have 2 close friends who both have it to one extent or another. One of them isn’t too badly affected, but until it got under control, the other one would be literally unable to even sit up without vomiting from the vertigo.

Not pretty...


7 posted on 05/08/2018 2:03:35 PM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity (Capitalists sign their checks on the front. Socialists sign theirs on the back.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fair Paul

He’s a bright guy, he scored 800 on his math SAT.

I see you’re from New Jersey. Did you go to high school with Hugh?


8 posted on 05/08/2018 2:07:01 PM PDT by freedom1st
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Alan Shepard found a cure, for himself at least:

In 1969, he checked himself into a Los Angeles hotel under a pseudonym to undergo a new and, at the time, risky operation to correct his inner ear condition. The surgeon successfully implanted a small tube in his inner ear to drain the fluid away.

“I finally found a gent who corrected my ear problem surgically, and after Nasa looked at me for perhaps a year, they decided that I was well enough to fly again,” Shepard explained in 1991.


9 posted on 05/08/2018 2:10:33 PM PDT by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

A close relative developed Meneire’s, his doctor told him it was likely related to constant high-decimal exposure he received during military service, including Desert Storm. severe symptoms but he got completely under control by cutting down on salt and cutting caffeine out completely, along with getting his diet under wraps in general. One of his friends also developed Meniere’s and hasn’t been able to mitigate it at all. Tough thing to live with.


10 posted on 05/08/2018 2:10:44 PM PDT by Wyrd bið ful aræd (Flag burners can go screw -- I'm mighty PROUD of that ragged old flag)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nachoman

I’m not sad. He’s a stupid moonbat liberal who hates every Republican and conservative.


11 posted on 05/08/2018 2:13:34 PM PDT by max americana (Fired libtard employees 9 consecutive times at every election since 08'. I hope all liberals die.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: max americana
He’s a stupid moonbat liberal who hates every Republican and conservative

He sounds like a dizzy SOB.

12 posted on 05/08/2018 2:20:32 PM PDT by JonPreston (I post To: "All" because article posters rarely contribute to their own threads)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: JonPreston

He is.


13 posted on 05/08/2018 2:23:10 PM PDT by max americana (Fired libtard employees 9 consecutive times at every election since 08'. I hope all liberals die.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

My wife was struck by men years disease approximately 8 years ago. For a year-and-a-half she had vertigo nausea and the other symptoms that have been discussed.
She washed her diet religiously especially her salt and caffeine. She hasn’t been struck by nausea now for over 5 years although she occasionally has bouts of dizziness. She has to avoid spinning ceiling fans and flickering fluorescent lights as these trigger dizziness.


14 posted on 05/08/2018 2:25:41 PM PDT by Wasichu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wasichu

Men years=Menieres
Washed=watched

Stupid phone


15 posted on 05/08/2018 2:27:40 PM PDT by Wasichu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Al Shepard’s surgery for his Meniere’s syndrome allowed him to get back on flight status and go to the moon on Apollo 14. Dr William House performed the surgery in 1968 and NASA doctors cleared Shepard to return to space in 1970. According to Dr House, this surgery does not cure Meniere’s. It just relieves the symptoms.

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/jul/25/local/me-6898

A tiny silicone, rubber tube is inserted to shunt fluid called endolymph from the inner ear to the fluid called cerebrospinal that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

In recent years, more doctors have accepted the theory that Meniere’s disease results from the lack of proper absorption —not an overproduction—of endolymph.

Therefore Dr. House performed the shunt operation, which Dr. Berry said was done at space agency expense. The surgery. Dr. House wrote, was “not designed to cure Meniere’s disease” but to relieve its symptoms.

Dr. House cut through the mastoid bone behind Captain Shepard’s left ear into a round part of the inner ear called the sacculus that contains endolymph.

Dr. House slit the sacculus, inserted one end of the tiny tube and then connected the other end to the cerebrospinal fluid behind the sacculus.

https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/02/archives/a-tube-implant-corrected-shepards-ear-disease.html


16 posted on 05/08/2018 2:31:10 PM PDT by DFG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wasichu

My son has it. Has 90 percent hearing loss in one ear and deaf in the other. He is on a low salt diet and takes a diuretic . Watches what he eats and wears these huge hearing aids that help somewhat. He decided to go to college for architecture and is graduating this Saturday magna cum laude. Very proud of him.


17 posted on 05/08/2018 2:34:09 PM PDT by lilypad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Wasichu

Sudden standing up or getting up from doing gardening on your knees can cause a sudden drop in BP and you get dizzy, as well................


18 posted on 05/08/2018 2:35:00 PM PDT by Red Badger (Remember all the great work Obama did for the black community?.............. Me neither.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
I wish him healing. He is certainly a very talented man...but also a scornful person mocking salvation in his "Jacob's Ladder" song. Perhaps God is trying to get his attention out of love?

I met a fan dancer
Down in South Side Birmingham
She was running from a fat man
Selling salvation in his hand
Now he's trying to save me
We'll I'm doing alright, the best that I can
Just another fallen angel
Trying to get through the night

Step by step, one by one, higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung
Climbing Jacob's ladder

Coming over the airwaves
The man says I'm overdue
Sing along, send some money
Join the chosen few
Well, Mister I'm not in a hurry
And I don't want to be like you
All I want from tomorrow
Is to get it better than today

Step by…

19 posted on 05/08/2018 2:45:23 PM PDT by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jan_Sobieski

He wasn’t mocking ‘salvation’, he was mocking TV/Radio evangelists who constantly beg for money.................


20 posted on 05/08/2018 2:47:27 PM PDT by Red Badger (Remember all the great work Obama did for the black community?.............. Me neither.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson