Ménière’s Disease Awareness Day, 7th February

February 7, 2026.Reading time 9 minutes.

It feels like there’s awareness days, weeks, and months for almost everything, connecting and educating people. Even odd and peculiar things. Like Popcorn Day, Nothing Day, Lost Sock Day, Punctuation Day, Handbag Day, Men Make Dinner Day, Fruitcake Toss Day, Nothing Day, Odd Socks Day, Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day.

Except for Ménière’s disease.

Awareness Days for February 7, depending on what country you are in:

Rose Day
It’s Ice Cream For Breakfast Day
Yukon Quest
International Pisco Sour Day
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Wave All Your Fingers At Your Neighbors Day
Send a Card to a Friend Day
National Ballet Day
National Fettuccine Day
National Periodic Table Day
e-Day by disconnecting from screens and embracing the world around you
Independence Day Grenada
Take Your Child to the Library Day
Safer Internet Day

My favourite is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day!

(Adobe Stock)

But now (drum roll please) there’s a new awareness day for February 7, on the US National Today Calendar – Ménière’s Disease Awareness Day.

A victory. For us. Recognition.

I would spin around in celebration, but you know, the vertigo of MD is a dizzy terror that no one wants to experience. But seriously, if you think it’s not that bad, please sit in an office chair, and let me spin you around as fast as I can for four hours, no stopping. Or, for some real fun, stay on that spinning ride at the fair for four continuous hours without getting off. And let’s not forget the loud tinnitus – often multiple sounds, ear fullness, hearing loss, loss of balance, anxiety plus more. It’s devastating, physically, emotionally, socially, psychologically, economically… My cochlear implant audiologist told me that Ménière’s is the disease that no doctor wants!

Backstory

I was instrumental in having this day recognised, but I can’t take all the credit for 7 February, World Ménière’s Day. I just continued it on. I originally saw other people share this graphic in 2018, and thought it was an officially recognised day.

After I searched like a detective, I traced the graphic back to a group called Moms with Meniere’s Disease. It was first posted on February 8, 2017.

I loved that she had created this (unofficial) day for us. But when I looked at the graphic, I thought, no one understands what Ménière’s disease is. So I tried to contact the admin of Moms with Ménière’s Disease to chat with her, to find out her name, and to ask for permission to use her idea and date. No success. In fact, the last post there was November 5, 2018.

So I decided to build on what she had created.

I updated the graphic, and added symptoms, so people could at least see what we were going through.

On February 7, 2024, after I posted the World Ménière’s Day graphic in the Ménière’s Disease Support Group, someone told me it wasn’t an official day. It was true, and it really annoyed me. So I decided to do something about it.

In January, 2025, I spent days on the internet researching international and national days organisations to try to get Ménière’s disease acknowledged as a day of recognition ready for February 7, 2025. I sent off emails that included detailed stats on Ménière’s s, lists of symptoms, famous celebrities, and the history of Prosper Meniere, the doctor whom the disease is named after. Many official awareness calendars required a doctor to apply for the day, but I still emailed them anyway.

No success.

The biggest organisation I emailed was the United Nations List of International Days and Weeks, with hope that Ménière’s would be recognised as an International Day, but I didn’t get a reply.

People were suffering. No one had heard of Ménière’s disease. I hated that we were invisible. And why should basketball get an official international day but not an incurable disease that destroys lives?

On February 7th, 2025, I posted these graphics to the Meniere’s Disease Support Group, founded by Glenn Schweitzer (Mind Over Meniere’s)

with the words…

“It’s World Meniere’s Day today.

It’s not an official day, but was started by someone a very long time ago. Last year I applied for it to be identified as a day of recognition, but it was rejected 🙁

Perhaps I should try again? Or we should all try?

https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/register-a-national-day

Have a spin free day on this day of our acknowledgement ❤

And you have permission to use my Meniere’s designs if you like x”

Many people replied in support, but it was this reply by Jeannine that made my heart skip a beat.

Jeannine

“Hello Julieann Wallace. I saw your post and contacted the head of National Today who confirmed by email he would recognize it. I hope it happens – I’ll share it when I see it:) I believe this is a debilitating disease that more people need to know about bc it affects so many 🥺”

Thank you Jeannine! It is done. Meniere’s Disease Awareness Day 7^th February. (I wanted a different picture to be used on the site, so it was inclusive of men and women – but we’ll take this as a win)

https://nationaltoday.com/menieres-disease-awareness-day/

And my newest graphic for our awareness day – no AI was used to create it, to care for our earth.

Why the 7th February?

Dr. Prosper Meniere’s life dates: 18 June 1799 – 7 February 1862.

But the Ménière’s Disease Awareness Day is not finished.

We’re not finished.

Let’s aim for an official International Ménière’s Disease Day, listed on calendars globally.

Can anyone help?

Julieann Wallace is an Australian multi-published author and artist. When she is not disappearing into her imaginary worlds as Julieann Wallace – children’s author, or as Amelia Grace – fiction novelist, she is working as a secondary teacher. Julieann’s 7th novel with a main character with Meniere’s disease—‘The Colour of Broken’—written under her pen name of Amelia Grace, was #1 on Amazon in its category a number of times, and was longlisted in 2021 and 2022, to be made into a movie or TV series by Screen Queensland, Australia. She donates profits from her books to Meniere’s Research, to help find a cure or successful treatment for everyone. Julieann is a self-confessed tea ninja and Cadbury chocoholic, has a passion for music and art, and tries not to scare her cat, Claude Monet, or her dog, Pablo Picasso with her terrible cello playing.

Julieann is also a Meniere’s Research Australia Ambassador for Ménière’s Research Australia and a Cochlear Implant Buddy for Cochlear Australia.

All books are available at Amazon, with 100% profits going to Ménière’s Research.

Welcome to Our Table – Meniere’s Low-Sodium Cookbook – the Art of Flavour

December 4, 2025.Reading time 7 minutes.

2025.

Here we are, unbelievably at the end of another lap around the sun. And I’m quietly filled with hope as Meniere’s research, globally, is uncovering pieces to the puzzle to stop the ‘dizzy terror’.

We’re not quite there yet for a cure, or successful treatments that don’t involve choosing invasive procedures to kill off balance cells to stop the vertigo etc, but after having Meniere’s disease since 1995, and seeing the increase in treatment options over the 30 years, and the new research coming out, I am quietly expectant.

New research led by Professor Jose Antonio Lopez Escamez at the University of Sydney and the Kolling Institute shows that Meniere’s is not a single condition – the symptoms may all be similar but the causes are varied, and identifiable. His painstaking work has uncovered that up to 40% of patients may have a genetic origin for their Meniere’s whilst the other 60% have some kind of immune system problem. Amongst the immune subgroup, there are 3 additional distinct categories, all identifiable via blood tests – auto-immune, allergic inflammation or auto-inflammation.

Click to access entnd25-escamez.pdf

But while we patiently wait for our individualised treatments, we still need to try to control factors that may set off our vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss, brain fog, etc. And one way to do that is with a low-sodium diet. That is, if salt is a trigger for you. And it is for me. Usually, if I have a food with high sodium content, the very next day my tinnitus has ramped up it’s volume telling me that it is still here. If I did still get vertigo (an injection of gentamicin into my middle ear stopped that in 2004) I would have a vertigo attack.

And so this to help. Hot off the press – a low-sodium cookbook. Collated by me (Meniere’s since 1995), Sally Edsall (Meniere’s since 2016), Kim Dean (Meniere’s since 2010), Phillip Stephanou (Meniere’s), Anne Elias (Meniere’s since 2015), and Low Sodium Foods Australia, and the Meniere’s community, for people with Meniere’s, with profits donated to research. Published by Lilly Pilly Publishing.

It’s a most comprehensive and valuable low-sodium cookbook. 218 pages. 88 recipes. 244 food suggestions that feel like you are sitting around a table with Menierians causally chatting about food.

Let’s have a look at it.

Welcome to Our Table ~ A Meniere’s Low-Sodium Cookbook. The Art of Flavour.

Here’s a sneak peek:

It’s packed with Meniere’s information, research, and lifestyle suggestions besides recipes. That makes it different to your usual cookbook. And while there is an endless amount of low-sodium recipes available online today, the recipes in this cookbook come from members of the Ménière’s community, in the hope that they help you.

What I love about this book, is the fact that, if you are unable to care for yourself, a friend or family or partner can pick it up, and look up foods that will be okay for you to eat!

There’s nothing better than that.

Here’s some reviews that are coming in:

“Thank you all for your hard work. I am a qualified chef and adjusting to NOT using salt has been an interesting journey. Thanks for fresh ideas and new inspiration.”

“The book has arrived and I just want to congratulate all involved , it’s fabulous!”

“It’s arrived! Sending out a massive thank you to Julieann and the team for creating this excellent resource which I know I’ll use regularly! Only being diagnosed in 2024, it has been a challenging journey to navigate my new ‘normal’. ‘Welcome to Our Table’ has cut down the hard work of the many diet/lifestyle changes we need to make. With so many beautiful, yummy recipes and food ideas, I’m definitely feeling inspired and less stuck. Go get it – you won’t regret it! It’s so beautifully presented too.”

“Sooooo excited to get this in the mail today. As soon as I got home from work I read it from cover to cover non-stop. What a beautiful book. I just love it.”

Grab a copy at online bookstores – hardcover, paperback or eBook.

Happy cooking,

Julieann

Julieann Wallace is a multi-published author and artist. When she is not disappearing into her imaginary worlds as Julieann Wallace – children’s author, or as Amelia Grace – fiction novelist, she is working as a secondary teacher. Julieann’s 7th novel with a main character with Meniere’s disease—‘The Colour of Broken’—written under her pen name of Amelia Grace, was #1 on Amazon in its category a number of times, and was longlisted in 2021 and 2022, to be made into a movie or TV series by Screen Queensland, Australia. She donates profits from her books to Meniere’s Research, to help find a cure or successful treatment for everyone. Julieann is a self-confessed tea ninja and Cadbury chocoholic, has a passion for music and art, and tries not to scare her cat, Claude Monet, with her terrible cello playing.

Julieann is also an Meniere’s Research Australia Ambassador for Meniere’s Research Australia and a Cochlear Implant Buddy for Cochlear Australia.

Julieann Wallace ~ author julieannwallaceauthor.com

www.instagram.com/myshadow_menieres/

www.instagram.com/julieann_wallace_

Ménière’s Woman – when life gives you lemons

February 15, 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.

They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

“They” obviously don’t have Ménière’s disease, or any other incurable, debilitating, life changing disease for that matter. If they did, they would say, ‘I’m sorry about your diagnosis. I hope a cure comes soon. Let me know if you ever need help with anything.’

I want to say that I am sorry that you have Ménière’s disease.

I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I have had it since I was twenty-nine.

I woke at 5am one morning in early January, 2024, with the words Ménière’s Man stuck in my head. It’s a book written about Ménière’s disease, by a man. I’ve never read it. But I know that people are thankful for the information inside it.

Then I thought, where are the Ménière’s books written by women? There aren’t many.

How about WOMénière’s? WOménière’s? woMénière’s?

Sure, you may be able to glean lots of interesting information from books written by men, but let’s face it, they don’t deal with holding the responsibility of keeping the household going like women do (mostly) – groceries, cooking, cleaning, childcare (if you do have a partner who helps you with that, you are truly blessed!).

Men don’t deal with menstruation and everything that entails.

Men don’t have babies.

Men don’t go through perimenopause and menopause.

Men don’t have the fluctuations with hormones like women do.

We women have the rough end of the stick when it comes to Ménière’s !

Researchers have uncovered countless ways in which women’s and men’s bodies react differently to the same diseases, due to our hormones. There is A LOT that female bodies go through during a hormonal cycle, a stark contrast to the experience of the male body.

And so it began.

I accepted my own challenge to write a book about Ménière’s disease for women, and started on it. I figured that I was more than qualified enough to write it, Ménière’s being with me for 29 years at the time of writing this book. Exactly half of my lifetime.

Mum of three. My Ménière’s started the year before my first was born.

Wife.

Teacher.

Ménière’s Research subject at the University of Queensland’s Mind and Brain Institute.

Gentamicin to destroy the vertigo after 9 years of trying prescription medicines, herbal medicines and other alternative treatments.

Cochlear Implant to restore hearing.

Ménière’s Research Australia Ambassador who sits in on Teams meeting with Ménière’s researchers in Australia.

It was my honour to pen this book to help others. To describe the road travelled before others going through the same things.

To encourage.

To understand.

To give insight.

To give tips on surviving the Meniere’s jungle.

To say it’s okay. We’re in this together. You’re going to make it through.

To give hope.

I have put countless hours of medical research into Meniere’s Woman, and reading anecdotal stories by women and questions they ask on social media.

Plus my own experience.

It’s time to honor us. Women with Ménière’s .

On the pages you’ll find tips, hints, research, personal anecdotes, secret women’s business, pregnancy, motherhood, grand-motherhood, understanding, inspiration and mindset, self-care, a period and Meniere’s symptoms tracker and a Ménière’s Management Plan, plus lots more.

And because this is your book, add your own stamp and style. I have left blank pages for your to glue/tape in clippings, inspirational verses or images that speak to you in some way, or write them in. Be creative. Be you.

Here’s a peek at inside the book. Ménière’s Woman. Honoring you. xx

You can grab a print copy at any online bookstore. But here it is at Amazon if that is easier for you: https://www.amazon.com.au/M%C3%A9ni%C3%A8res-Woman-when-gives-lemons/dp/0645158194/

The eBook is ready for a 1st March release on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/M%C3%A9ni%C3%A8res-Woman-when-gives-lemons-ebook/dp/B0CV74SZDM/

Profits from the eBook and Print book will be donated to Ménière’s research, as all of my Ménière’s books are. I don’t publish Ménière’s books for personal gain, but to help others.

Let me know what you think of the book if you purchase a copy. And, I hope that it helps you beyond what you thought it could. xx