4 Weeks Into This

I got Tinnitus permanently recently.

It came and went over the years, but this time it stayed for good...

Not sure how I got it...all confused.

I'm a Canadian living in Thailand with limited funds and even if I did have money...most docs are incompetent or quacks...

So here is my info, just trying to get to the bottom of this:

My Symptoms:

- Clicking sound can be heard externally by massaging left ear under lobe
- Sound is eeee sound, like kettle, I think about 13 000 megahertz
- I can make my jaw click by opening and closing it, quite loud.
- Yawning causes pressure build up in left ear, like after swimming
- Opening jaw very wide increases the tinnitus volume drastically
- Symptom occurred before and stopped, I heard that same sound frequency for a few years, but it always went away, but not this time.
- I have impacted wisdom teeth, molar teeth need to be pulled out, all my back teeth are pretty much toast, and front bad also...
- Lying in bed on back seems to make it worse
- If I get busy, the noise almost goes aways, but always there in quiet room
- Couldn't sleep, but now almost can, but with nightmares and interruptions
- Sudden numbness in arms when I sleep (appeared almost immediately after tinnitus onset)
- Sometimes I get little increases in volume, they last about 5 seconds, but go away

Possible Causes:

- Ate some pizza crust days or weeks before onset, it was very hard to chew and it hurt my jaw
- Played in band 25 years ago, but stopped since then
- Listened to MP3 players exercising for years(loud), but last few years reduced the volume
- Maybe listened to MP3 player too loud for about 10 minutes 48 hours prior to symptoms
- May have listened to music too loud on PC headphones while drinking, about 72 hours prior to symptoms
- Took an Ibuprofen or 2 when this started
- Very depressed about my life situation, money problems

Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum. I am a Canadian too living in Vancouver, BC. Sorry about your suffering with this T. When T is new, it can trigger lot of anxiety and stress, hence the suffering and sleep problem. From your description that your jaw movement can affect the loudness of your T, you may have a TMJ issue causing T. Search google for TMJ symptoms and how to self help about it. But if you can see a TMJ specialist, he/she can check it to make sure.

 

I will try to help where I can. First of all, numbness when you sleep it's caused probably by backbone problems. Your spinal medula is compressed and cause this numbness. Could indicate the beginning of backbone problems and it's very common. I also have it a lot of times. Don't worry too much, at least for know. Try to get a better pillow. Sometimes just that could help.
About your T and with so many possible causes you mentioned, it may be caused by one or the sum of all. Normally T it's worst when we are in bed. The volume can change when you open you mouth or turn you neck or press your head. It's called somatic T and it's also very common. I have myself all that and much more. The most important thing is get used to it. It can be hard, sometimes bad, but I live with this for 20 years and I have a normal life, so you can do it too. Good luck.

 

Welcome to tinnitus talk.
I agree with billie48..get your dentist do a jaw x-ray to see if a mouth guard worn over your lower teeth at night will help by taking pressure off your jaw joint....lots of love glynis

 

Hi @CDNThailand,

As others have mentioned, run - don't walk - to the oral surgeon. That is the first place where you need to be!! Stat!

 

Thank you everybody!

I didn't reply because I fear the negative stories on these forums...

I must say that I feel better already. Last night I got a full 7 hours of sleep! 2 weeks back I got only 1-3...

I now can muster to work a few hours a day, I'm a web designer (Drupal CMS) and it's requires insane focus and concentration...one of my fears was that I would be totally incapacitated and not be able to make a living...But it seems like I can after all, renovating a website now, I can muster up to 4-5 hours a day. As long as I can sustain myself and pay the rent I will be fine until I habituate better.

But for now, I don't want to take on any mega projects in life, actually this is possibly what got me in this mess in the first place, insane pressure...like really, really, really stressed.

I'll keep posting to try to help others, but I will try to avoid reading the horror stories, just too scarry....!

My biggest fear is the T getting worse...

I don't need noise, like concerts or anything like that. If I adequately wear ear protection, can I keep this from getting worse?

I just turned 47 but I'm super healthy, run 10 km a day, swim, BMI 25, perfect blood pressure ect...am I old enough to start getting age damage? Or too early yet?

 

Why run, is this time sensitive?

 

I went to the dentist and he confirmed I have TMD (TMJ) , there is absolutely no doubt about that!

 

Great to have a fellow Vancouverite on here, too bad I dont' live there anymore, I used to live in the West End. I thought I might need to go back to Canada, but I think I'd better stay put here until this crisis subsides.

The tropical beaches of Thailand just do wonders. When I get a spike I take my bike and go sit on the beach under coconut trees, works everytime

 

You bet. The tropical beaches have done tons of healing for me too during the initial period of my T journey. I remember the first trip back to Hawaii after the T, with me staying right by the beach on a villa overlooking the blue Pacific, and waking up every morning jogging along with the crushing waves massaging my feet as well as getting some natural masking from the waves, T became less dominant or should I say it was much distracted by the brain focusing on more pleasant things, I realize that anxiety and stress is the fuel for T to spike loud. With that I slowly switched over to positivity approach with self-help CBT and mindfulness. The rest is history. But I must say that the trip to Hawaii and the tropical beaches have done wonder to give me the 'light' that perhaps the dark tunnel will be over in due time, and it is now. Take care brother and enjoy your tropical paradise.

 

Yep, it's pretty hard to be depressed on a sunny beach with warm water, sunshine, coconut trees and a breeze.

Seriously, I would say it's very good natural physical therapy, it brings you closer to the universe somehow, seeing the ocean and all.

Beaches in Canada or a cold lake doesn't work.

The contact of the sand on the feet, the warm water where you can simply jump in.

Tropical beaches are truly therapeutic, I wonder if there is any research on that?

The beach in Vancouver is ok, but not near the feeling I get from here.

 

Agree with others that it could be a jaw thing. However it could also be a neck thing. If your arms fall asleep when you sleep then it may be carpal tunnel and/or cubital tunnel. This may also be due to compression of a nerve in your neck while you sleep. I would suggest you get an MRI of your cervical spine and an MRI of the soft tissue of your neck (they are separate MRI sequences). I would also suggest to get a CT scan of your TMJ joint.

 

Why run? It is time sensitive with TMD and TMJ?

 

@CDNThailand - what I meant is that maybe they can give you some further insight.