Help Me Try and Figure Out How My Tinnitus Came to Be?

[Jcb]

I've been trying to work out how I got tinnitus.

I had a severe cold and chest infection that lasted a while, my ears hurt and my jaw during most of it. I was in the shower and my ear popped and I went dizzy for about 30secs or so and I had a really sharp pain. A day later the ringing started. The doctors I have seen said it was due to fluid, inflammation and also a perforated ear drum which I've been told healed by one doctor and it still looked perforated by another (one of the audiologist advised my ear didn't look perforated anymore I should add)

I did use earphones at the gym but never at a high volume. I have used them a good few years for about 4-5 times a week 45-60 mine at a time.

If I sit in a certain position my tinnitus spikes a bit and when I push down on my jaw the volume increases.

I've seen two dentists, the 1st advising I may have TMJ but I don't have any pain in my jaw or when I eat. The second one seems to think I didn't have TMJ but was given some exercises which made zero difference to my tinnitus.

I'm at a total loss as to what actually caused my tinnitus as I've been given so much conflicting information by medical professionals and I'm at a loss.

I know we are not medical professionals on here but any advice would be great guys and girls.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@Jcb There's been quite a few here who noticed that there T spikes with no pain when they push down their jaw. They also had an ear infection. The ear infection probably came first. The lateral pterygoid is connected to the malleus. The tympanic plexus controls the middle ear with a blood supply influence where ear popping and dizziness can occur. You probably don't have TMJ, but your lateral pterygoid is stressed and that shouldn't be an issue when your ear fully heals.

 

[Samir]

Alright, I will give it a try.

I had a severe cold and chest infection that lasted a while, my ears hurt and my jaw during most of it.

Did you see a doctor? Did he tell you that you had ear infection?

I was in the shower and my ear popped and I went dizzy for about 30secs or so and I had a really sharp pain.

This was after the cold cleared up? Was it as if everything was spinning or you just felt unsteady? The popping noise, and especially if accompanied with pain could indicate eardrum rupture. The eardrum is a very thing layer of skin and it doesn't take much to rupture it. Not sure if it can cause vertigo or dizziness though.

There have been reports of people getting episodes of dizziness following sensori-neural hearing loss. I had a short episode once or twice for no longer than a few seconds. This was during my initial stages of what would later become chronic tinnitus and clicking ears and hyperactive. Have not had them since, thankfully.

A day later the ringing started. The doctors I have seen said it was due to fluid, inflammation and also a perforated ear drum which I've been told healed by one doctor and it still looked perforated by another (one of the audiologist advised my ear didn't look perforated anymore I should add)

Fluid? Inflammation? Rupture? Check, check, check. How long after did you see this first doctor? So your eardrum rapture was less and less noticeable between your doctor's visits? That sounds like it was healing up nicely. So it's completely healed by now?

I did use earphones at the gym but never at a high volume. I have used them a good few years for about 4-5 times a week 45-60 mine at a time.

Earphones? The ones that seal your ear canals shut? Those are the worst if you want to preserve your hearing. So much so that the guy who invented them had to reinvent them because he realized that his invention was making people deaf. Sadly, I only learned that after I got here. So whenever I get the chance, I advise people not to use those.

His new invention is giving people their hearing back, people that have lost most of their hearing many years ago. That's kind of interesting turn of events. But there are still many people using this common type of earphones every day, all over the world. They go by different names but what they all have in common is that they are making us go deaf prematurely.

Your hearing problems may not have been caused by earphones alone. But they did not help either. It all adds up.

If I sit in a certain position my tinnitus spikes a bit and when I push down on my jaw the volume increases.

What position? Push down?... you mean moving your jaw down as when yawning? Or pressing down on your jaw at certain points? I used to be able to increase the volume of my tinnitus when yawning or moving my jaw to the right or pushing my jaw forward. But not so much lately, not sure why.

Being able to modulate your tinnitus with certain jaw movements is common among people with tinnitus. I think it's said that about 2/3 of people with tinnitus can modulate it in some way, where it changes in volume or pitch. This is believed to be because of hyperactive somatic neurons. There is a region in the brainstem that integrates touch and auditory information before it's sent up into higher parts of the brain. Most commonly in absence of auditory input, the somatic (touch) sensation becomes more prominent. It is this hyperactivity of these neurons that causes tinnitus. At least that's one of the theories that's currently being worked on. There is one ongoing clinical trial in Minnesota based on this model and another coming up in Michigan.

I would imagine that you don't need to have hearing loss at all to have these somatic neurons overactive, and drowning out the auditory information coming in from cochlear neurons. It doesn't have to mean that you hear less than normal, you just hear more than you need to or things you are not supposed to which isn't even sound but the brain interprets it as sound.

I've seen two dentists, the 1st advising I may have TMJ but I don't have any pain in my jaw or when I eat. The second one seems to think I didn't have TMJ but was given some exercises which made zero difference to my tinnitus.

Luckily we all have TMJ, because without it we would not be able to eat, drink or talk. Note that TMJ means temporo-mandibular joint. We all have a pair, one on the left and one on the right side. Along with the knee joint, it's one of the most complicated joints in human body. When TMJ is not functioning optimally it is dubbed TMD, meaning temporo-mandibular joint dysfunction. So TMJ is sometimes used in error. TMJ is a desirable thing to have, but not TMD.

TMD is fairly common, just as the way many of us have slightly varying length to our fingers on left vs. the right hand, or the length of our legs. Nature is pretty amazing, but it ain't perfect. So you may have TMD for many years without knowing it. TMD only becomes a problem when you start having pain in your jaw or you start hearing unusual sounds and somatic sensation in your jaw. You may also discover that you have TMD only when you start analyzing yourself in search for a cause to a different problem. If you do have some TMD you may have gotten it by bad eating habits, trauma to the head or it may be hereditary.

I know I have TMD but it has nothing to do with my tinnitus. I sometimes get this squishy kind of sound in my left jaw joint. Especially if I am eating some hard foods. I can sometimes even hear and feel my jaw snap when I bite on something hard.

The second one seems to think I didn't have TMJ but was given some exercises which made zero difference to my tinnitus.

Same here, I was given those weird exercises, and I do have TMD. I did them the first week and then gave up. Not only did it help my tinnitus, it didn't help my TMD at all. I worried it would only exacerbate things so I started paying more attention to how I chew my food and what kind of food I eat and how I prepare it. That has helped me much more than those exercises.

I'm at a total loss as to what actually caused my tinnitus as I've been given so much conflicting information by medical professionals and I'm at a loss.

You are not alone. My TMD causing these snaps or clicks in my jaw still doesn't mean that this is what I'm hearing when I complain to my doctor about my ears clicking. (I discussed this with you earlier.) I don't know how they draw that conclusion. They just reflect back at you whatever it was you told them. They learn more from us then we from them!

So what I like to do when I see a doctor is to tell him as little as possible, have them unwind about all the possible and impossible reasons for whatever it is I am in for, and then I draw my own conclusion. You better not give them any ideas if you know what I mean! Have them come up with their own material!

 

[Samir]

I realize that I asked more questions than I gave answers. I still don't know what you hearing is like, but I am inclined to believe that hearing loss is the main cause of your tinnitus. But I think you will be OK. Give your ears enough time to heal. And don't go over the top with all the tests and investigations. You don't want to make it worse.

Be cautious about noise levels, and when exercising, try doing so without any earphones. I used to exercise with music blaring in my ears. Now when I exercise I do so to the sound of my own pulse or to the sound of nature when I go for a jog. I find it very satisfying, and it helps calm my tinnitus to the point where I barely notice it. It's all just common sense when you think about it.

If you ever have to use any kind of audio device, I would recommend using speakers for listening, or one of those big headphones that go on top and over your ears. Don't use in-ear, earphones, air pods, etc. The ones that seal off your ear canal in particular can be very damaging.

As for tinnitus, give it some more time. But be prepared that you may be in for the long haul with this one. It's a difficult problem to understand and to treat. It may go away on its own eventually. For some people it does go away completely when the cause is something reversible or correctable. But sadly, the majority of us have to live with it. That's the harsh truth about it, and it doesn't help trying to run away from reality.

Regardless of what the cause is, the fact is that you now have it. If it's not going away on its own after a good amount of time, then it is a good indication of a lasting physiological or neurological change that simply won't go away unless the underlying cause is treated.

Rest assured though that you are not alone with this condition. In fact, many of the most prominent researchers in the field of auditory science, neuroscience and tinnitus research also have tinnitus. I know for a fact that professor Hudspeth who will be receiving the Kavli prize in neuroscience this year for his 50 years of service in the field, also has tinnitus.

 

[Jcb]

@Jcb There's been quite a few here who noticed that there T spikes with no pain when they push down their jaw. They also had an ear infection. The ear infection probably came first. The lateral pterygoid is connected to the malleus. The tympanic plexus controls the middle ear with a blood supply influence where ear popping and dizziness can occur. You probably don't have TMJ, but your lateral pterygoid is stressed and that shouldn't be an issue when your ear fully heals.

That's what I've been reading on here as well. I'm hoping that's comes true, thanks you for your input Greg I really appreciate it man

 

[Jcb]

Alright, I will give it a try.


Did you see a doctor? Did he tell you that you had ear infection?


This was after the cold cleared up? Was it as if everything was spinning or you just felt unsteady? The popping noise, and especially if accompanied with pain could indicate eardrum rupture. The eardrum is a very thing layer of skin and it doesn't take much to rupture it. Not sure if it can cause vertigo or dizziness though.

There have been reports of people getting episodes of dizziness following sensori-neural hearing loss. I had a short episode once or twice for no longer than a few seconds. This was during my initial stages of what would later become chronic tinnitus and clicking ears and hyperactive. Have not had them since, thankfully.


Fluid? Inflammation? Rupture? Check, check, check. How long after did you see this first doctor? So your eardrum rapture was less and less noticeable between your doctor's visits? That sounds like it was healing up nicely. So it's completely healed by now?


Earphones? The ones that seal your ear canals shut? Those are the worst if you want to preserve your hearing. So much so that the guy who invented them had to reinvent them because he realized that his invention was making people deaf. Sadly, I only learned that after I got here. So whenever I get the chance, I advise people not to use those.

His new invention is giving people their hearing back, people that have lost most of their hearing many years ago. That's kind of interesting turn of events. But there are still many people using this common type of earphones every day, all over the world. They go by different names but what they all have in common is that they are making us go deaf prematurely.

Your hearing problems may not have been caused by earphones alone. But they did not help either. It all adds up.


What position? Push down?... you mean moving your jaw down as when yawning? Or pressing down on your jaw at certain points? I used to be able to increase the volume of my tinnitus when yawning or moving my jaw to the right or pushing my jaw forward. But not so much lately, not sure why.

Being able to modulate your tinnitus with certain jaw movements is common among people with tinnitus. I think it's said that about 2/3 of people with tinnitus can modulate it in some way, where it changes in volume or pitch. This is believed to be because of hyperactive somatic neurons. There is a region in the brainstem that integrates touch and auditory information before it's sent up into higher parts of the brain. Most commonly in absence of auditory input, the somatic (touch) sensation becomes more prominent. It is this hyperactivity of these neurons that causes tinnitus. At least that's one of the theories that's currently being worked on. There is one ongoing clinical trial in Minnesota based on this model and another coming up in Michigan.

I would imagine that you don't need to have hearing loss at all to have these somatic neurons overactive, and drowning out the auditory information coming in from cochlear neurons. It doesn't have to mean that you hear less than normal, you just hear more than you need to or things you are not supposed to which isn't even sound but the brain interprets it as sound.


Luckily we all have TMJ, because without it we would not be able to eat, drink or talk. Note that TMJ means temporo-mandibular joint. We all have a pair, one on the left and one on the right side. Along with the knee joint, it's one of the most complicated joints in human body. When TMJ is not functioning optimally it is dubbed TMD, meaning temporo-mandibular joint dysfunction. So TMJ is sometimes used in error. TMJ is a desirable thing to have, but not TMD.

TMD is fairly common, just as the way many of us have slightly varying length to our fingers on left vs. the right hand, or the length of our legs. Nature is pretty amazing, but it ain't perfect. So you may have TMD for many years without knowing it. TMD only becomes a problem when you start having pain in your jaw or you start hearing unusual sounds and somatic sensation in your jaw. You may also discover that you have TMD only when you start analyzing yourself in search for a cause to a different problem. If you do have some TMD you may have gotten it by bad eating habits, trauma to the head or it may be hereditary.

I know I have TMD but it has nothing to do with my tinnitus. I sometimes get this squishy kind of sound in my left jaw joint. Especially if I am eating some hard foods. I can sometimes even hear and feel my jaw snap when I bite on something hard.


Same here, I was given those weird exercises, and I do have TMD. I did them the first week and then gave up. Not only did it help my tinnitus, it didn't help my TMD at all. I worried it would only exacerbate things so I started paying more attention to how I chew my food and what kind of food I eat and how I prepare it. That has helped me much more than those exercises.


You are not alone. My TMD causing these snaps or clicks in my jaw still doesn't mean that this is what I'm hearing when I complain to my doctor about my ears clicking. (I discussed this with you earlier.) I don't know how they draw that conclusion. They just reflect back at you whatever it was you told them. They learn more from us then we from them!

So what I like to do when I see a doctor is to tell him as little as possible, have them unwind about all the possible and impossible reasons for whatever it is I am in for, and then I draw my own conclusion. You better not give them any ideas if you know what I mean! Have them come up with their own material!

First off thank you so much for the reply and detail Samir. For some reason I can't quote particular parts of your reply on my iPad so I apologise if it's all scattered.

Both my hearing tests came back as fine, I know there's something known as hidden hearing loss so I may have that and I'm aware as we age our hearing does lower as well.

The doctor I did see did say I had an ear infection along with a chest infection, I wasn't given any antibiotics till the second visit for some reason, they cleared my chest/ear infection. Funnily enough I've had a cold and cough the last few days and my ear has toatally blocked and my T has increased but I know that's normal.

I still had my cold and chest infection when my ear popped in the shower and felt all dizzy. This happens a few times a week but the dizzy spells lasts about 10-30 secs then I'm fine. The thing that annoys me is the doctors saying my ear is perforated and others saying it's fine, it's so frustrating.

If I push down on my jaw hard or eat something tough the volume increases but no pain. It also happens when I yawn. I get fleeting tinnitus as well which at first scared me but now after reading many posts in here I know that's the norm.

As far as the TMJ/TMD, eating habits wise I've always been healthy and my diet doesn't contain much food that's tough to eat. Thinking about it now, I did bang my head twice on the cupboard under the stairs about 6 months before I got T, it hurt and I did a little bump but didn't think anything of it then. I wonder If this contributed to it?

I haven't used any earbuds since the onset and don't think I will and I'm ok with that tbh.

If I've got T for good then it's something I'll have to get used to, hopefully there will be more of a push towards a cure or treatment and this site I know does a lot for awareness which is great. It's just the fact I'm still unsure as there are a number of factors that could have caused me to get it.

Again thanks for the input and information and apologies if my reply is too scattered.

 

[Samir]

If there is regularity to those dizzy spells you talk about then your balance organ may be compromised. But I don't think a few simple bangs would do it. It will have to be a good blow to the head, something like a car accident. The hearing and balance organs are enclosed in the hardest and thickest bone in the human body. So they are well protected against violent forces, but it's not impossible to damage them. Especially if you have already had an accident or been in a fight or something of that nature.

I think it's important that you take up this part about dizziness with the ENT doctor. He can do a few simple balance tests with you, and if needed he can order additional diagnostic tests and image scans if needed.

If I push down on my jaw hard or eat something tough the volume increases but no pain. It also happens when I yawn. I get fleeting tinnitus as well which at first scared me but now after reading many posts in here I know that's the norm.

Yes, I had those episodes of fleeting tinnitus. It increases dramatically for just a few seconds and it can be very frightening at first. But then you learn that they go down on their own and you are able to keep calm when that happens. They haven't been happening to me so much lately, it was mostly in the beginning when my static or hiss kind of noise became tonal. The hiss noise didn't even register with me as tinnitus.

And yes, yawning and pressing my teeth is what mostly caused me increase in volume, and it became more tonal for the duration of these movements. This was more noticeable while I had the hiss noise. Since I now have more of a tonal character to it I can hardly notice any change. I do notice some change in pitch when moving my jaw to the left, but it has to be super quite for me to register the change.

 

[Jcb]

If there is regularity to those dizzy spells you talk about then your balance organ may be compromised. But I don't think a few simple bangs would do it. It will have to be a good blow to the head, something like a car accident. The hearing and balance organs are enclosed in the hardest and thickest bone in the human body. So they are well protected against violent forces, but it's not impossible to damage them. Especially if you have already had an accident or been in a fight or something of that nature.

I think it's important that you take up this part about dizziness with the ENT doctor. He can do a few simple balance tests with you, and if needed he can order additional diagnostic tests and image scans if needed.


Yes, I had those episodes of fleeting tinnitus. It increases dramatically for just a few seconds and it can be very frightening at first. But then you learn that they go down on their own and you are able to keep calm when that happens. They haven't been happening to me so much lately, it was mostly in the beginning when my static or hiss kind of noise became tonal. The hiss noise didn't even register with me as tinnitus.

And yes, yawning and pressing my teeth is what mostly caused me increase in volume, and it became more tonal for the duration of these movements. This was more noticeable while I had the hiss noise. Since I now have more of a tonal character to it I can hardly notice any change. I do notice some change in pitch when moving my jaw to the left, but it has to be super quite for me to register the change.

That's one of the things I'll be picking up when I see the ENT. It's such a strange thing this Tinnitus.
Thanks for the replies.