Introduction: TMJ Connection with Tinnitus, Insight? Success Stories?

Hi I'm Jeremy.
This is my first post.

I am 33. I've had Tinnitus for 3 months. Prior to that I 've always had insomnia issues, and I tend to overthink and overanalyze, I bite/chew on my fingers..but I've never thought I had anxiety or anxiety issues.

Without going into my whole story just yet, I've recently done and MRI of my Jaw/face, and it appears there is significant "displacement" on both sides...However I never feel jaw pain or have headaches.

My tinnitus is constant in my left ear. It happened overnight after arguing with my roommate who I was anxious about as I thought I would have to go through a lengthly process of evicting her...she would not update me on her plans and whether she had intentions to move out or not. I have been sleeping with ear plugs for the past few years...and I typically sleep on my left side. I woke up that day with ringing in my left ear. Coincidentally she had tinnitus due to hearing loss...and I never even heard of it before. She used to smoke cannibus every single day.

I started in 2016 and smoked maybe once a week but have stopped because I believe THC makes it worse for me personally and caused me to have body tremors and a panic attack once...and it may have caused my brain to re-wire itself to detect these sounds in the first place.

So I believe a combination of TMJ, Anxiety, THC, inflammation, and lack of sleep caused my tinnitus.

When I move my lower jaw forward...the ringing in my left ear seems to shift to the right of my head, and it seems as though air or pressure is leaving through my right ear. After holding that position for awhile and when I return to normal...the tinnitus feels/sounds like a big ball of electricity that has been stored up and disperses among the back of my head.

My dentist has always suspected I have sleep apnea and air flow issues...I've done two sleep studies in the past and they were inconclusive because I couldn't sleep....Irony. I've visited the ENT and will be visiting another ENT/Neurologist. For now, my dentist and PCP has suggested I wear an oral appliance (either at night or during the day).

I've had anxiety attacks at night but lately I can control my anxiety and sort of live with it during the day. But at night, it is hard to sleep even with sound masking devices and it sounds like ringing in the brain/back of the head after laying down for awhile. I typically go to bed at 9:30 or 10...fall asleep at 11 and maybe wake up at 1:30 or 3:30. And I have to get up for awhile before attempting to fall back asleep.

The lack of sleep has been accumulating and I already have low libido/testosterone because of it...now the tinnitus is just making thing worse.

Sometimes I sleep well with benzos but I have nightmares...I would rather have nightmares than no sleep al-together. I also have episodes of sleep paralysis. I can hear my tinnitus during sleep paralysis...and the last time I had sleep paralysis it sounded like something was stuff in my fan or I was hearing a popping sound like gun shots.

I guess I'm posting because I want to know more about people who believe their tinnitus is related to TMJ and if their condition improved through treating it?

 

Welcome to the forum Jeremy. If there is not enough response here. you can search the forum with 'TMJ' and will see many, many prior discussions on TMJ. TMJ caused tinnitus is somatic type and so if your TMJ problem is fixed, you stand a good chance to have your T faded or disappear. A search in the Success Stories forum with 'TMJ' yields many successful recovery from TMJ such as these. So if your T is TMJ related, you stand a good chance of full recovery. Good luck. Take care. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/search/2393775/?q=TMJ&t=post&o=relevance&c[node]=47

 

@Jeremy951741 Are your discs with or without reduction? And what stages were your internal derangement?