Jaw Prolotherapy: Cautionary Tale

Hey y’all, it’s been a while since I’ve been active. I’d been trying to get back into the swing of things with my lawsuit concerning the accident resolving, picking up lifting again after receiving the vaccine, finishing my Master's etc.

I come back with a word of caution, and perhaps digging for some insight. I had been undergoing splint therapy for my jaw for the last two years, and for all intents and purposes it has been ineffective, but never aggravating. Recently, since my TMJD had not been responding to the slow and steady approach, my dentist proposed prolotherapy injections. I didn’t think my jaw had much to do with my tinnitus at all at this point, and after checking safety precautions related to tinnitus, decided the worst thing that could happen would be receiving no positive results. Well, I was wrong.

3 days after the injection I experienced fleeting tinnitus in my non-tinnitus ear (true somatic tinnitus), fleeting spikes in the tinnitus ear, and a little bit of heightened sensitivity. I didn’t really think much of it, because the spikes were fleeting and since I was still palpably swollen, figured it would resolve after the projected healing timeline of ~1 month. Well, it has been a month and a half and my tonic level of tinnitus is continuing to rapidly spiral upwards, and I’d now qualify my formerly moderate-to-sometimes-mild tinnitus as severe. I’m tapering off of high dose Prednisone which I started taking about 11 days ago when the tinnitus started to wake me from my sleep and cause my heart to race. I’ve had to step back up on my Seroquel dose (now 125 mg from 100 mg) and still have issues getting, and staying asleep. Basically I am back in hell.

If anyone has any insights as to what the hell could be to blame for this bizarre, delayed and rising spike, I am all ears. I just wanted to warn everyone who is considering prolotherapy, because nobody on Tinnitus Talk or anywhere online notes worsened tinnitus as a possible outcome. A horribly twisted irony has befallen me and I don’t want anyone to experience this.

Much love,
Brightside

 

Have you been on Prednisone before? I wonder if it could cause a further temporary worsening in your tinnitus? Some people have worse tinnitus while on Prednisone, some better.

But how could the prolotherapy injection have made things worse, could it somehow have inflamed the nerves in the area that are connected to the ears?

If that's what has happened, then nerves I think can take a long time to get better. I would not lose hope if I were you.

 

Not on this kind of dose, no. I think the pred is further adversely affecting my sleep for sure, but the issues with sleep and waking T started about two weeks prior. It could actually be slightly directly affecting my T though, because in my notes, the super intrusive T (could hear it in the gym) I THINK started the day I started pred. I say I think because the only time I referenced being able to hear it in the gym was from a text to my mom the same day…I’m not entirely sure if it started before, but I don’t think it did.

The thing is that prolo is supposed to be pretty mild by most measures—most people need several injections in order to encourage permanent collagenic remodeling, etc. I didn’t even really have any pain following the injection, but I did notice in the days/weeks following, I was clenching my jaw an awful lot. Clenching had never caused higher T for me in the past, though. Thank you for your consideration!

 

I remember your issues started with a car crash. At. the time your hyperacusis was more so your problem correct? Has it improved with time? Did the injection not have any effect on it?

I'm in a similar, but opposite situation. I had a seemingly innocuous noise exposure that did not aggravate my tinnitus at all, but has made my noxacusis gradually go back to square one, losing over a year of progress.

It could be the increased clenching, even if it hasn't been in the past. Are you still wearing the splint? Would the injections have had any effect that could change how your jaw is sitting in your splint and perhaps causing worse clenching, inflammation or something?

 

My hyperacusis was probably worse than my tinnitus at the very beginning, but tinnitus has always been my chief-most issue. My hyperacusis did improve with time. I still have issues with people closing doors (cars, microwaves, patios), but I could tolerate being at the gym, and eventually the post workout tinnitus spikes dissipated entirely. I had been doing pretty good for all intents and purposes until this prolotherapy potentially further ruined everything.

I think you’re probably right, and my tinnitus is more somatic than I ever would have liked to admit. Formerly, with spikes, if I had gotten enough sleep day after day, I would notice slight improvements along the way. So far, my tinnitus has only been getting worse every day since about 3 weeks into receiving the prolotherapy. I’m going to talk to my doctor because I vaguely recall him wanting to “hydrate” the disc, so it’s possible this fucking moron injected glucose straight into my disc, which is now pressing on the nerve and causing all sorts of tension. Even if I somehow relieved this tension, I’m not entirely sure the tinnitus would subside to its comparatively tamer level.

I’m so sorry to hear about your noxacusis. I intend on trying a low/no-histamine diet that has been reported to decrease several members’ tinnitus and noxacusis. It is very strict, and I’m going to hate my life for a couple months, but that already appears to be a foregone conclusion as it is. Let me know if you’d like more information.

 

Thanks. Feel free to post the diet instructions below.

 

It is extremely restrictive. Here’s an opening article on it:

What Is Histamine Intolerance?

Here are a couple articles discussing acoustic shock, histamine and its role in neuroinflammation:

An Integrative Model Accounting for the Symptom Cluster Triggered After an Acoustic Shock

The role of histamine in neurogenic inflammation

How exactly these apply to noxacusis/hyperacusis/tinnitus, I’m less certain. All I know is that I’ve heard credible anecdotal reports from people here somewhat recovering from their conditions after a couple months spent on this diet.

All of my meals will be frozen to avoid histamine accumulation. I will be staying out of the gym, so luckily this will equate to little work, since I eat basically nothing when I’m not training. I am ordering frozen steak and chicken here:

Amazon.com: 10 (8 oz.) New York Strip Steaks

Amazon.com: Tyson Individual Quick Frozen Halves Chicken Breast, 8.2 Ounce -- 36 per case

Fresh garlic, dried Italian herbs and salt are fine on the diet.

 

Did you start the diet? Is it doing anything positive for you? How is your spike?

 

@mrbrightside614, did your tinnitus eventually go down following your prolotherapy incident?