Me & TMJ / Stress / Anxiety / Sinus Issues

I wanted to get my story down in writing before I forget. My tinnitus started Tuesday 4/20/21 and my world has been turned upside down ever since. Maybe somebody can relate to this and connect the dots to get better on their end, or help me get cured.

The lead up: the last year of my life has been incredibly stressful, and not just because of COVID-19. 3 kids, the youngest just now being 19 months, and she has basically been sick all year. She was not sleeping, constant ear infections, constantly having to miss work or have my wife miss work to stay home with her. I got a vasectomy in October since I was so done having more kids at that point, and the stress has continued on that front until now. She just got tubes in her ears on Monday and has been a much happier baby ever since, thank God. There's one element of this.

But the stress from her being sick so often has strained my marriage to the point that we scream and argue every other day. It's like living with a tiger in the house, walking on egg shells, and I haven't been easy to get along with either. Marriage counseling or divorce is in my future unless things drastically change. There's another element of stress.

In December I went to give my middle child a hug while she was crouching on the floor, because she was crying because my wife yelled at her. She chose that exact moment to spring up, smashing her head against my nose. I thought I broke my nose but there wasn't any blood so I thought I was good (narrator: he wasn't, he'll get to it in a minute).

I have had 4 sinus infections since then, and have been on Mucinex, Sudafed, Ibuprofen, and Flonase basically the whole time, with Neti Pots sprinkled in. My ears hurt this whole time too it's important to note, even between sinus infections. Nothing helped except BreatheRite strips at night. My ears felt so full and clogged that I tried the EarPopper deal with no success.

Anyways I finally went to the ENT to figure out wtf is wrong with me. My blood test came back totally clear for allergies except for ragweed in the late summer. They did find one glaring thing wrong with me: a deviated septum. They asked if I had any nasal trauma and I thought back to my daughter's head hitting my nose, and thought oh man what a stupid way to get sick. I felt great relief at getting a diagnosis, but they didn't satisfactorily answer why my ears still felt full. My ear tests showed no fluid and very minimal negative pressure, which she said not getting good oxygenation from my deviated septum could cause. She scheduled me for a septoplasty, where they straighten the septum.

I got the first Pfizer COVID-19 shot 13 days before my tinnitus began. I did not get the second shot nor will I ever, in case it's connected with tinnitus.

I was still struggling with ear pain and pressure and thought screw this, I can't wait like this forever. So I resolved to pop my ears by any means necessary. I remember thinking to myself, foolishly, "what's the worst that could happen?" On that fateful Tuesday, I started to mega yawn as wide as my mouth would go, and to do the Valsalva maneuver as hard as I could to open my Eustachian tubes. I remember one huge forced yawn and an instant sharp pain in my left jaw. Then at some point in the day I realized I had this ringing in my left ear that wasn't going away. I tried listening to music, playing video games, but the sound was still there. When it was still there the next day I freaked out. Now might be a good time to mention I had a panic attack 8 years ago and have had Xanax for as needed panic ever since. I'd go months without taking it, but this ringing caused me to take 2 a day just to survive. I had the same response as most of you, I didn't know how I could live the rest of my life with this incessant ringing.

I saw an ENT at another care system than my prior septoplasty one since they were available, and they ran more hearing tests on me by their audiologist. Those came back perfect. So at this point the ENT is telling me this and I'm in tears saying 'well then wtf is wrong with me?' and he says 'it's TMJ'. I hadn't done any research on this and my first assumption was he was full of crap, but he assured me he sees someone like me every day and most he never sees again. He pokes his finger in a few places behind my jaw and asks if that hurts, which it very much did and still does. He sent me away with a prescription for Cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxer to take only at bedtime, and says to watch for grinding my teeth at night and get a mouthguard if so. Also said to take ibuprofen since inflammation is causing the sound, everything jaw and ear is kind of squished together and prone to things like this.

I know I used to grind my teeth at night per my wife when we started dating 10 years ago, but I didn't think I still did. I got a mouthguard fitted since I'd try anything to stop the ringing, and after the first night with it a week later I could feel grooves with my tongue where I ground my teeth.

After maybe a week of the drugs and mouthguard, the high pitched ringing in my left ear turned into more of a hiss in the center left of my head. This hiss is usually quietest in the morning when I wake up, where I won't hear it unless I plug my ears or I'm in a silent room. But around noon every day it turns into more of a ringing, which stays constant until I sleep.

This week it's been particularly bad, I think because I can't have any NSAIDs due to my septoplasty (and turbinate reduction) on Monday. I should also mention that after getting my CT scan, not only is my septum mega pushed to the left, but the turbinates on the right have expanded to fill the void. This would explain why BreatheRite strips are basically the only thing that helps me breathe, even though my snoring is still so loud now that my wife sleeps on the couch.

Also on my 4th sinus infection a few weeks ago, I blew my nose very hard to get all the crap out. I apparently blew too hard because i heard an instant new ringing tone in my right ear, kind of a 'wah wah wah' that is usually drowned out by my baseline tinnitus hiss.

After 6 weeks of Cyclobenzaprine I saw the ENT again and he said usually people are fixed by now, and referred me to a TMJ clinic. That doctor put me on Tizanidine, another muscle relaxer but better to be on long term, and Diclofenac, an NSAID. I took those with some success (quieter in the mornings) until I had to stop taking the Diclofenac for my surgery this Monday coming up. The TMJ doctor/dentist said I have definite problem spots on my jaw and cheek muscles that she could feel with her fingers, and that I'm a great candidate for dry needling.

So after my septoplasty and turbinate reduction on Monday, I have a whole week off work to recover. I'll be playing video games on Percocet so I'm pretty excited honestly, plus the wife just quit her job and we took the kids out of daycare so I'll have the house to myself from Wednesday to Sunday. I'll get the sinus recovery done, and the best part is I can restart the Diclofenac right after surgery. I have a TMJ massage scheduled with a total babe in a month too so I'm hopeful that helps - at the very least it'll relax me, which I desperately need.

You are all tough guys and gals for dealing with this. I had my moments of crying on the phone to my mom, can't really vent to the wife since she doesn't get it (her dad habituated to tinnitus and thus everyone instantly should). Sending love and positive thoughts to you all. Hopefully at some point I can add mine to the 984 success stories.

 

I developed the same “wah wah wah” sound from doing the Valsalva , just whatever you do don’t do it again or blow any air into your ears. I believe it causes tinnitus by over pressurizing the inner ear because when I got the air out of one of my ears the tinnitus went away. My tinnitus sounds slowly changed and got quieter over time, just make sure you don’t pop your ears again or it will start back up way worse.

 

Just had my septoplasty and turbinate reduction. Tinnitus is about a 1/10 - I have heard true silence for the first time in months. It's probably the propofol and it'll probably come back soon but damn I'm enjoying this!

 

How are you doing now?