Hi, everyone-
I'm semi new to tinnitus and thankful for a place to be able to ask questions from people who actually understand what this is like. I'm 29 and my tinnitus started this past May. When it began, it would only last for about a minute every few days. Enough that I noticed it, but not something you would go to the doctor about. In the months leading up to that time, I had also begun getting tension headaches that didn't want to respond to any headache medicines. Then in June, I started waking up every day with a headache and feeling like my jaw wanted to fall off my face. As far as I was aware, I had never had an issue with grinding/clenching before, so I was really confused as to why it seemed to come on so strong. But I went to the dentist and he confirmed that the muscles in my jaw were all "jacked up". He prescribed a muscle relaxer which really did nothing except cause me dry mouth.
Then in August, the tinnitus became constant and extremely loud. I thought I was going insane. Went to 3 ENTs, went to a neuro, had an MRI/MRA, was prescribed steroids, got off of every medicine I had been on, went to a chiropractor. Absolutely nothing has helped, I have spent a ton of money, and of course every test has come back normal. I've gotten much better at dealing with the tinnitus on a daily basis, but still feel very discouraged when I think that I may have to deal with this the rest of my life.
At this point, I'm on the verge of giving up, but not quite there yet. I recently went to a TMJ specialist who couldn't find anything wrong based on the initial visit (par for the course) but wants to do panoramic X rays to see what he can find. Before I do that, though, I would like to ask if anyone else has had success or improvement going down this path. I'm tired of spending hundreds of dollars just to be told that everything looks normal (I was probably one of the only patients the neurologist had that almost cried with the MRI came back normal), but the bruxism timing just seems to be more than a coincidence.
I do sit in front of a computer for several hours a day (and have for 7 years) and I read in another post that poor posture can cause TMJ. Any thoughts here?
Again, so thankful to talk to people who know what this lovely condition feels like. Family has been extremely sympathetic and helpful, but they just don't understand how depressed and nuts this can make you feel.
I'm semi new to tinnitus and thankful for a place to be able to ask questions from people who actually understand what this is like. I'm 29 and my tinnitus started this past May. When it began, it would only last for about a minute every few days. Enough that I noticed it, but not something you would go to the doctor about. In the months leading up to that time, I had also begun getting tension headaches that didn't want to respond to any headache medicines. Then in June, I started waking up every day with a headache and feeling like my jaw wanted to fall off my face. As far as I was aware, I had never had an issue with grinding/clenching before, so I was really confused as to why it seemed to come on so strong. But I went to the dentist and he confirmed that the muscles in my jaw were all "jacked up". He prescribed a muscle relaxer which really did nothing except cause me dry mouth.
Then in August, the tinnitus became constant and extremely loud. I thought I was going insane. Went to 3 ENTs, went to a neuro, had an MRI/MRA, was prescribed steroids, got off of every medicine I had been on, went to a chiropractor. Absolutely nothing has helped, I have spent a ton of money, and of course every test has come back normal. I've gotten much better at dealing with the tinnitus on a daily basis, but still feel very discouraged when I think that I may have to deal with this the rest of my life.
At this point, I'm on the verge of giving up, but not quite there yet. I recently went to a TMJ specialist who couldn't find anything wrong based on the initial visit (par for the course) but wants to do panoramic X rays to see what he can find. Before I do that, though, I would like to ask if anyone else has had success or improvement going down this path. I'm tired of spending hundreds of dollars just to be told that everything looks normal (I was probably one of the only patients the neurologist had that almost cried with the MRI came back normal), but the bruxism timing just seems to be more than a coincidence.
I do sit in front of a computer for several hours a day (and have for 7 years) and I read in another post that poor posture can cause TMJ. Any thoughts here?
Again, so thankful to talk to people who know what this lovely condition feels like. Family has been extremely sympathetic and helpful, but they just don't understand how depressed and nuts this can make you feel.
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