Noise-Induced Tinnitus and TMJ

Hello guys,

For the past weeks I have noticed an increase in my T's volume. It can vary a lot from day to day depending on how well I slept and how tense I am in my jaw.

Example: Three weeks ago I had a really bad headache and woke up with very sore jaw on both sides. T was much higher than normal and the high pitch "iiii" was really annoying. Usually my T is more of a buzzing with a high pitch "iiii" in my right ear. Now I could hear in it both. Took some painkillers to get rid of the headache but didn't work, I believe that is was due my jaw clenching during sleep that both caused the sore jaw and the headache. T went down to baseline the day after (or at least closer). Felt relief that it wasn't something permanent.

This has been the case for the past weeks, sometimes the T is much more intrusive and then it goes down or up again depending on how I have slept. Of course it is hard to control how you sleep but I try to relax before bed or the T will be louder. I also notice that my T is worse and my jaw is a little more sore if I have been dreaming (not sure why this is but something I've noticed).

I have been to the dentist already within the first month of onset, but the doctor said he couldn't really see anything since I am still relative young. He just advised that I could get a splint and that was it. I was reluctant since it cost over $200 to get one here and at the time, I didn't have the problem with increased loudness.
My ENT visit the month after the dentist (2 months from onset) noticed a light soreness over my jaw. She didn't go anything else or send me to a specialist. Just told me it'll get better in time. Apparently it did not.

Just wanted to get some advice, does this sound like TMJ? Can the increase and decrease off and on in the volume be due to TMJ / tense or sore jaw?

Thanks!

 

I experienced many physical symptoms including swollen tonsil, ear drainage and sinuses as well as nose stuffiness over night. My T resets overnight, and I also experience these symptoms in the morning, although not on a regular basis but at 3-4 day intervals.

My most drastic change in T was going from a similar level of T loudness in both ears, to a drastic difference the following morning between my left and right ear, after taking Penicillin. My right ear T pretty much subsided and left ear was as loud as a fire extinguisher. That came with a strong set of side effects described above. Left side of my face swollen, swollen tonsil, ear drainage and sinus drainage. Since that day my right ear continued to gradually decline to the point where it is barely audible, while my left remained constantly louder. And since that day I continued to experience more mild symptoms over night similar to those just on the left side. I also notice I can reproduce T, particularly on my left side by moving my jaw far left and holding it there. This carried on until my AM-101 injections, and even then I noticed a difference. I experienced numbness and tasted the medication when they injected my right ear as the gel was draining down my throat. Nothing on my left, as if it's clogged up.

So while there is nothing definitive, I also have reasons to suspect there is more going on than JUST noise-induced Tinnitus and I always believed that since I got it. I do wonder at times if my T would have also subsided in my let ear, just like my right, if not for something physical that also causes me these side effects and blockage on the left side of my face/throat/ear, same side as my loud T, when I am sleeping.

Unfortunately all of the ENT's I saw pretty much completely disregard what I just said above. "Interesting..." is about the most I got out of them, which to me sounded more like..."uh huh I don't care, that is meaningless to me or you are imagining things" or I heard "it's normal at your age". Well I disagree, because it only started happening about a month ago. I normally don't experience swollen tonsils.

 

Hello @AlexSongitus

Thank you for your post, seems like we are in some what similar position. I got T back in early Dec, so it seems we got it both around the same time.

Have you talked to a GP? In case that they can see the swollen tonsil and maybe other symptoms that can be treatable? Glad to hear that at least one ear has become better, although it still sucks to have it in the other ear.
Left ear is my good ear, sometimes I can feel how the T increases a lot in that ear too, and if I push on my cheek just around the jaw muscle, I can feel how more "sore"/hard is it is compared to my other cheek, or rather that they are in two different sizes. Same thing with my right, if I feel that the other ear has become louder, I can usually try the same technique and try to see if it is sore or not.
I can increase the pitch in both ears just by push my upper lip just a little over my teeth, like you are about to scratch right under your nose. This wasn't the case (or I did not notice) before, and the small movement of my upper lip to cause an increase in the pitch makes me to believe even more that it must be related to something physical.

Have you experienced an increase now after your symptoms started or is your left ear still in the same volume?

 

Like I said, I experienced a significant increase the first morning I took Penicilin in my left ear. Since then I didn't experience an increase, it subsided to its normal volume, but it also didn't lower like my right ear. It fluctuated having louder or softer days, but more or less remained around a 3/10 on average, unlike my right ear, which pretty much subsided and on average it's been a 1/10. Prior to that they were pretty close in volume for the first 3 weeks of T with the left slightly louder. Since that night the huge discrepancy between my left and right has remained until the AM-101 injections.

Also since my symptoms were spaced out, the day I went in to my ENT, my tonsil was not swollen. He looked but there was nothing to see that particular day.

And now that I had my AM-101 injections, they are having a positive effect overall, and also causing major fluctuations, even completely reversed my left and right ear the 2nd day of my injections with the left completely silent and right louder than it has been in weeks. Then that was followed by a full day of silence, loud T the next day, silence the next. So right now it's become impossible for me to track the correlation with physical symptoms ever since this past Wednesday because the injections are having such a drastic effect.

 

Hmm, I wish they offered AM-101 here in Sweden since it is worth a shot. Glad to hear that is working for you, even if it causing fluctuations. I wish I had some kind of silence even if that was for a day only

 

I am very sorry you can't participate there. Is it very difficult for you to travel and participate in another country? Or would they not allow it?

Since yours is still new, there is still a chance yours could eventually subside on its own. Mine significantly improved since onset. Granted I did take a course of Prednisone, but even after that I continued to experience a period of about 2 weeks where it would gradually die down to near silence from morning to evening. It was a pattern that repeated daily right up until my screening. I still believe that the best result would be for it to go away on its own, without treatment, like so many people experience. Stay positive because that is still a possibility. And yeah, there may be something physical going on in relation to TMJ that if you could just figure out what it is, and fix the underlying condition, it may get rid of it.

 

No you cannot participate in other countries, you need to be a resident of the country. Funny thing, the AM-101 FAQ specifically had a QA on if Sweden was participating and they said no.

I rather feel mine has become worse since onset. Well I was subjected to two random exposure of noises, involving with fire alarms for a few seconds and then also scaring myself with the "what if"-thoughts after going out on a restaurant that measured around 70-80db without plugs for 45 min. So it has been on and off with my anxiety and worries, although I believe for the majority of time, the T is about the same since onset. I haven't experienced any decrease in loudness, and that I feel it have become worse can also be due to the different anxiety periods after incidents that makes me perceive it to be worse. But I know that it is for a fact worse, louder, since I can hear it in places I didn't before, and at the same time, I can mask it with the same things that I did before. Like in certain place it feels like the T is in the same loudness as before, while in others it seems louder. But if I plug my ears with my hands or fingers, I can hear the "EEEEE" much more clear than before. That is not my anxiety playing a game with me.

At night I always get like several tones in my ear that I don't have in the mornings, usually it resets everything beside a regular "eeee" that can vary in loudness depending on how well I slept but also if I have had a dream or clenched my jaw. I honestly don't see much hope of it go down in volume like it has with you If it would, then I suppose I'd feel a change since it's been 4 months already..

 

That's unfortunate that they won't allow it. I've had scares with fire alarm and a vacuum before where I thought it caused it to react but it passed quickly. We do have to be careful to try and protect ourselves as much as we can.

And yes, I would also say sleep has been the most significant trigger in my T fluctuating. For me if it's quiet at night, when I sleep, it comes back. That has been the pattern since day 1. Since the injections, I have recently also noticed it going the other way Sunday night. And that coincided with me sleeping very little, less than 5 hours. If I sleep 8 hours or more, like last night, it always seems to come back louder. And I also experience more physical symptoms, stuffiness, drowsiness, etc.

T is very mysterious and clearly different in how it reacts from person to person. I still think 4 months puts you in the acute stage, and people have reported it went away even after 6 months or a year. At worst the majority of people do habituate, but in your case there is still reason to remain optimistic and hope it may subside.

 

Hmmm.. for me I need to sleep longer to hope for a better T. If I sleep less than 6-7 hours, it almost feels like my T haven't really had time to reset completly. For you it seems to be other way around.

I did start to habituate after a month, then fire alarm went off. Scared me. Went of a second time a week later and just threw me off. Took another 4 weeks to habituate a second time. This time it lasted a whole month and then I was at the restaurant. I know that it was not over 85 db and most likely around 70-75 (max 80 but not more) and I didn't feel bad until I started to worry about it the day after.
Not sure how much I feel is in my mind and how much I can blame TMJ but I am certain the loudness changed along with new tones coming and going. Not sure what triggered this either, if the stress over the exposure led to clenching --> TMJ --> noises and anxiety.

Thank for your encouraging words!

 

Hi Fangen!

I'm dealing with the same issues as you describe. Though it's been about 3 months for me since it all started. I've been in many relatively loud situations since then that I couldn't avoid, including fire alarms. I've been to two nightclubs (with earplugs) and never more than two or three hours. And my T has been an absolute rollercoaster in terms of volume. The ENT says my hearing is perfect, I've taken predni to no avail, and gingko doesn't seem to be helping me either.

I'm assuming it's all an emotional response that prevents the brain from dealing with it properly. Whenever I felt good, even loud noise exposures didn't affect my T. The moment I worried, the stress magnified it and made it worse. Each time it would take about 2 weeks for it to settle back to baseline, then I'd be so scared of it getting worse again for whatever reason that it would trigger a new episode. Now I'm experiencing stress-induced TMJ as a result and my tinnitus is louder than it's ever been.

I guess the trick truly lies in not caring about it whatsoever, but I know better than anyone that this is much easier said than done.

Stay strong man, you aren't going through this alone.