Please Suggest a Cause of My Tinnitus — A 38-Year-Old Male with Multiple Health Issues

Facts:

1. I heard a pop in my head when tinnitus began. It has been there ever since, both ears.
2. It can get silent, moderate or loud. It is usually loudest when I wake up or feel tired.
3. Similar to violet noise.
4. No noticeable hearing loss.
5. Doctors in my country say they can do nothing about it.


Health issues:

a) overweight
b) sedentary lifestyle
c) diabetes type 2 (taking medications)
d) high blood pressure (taking medications)
e) depression / anxiety (taking medications)
f) irregular sleeping patterns
g) had a nasal septum surgery
h) some problems with teeth
i) occasional acid reflux
j) wow that's a long list isn't it


I am a 38 year old male, had tinnitus for over 5 years now. It is driving me crazy and I decided to do a reaserch and possibly get rid of it any way I can.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

There are a number of possibilities as to the cause but a few places to start might be:

Secondary to medication, TMJ, ETD, noise induced etc.

Do you do anything with your jaw differently when you are tired or sleep? Do you take any of these meds right when you wake up? Does this have an effect on your tinnitus a few hours later (for better or worse)? What were you doing the moment you felt the pop? What has your ENT excluded/included?

It is also possible you have hearing loss even if you don't notice it. Sometimes you need an extended audiogram (over 8000Hz) to see this. You may also have "hidden hearing loss" which would manifest as difficulty hearing speech in noisy places if it occurs at the speech frequencies.

Sorry you are going through this. Tinnitus is unfortunately very complex and it is not always obvious what the inciting cause was.

 

Have you been taking any medications that are on the list below?
http://hlaa-sbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ototoxic_Brochure.pdf

You might also type the brand names of those medications in the search field of this forum and see whether there have been any posts about them.

You might want to see a dentist to determine whether you suffer from TMJ (fixing TMJ can result in tinnitus going away).

Some treatments are in the pipeline:

To increase the chance that you don't hurt your ears even more, you will want to ensure that you avoid taking ototoxic drugs, that you don't have microsuction done (if you need to clean wax out of your ears; a manual tool should be used), and that you don't have your dental hygienist doesn't use an ultrasonic scaling tool on you (a manual tool should be used). For more details, see

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

You guys got me thinking and the more I ponder the more I realise TMJ is a very serious suspect. For example, when I clench my teeth I hear an additional sound in the right ear besides regular tinnitus. I am also missing a lower right molar since forever and chewing on that side might have helped messing up the joint. Moreover, when I heard the pop and tinnitus began I might have been moving my neck / jaw (not sure since I was shocked by the new sound). I firmly believe there is some kind of physical damage involved that caused the tinnitus. For some time I was afraid some nerve might have been damaged, but now I feel the TMJ could fit the bill. My doctor also once suspected something is happening to me while sleeping (they tested me for sleeping apnea). Maybe I'm chewing in my sleep or something? I need to stop being addicted to food lol. I will definitely ask my dentist / dental surgeon about a possible problem with TMJ and we'll take it from there.

I don't think medications are the problem. When tinnitus began in 2014 I wasn't taking any at all. Meds (or any other substance for that matter) don't seem to affect it.

All things considered, TMJ is now number one on my list to investigate. Is there any studying material on this forum that deals with TMJ associated tinnitus? What is the success rate in curing tinnitus by fixing the TMJ in those with problems?

Other options might be Eustachian tube as mentioned by FGG, or maybe a problem with neck / muscles? I was also thinking about hyperinsulinemia taking a part since I'm a diabetic. Just guessing really. There may be several factors involved, but I now believe TMJ is the thing to pay most attention to.

Thank you both, you guys are awesome! You know that what goes around comes around and you will be repayed for your help some way, somehow, no doubt about that.

 

Many people here (e.g., those who got tinnitus after an acoustic trauma) hear an additional tone when they move their jaw out or when they clench their teeth.

You might want to contact @threefirefour . I am not sure how often he checks this forum - his tinnitus went away after he got treated for his TMJ.

Other than that, you will want to type TMJ into the search field of this forum. There will probably be many posts, but it will probably be worth it to spend several hours reading those posts.

 

The antidepressants are a possibility. But then many people are on these medicines.