Sleep Apnea, TMJ and Tinnitus

Hello everyone. I’m new to this forum. I have had T for about 2 ½” years. After the first horrible 2 or 3 months, I became accustomed to the noise and really was not too bothered by it. I moved on with life. Since then there have been times where it seems to spike or I just focus on it more, don’t really know which is true. The spike usually lasts 2 or 3 days and I’m back to my daily routine. This recently spike I am experiencing seems to be hanging around and it’s been over a week. I am confident it will settle down as it has before but I took this opportunity to re-visit my ENT and see if there is anything new or additional that I can do or try. This is what I found out.

They did a hearing test which showed my hearing to be about the same as 2 ½ years ago. However, this time the pressures in my ears were high. He says that there is probably some kind of blockage between my nasal cavity and ears that is causing this. He prescribed a steroid for this. The other thing he noticed was that my teeth showed evidence of grinding and my jaw was a little tender. He is suggesting that “MAYBE”, the T stemmed from TMJ and that I should look into this further with an oral surgeon. This is basically the same thing he said upon my initial visit with him 2 ½” years ago when the T originally started. The problem was that as I said after 2 or 3 months, the T stopped bothering me or I just stopped focusing on it and I never followed through on seeing the specialist. I just made the appointment with one today, the best in my area supposedly.

However, on my drive back home I realized that I also have sleepapnia. I started sleeping with a Cpap machine about 5 years ago. Before then I use to breathe thru my mouth when I sleep, snored and thus the need for the Cpap machine. Now that I use the machine, I breath thru my nose and to do so I have to have my mouth closed. That may be why I’m grinding my teeth. It’s just my thought but it makes sense. I do know that movement of my jaw affects the tone of the T. In fact, when I bite down hard on my back teeth, it almost disappears. There has to be some connection and I’m now going to explore this further.

Has anyone experience or herd of a connection between the use of a Cpap machine and Tinnitus?

BTW, my father had T also. He got it all of a sudden like I did and It eventually just went away all of a sudden, but after 15 years

 

A warm welcome to the forum.
If you're out see your dentist he will advise you on if you have possible TMJ.
A mouth guard can be used at night to take the pressure off your jaw if the dentist thinks you would benefit from one....lots of love glynis

 

How are you doing. I believe my T is from TMJ /Bruxism /Myofascial pain syndrome and apnea. My masseter was torn in dental work , 2 days later T. The sleep apnea cuases harder bruxism so on top of getting TMJ treatment I need to find a way to address my apnea. I woke last night do to an apnea event, with throbbing jaw pain and tensor tympani spasms. The CPAP didn't work and the DDS said I couldn't get a dental sleep device until my masseter healed.