Tinnitus Basically Disappeared Today

Hey guys,

My tinnitus started last week (2/26). After thinking about it I realized a few days prior I had done some heavy sunflower seed eating (cracking) as well as gum chewing which is rare for me because gum can hurt my jaw - can’t think of why I did it.

Once I heard the tinnitus and felt ear fullness I saw 2 x ENT (first thought tmj, one said “it’ll never go away”) Audiologist (hearing test normal) and a TMJ doc (signs of grinding/ tender tmj/ massager muscles). 2/3 said TMJ was culprit and even though I almost believed the guy who said “it’ll never go away” more, so I treated it as such. Funny enough the jaw pain came pretty heavy the next day. One night I iced the jaw and I swear (the T) it almost disappeared. I did self massage on masseter muscles, and took ibuprofen. Also ate as soft of foods as possible.

The real fear here is I used to be a drummer and wailed away on occasion without ear protection. But thought how strange for T and TMJ to show up at same time.

I had been very anxious about all this (suffer from GAD) and not sleeping great so I took a 1mg Lorazepam last night, slept a full 7 hours, woke up, and I can barely hear the tinnitus today. Uhh what?!

 

I should try that. Thanks and great post.

 

One month update-

Ok after that lovely lorazepam night - the T came back. Not horribly but it came back. For me it was high pitched - left ear only. Like most stories here, the first two weeks were quite unpleasant. No sleep, heavy anxiety, a lot of confusion.

It all began one morning walking home from the gym after lifting. My right ear seemed clogged and left had a slight ring to it that got louder over the next few days. The day before I ripped through a whole pack of sunflower seeds. So for me, causes could be - tmj from seeds, neck pain from lifting, or noise from headphones I used to wear to gym.

In the last month I have seen 3 different ENT's. One twice. All at Mass General. 2 thought TMJ - said "Oh it'll go away, I'm confident" and 1 gave me the "yeah I have it too, had it for 25 years, good luck buddy.." speech. Was unimpressed.

Other symptoms I had was ear popping, pain, aural fullness and itchiness - all intermittent. I also had pain in my temporalis as well as occipital muscles. Pretty bad headaches too. Neck pain as well. Over the past month these have gotten better, but not completely resolved.

I also saw a TMJ specialist at Tufts Craniofacial Pain Center and was fitted with night guard and day guard. Can't really wear the day one as I am in sales and on the phone all day but try to as often as I can. My jaw feels better after wearing the night one for sure, but it's still sore. They saw evidence of grinding and cheek chewing. My lateral pterygoid is still sore as sin. If I press right on it, it definitely affects my T. Makes it higher pitched.

I have also began therapy - which helps kind of.

BUT what I have done that has helped tremendously, at least it did after my 2nd session, was acupuncture. After that second session I slept a full night through, albeit after taking 2 benadryl. But I had been taking 2 benadryl nights before and waking up after a few hours. My anxiety was notably lower after that 2nd session as well. But I haven't taken a sleeping aid in 8 nights not and am sleeping fine again. But now as I sit here after my 5th session, I can only hear my T if I stop and really listen for it. I'd say on a scale from 1-10 it's a 1.5. Down from a 5. I know this isn't as bad as some have it here but I felt it necessary to share my experience.

I've also been taking ACV every morning and magnesium in the form of magnesium citrate (natural calm) every night as well as chamomile tea. Also just doing a good job of distracting myself. Doing light exercise everyday, eating well and not drinking alcohol (except this last weekend, and no affect on the T thank god) and only caffeine a few times. On top of this I have not used headphones of any sort aside from a wireless headset I use to talk on the phone, that only has a speaker in the right ear. Will probably never put earbuds in my ears again.

I made it out this last weekend to the March for Our Lives (wore earplugs) and to a relatively loud bar with wife and friends - made me feel better for sure.

One more thing, I used to be a drummer. It's been about 18 months since I've played. But still, I most definitely could've done some damage. Strange how this all presented itself for me but I'm basically sick of thinking about it at this point. Staying positive at this point that it will go away and taking exceptional care of my ears from now until forever.

TL;DR - Acupuncture helped me. Throw all you can at you T, something will work. Thinking positive thoughts for all of you...

 

Hey Bambam, thank you for your story. Have you continued the acupuncture? How is it working for you?

 

My man, it's worked pretty well. T not gone but acupuncture definitely has helped.