Tinnitus from TMJ or Headphones?

Hi everyone

March 16 I woke up to really high pitch sounds in my ears. Like the sound of being in an empty room, but all the time.

More like a lot of crickets or cicadas or like really high pitched white noise, rather than a pure tone.
Thankfully mine's not so incredibly loud. On a scale of 1-10 I'd say maybe a 3 in my right ear, and like a 1 in my left.

Hearing test came back all normal.

Long story short, my ENT says it could be TMJ. My dentist found some tension somewhere in my jaw but she doesn't really think it's the cause of tinnitus. We're treating the TMJ anyway though, as it's our best lead.

I got muscle relaxants and B complex and antibiotics (because he also saw a sinus infection), all that good stuff.

I have a feeling I might have hearing loss over 8k though because when I went to do tinnitus matching, they couldn't match what I was hearing. Also i did some amateur tests myself with a tone generator(really softly though), and my 16k isn't as good in my right ear (where the tinnitus is louder). Of course any higher than that and we get to the really high frequency stuff you don't really hear well anyway unless you're really young. I am 28 years old.

I panicked of course, I'm a musician after all. I wasn't doing anything really loud since last year, so that makes this really mysterious. Most I do is wear those in-ear earphones. Mostly listening to music or playing video games with my friends. There was a case where I was using earphones in a car over someone else listening to the radio and that might have caused it? But that was a week before the ringing started so I'm not sure.

Anyway I'm just hoping it goes away. I've been going through the success stories, and seeing as I'm only about 7 weeks in, I hope it disappears. They say after three months it becomes chronic though, so I'm just really really hoping it goes away before then. Thankfully, it's soft enough (I feel like it was slightly louder before, my left ear especially feels quieter), where I can like just not focus on it and be OK. I still can't do caffeine or smoke weed or it gets worse. I'm also afraid of using headphones as that might trigger it (which is a bit of a problem, I need to use headphones to record vocals and stuff).

All in all, I'm here for reassurance. Reassurance that there's a chance that it can just disappear.

If not, well, heck.

 

Welcome to the forum. It is good that your don't seem to have a very loud tinnitus. If it is only 1 or 3 out of 10, that is a good point to start for your recovery. Try to avoid building stress and anxiety as these can aggravate tinnitus. You want to keep it low and then with time and with the ears healing naturally, your tinnitus may have a good chance to fade further. Otherwise it is also not hard to habituate to a mild tinnitus. Many people have done that, even for much louder tinnitus.

Try read up more success stories to give you hope and to remain positive that your tinnitus will get better over time.

Take care. God bless your recovery.

 

Replying to this thread for future denizens. Friends, make sure to get your TMJ checked. By a specialist.

A TMJ dentist basically confirmed it as the cause of my tinnitus, and that severe pain would be coming if I didn't get a splint and eventually braces. I'll let you guys know how treatment goes, but for now, it's time to celebrate.

The cause has been confirmed, and there is a solution. I am grateful for my blessings.

 

Update:

I got my braces installed. It'll be 2 years until I see my bare teeth again.

I'm 4 months into treatment with the TMJ dentist and I gotta say:

Tinnitus has improved. Not gone. Yet. But Improved. Other symptoms of TMJ like neck/back pain and jaw stuff also improving.

I used to have occasional tinnitus spikes. I had a couple of really short dizzy spells. My right ear even had a few episodes where the bass just got muffled a little bit.

But since the TMJ splint that's all gone.The dentist also confirmed all those could be caused by TMJ disorder.

Don't get me wrong, the ringing is still there. But it's really only apparent in quiet places and if I put my fingers in my ears. And the sound isn't like a grating ringing. It's more of a smoother hiss. It's hard to describe, but basically the more irritating parts of my tinnitus have gone away somewhat.

I asked the dentist how her other patients are doing with their tinnitus. Not every TMJ patient has tinnitus, but of the ones that did.

She said some of them still have tinnitus on and off.
Some of them still have tinnitus but it's really quiet.
And some of them have been totally cured of tinnitus.

I asked how long it really takes to cure tinnitus caused by TMJ. She said it really takes a long time. Estimated around 6-8 months from treatment. Some patients take years.

But hey, in other news, my life has changed so much.

I quit cigarettes way back when my tinnitus started and I haven't smoked since.

I exercise regularly now.

I don't smoke weed anymore (makes my tinnitus worse, this is really what I'm hoping to get back to once the ringing stops, but I'm fine without it, quitting weed wasn't nearly as hard as cigarettes.)

I stopped drinking coffee for a while, but then tried again and it didn't make the tinnitus worse anymore so I totally drink coffee now.

I stopped listening to music for a while because it felt like the end of that world and started reading books again. And I still read, I love books. AND I still listen to music. But I got a pair of speakers instead. Headphones only when absolutely necessary like recording vocals.

Got some earplugs too in case I gotta go anywhere loud like concerts and stuff.

Thankfully I'm at a point where I've grown used enough to it that I can live without being consumed by it.

And when the tinnitus goes away completely, I'm going to make a big epic post in Success Stories and give hope to people who are going through what I'm going through.

 

Is your issue resolved?