Tinnitus, TMJ, Headaches, Neck Pain, Facial Pain, etc. — Possible Treatment

Hello @Mr. Cartman,

Sometimes it even subsides for a day, but it always come back the next day when I wake up. So damn tired of it.

I very much understand that statement, as just when you think you got it figured out...you don't have it figured out! I seem better today after falling asleep in a recliner last night. Maybe sleeping in a different position can help? No hissing, but high pitched ringing which is annoying also. I am trying a small dose of Mysoline as of today and will update later.

Thanks for keeping us updated on your potential cause! I sure hope you find a solution for this relentless condition.

 

Its interesting that you seem better after sleeping in a recliner!

When I look back, I do remember that sleeping positions have affected my T and headache a lot in the past.
I think sleeping with my back faced down showed to be the best position.

Its kinda hard to say what the cause is though, and its easy to blame noise exposure, because everyone is exposed to noise at some extent.

What is really interesting though, is that I remember I had T a few times before, after driving my car for a very long time,
but it always went away in a few minutes after lying down or within the next morning after some sleep.

Once I got T from sitting in front of my computer concentrating for too long as well, but it went away the next morning.

Maybe it could be related to neck or back. I know some people got cluster headaches because of nerve compression (which I heard they successfully treat with botox). Maybe T can be a cause as well.

At least Im going to have all of that evaluated at the same hospital that has been able to treat cluster headaches with botox, as they seem pretty darn skilled when it comes to nerves.

This month I will be visiting a specialized ear lab for extensive testing, also have CT done of my jaw and back.

MRI and CT of head came out fine, except for the fact that they found a negative density in my left occipital condyle probably caused by a lipom. The neurologists dont think this is the cause of my T. But this will be re-evaluated after a new CT in august.

The funny thing though, is that a lot of stuff started to happen right after I stopped using antiperspirants containing aluminium (especially eyefloaters which I have never experienced before, and more and more episodes of temporarily T). Its probably not related, but something I will keep in the back of my head.

I hope you find a solution for this relentless condition as well! I hope we all do!

 

Yesterday I tried some Mysoline (primidone) 50mg x 2 and it seemed to knock down my noise pretty well, but it also knocked me out that I couldn't function. Today I got loud hissing and will try Gabapentin 900mg + Clonazepam .5mg.

I used CPAP last night and I seem worse today, so will try something else tonight...perhaps sleep in a recliner. I need to function today to finish planting soybeans.

 

Hello.I have a lot of neck from old whip lash, recently I did some physo. and my T started, not sure if this is the case of my T ..goin gor mri on the 16th June for neck and head, because I iam having a balance problem too, read on google, whip lash can cause t aand dizzy sells..will let you after my mri..Thanks for listening!

 

Hello, hang in there!..Huggs!

 

Im experiencing something really weird at the moment.. T has gone down about 90% today and almost no headache.. First day in 6 months I can honestly say that it has been virtually no pain, and Ive been very happy about it. All this happened gradually within 2 days after starting to stretch my suboccipital muscles really hard about 30 minutes a day.. In the morning, middle of the day and before sleep.. This is really weird.

Can you please let me know what kind of position your neck is in while sleeping on the recliner? Are you lying on your back with your head bent a little more upwards than usually?

It might be a shot in the dark, but I think its worth investigating.

 

That's something I will have to look into, the stretching I mean. I'm glad your getting relief from your T and headaches. I don't get headaches, just loud hissing which is bad right now.

Thanks for the tips on the suboccipital muscles stretches! I'm open to any ideas. I'm not sure on the neck position while sleeping in the recliner, which I rarely do. Just waiting for the cat to come in the other night and fell asleep. I'm still confused if my noise is coming from my brain, ears, or neck out of whack?

Being the trials like Autofony's (best near term chance IMO) and others could be years away we have to try something! It would be nice if it was just neck muscles causing the noise, but for some/most it's ear and/or brain caused.

I think we all would travel to the end of the earth to find a solution for this beast!

 

@Mr. Cartman

Do you still believe your neck muscles are causing your T? If yes, what particular neck stretches do you do?

 

Its hard to say what is causing my T, Ive been exposed to noise and also a l0t of stress, but Ive had T almost my entire life because of noise damage in my left ear, but it has never bothered me, and it was a constant tone that easily could be ignored. I have also experienced temporarily T because of noise in the past, but the T Im experiencing now is nothing like any T I have ever experienced before. At least not from noise.

This T changes all the time, it can be a solid ring or a very annoying hiss that sounds like electric current. The hiss is usually in the morning and then it emerges into a ring after I have done some heavy physical work and sometimes goes away.

I did the stretch today as well, and the T seems to fade. I have not had any headaches today as well. This is the second day in 6 months with no headache.

There was a post about those stretches earlier here, but I think this guy explains it very well.

Its really important to keep the neck straight and I also stretch a little sideways to include all the muscles.

If you are doing it the right way, and your suboccipital muscles are tense, you can really feel the stretch. My neck is still sore after a few stretches yesterday.

The Sub-Occipital Stretch

 

Thanks! I'm in a similar situation as you with no quick fix it appears. I will try some of the neck stretches to see if they help. I'm having one of those bad days where the only way to stop it will be sleep.

 

I may go to the U of MN ENT's as suggested by someone at a dentist office. He was a specialty dentist there I believe. He had a strange condition compressing a nerve and causing dizziness and tinnitus. So I will get his doctors name (he may be a neurosurgeon) I was reminded about this a couple days ago by a dental assistant.

The person I talked to for quite some time did not believe that neuro ablations in my neck would help my tinnitus, and he was right. My hissing is blasting away loud today.

 

Thats really interesting. I think compression of nerves can cause a host of weird symptoms, even T.

In the past, before my current T I did notice that when I stretched or yawned I got this hiss for a few seconds that kinda reminds me of my current T when I wake up in the morning.

I really hope you are able to find some answers.

 

This thread is interesting! I too have an undiagnosed T that i can magnify by moving my jaw or applying pressure on muscles in my neck/face, whats peculiar is that before i got the constant but fluctuating T which also sounds like an electrical static hiss and sometimes a high pitched "whistling", i've had a period of some months in which T was occasionally but quite frequent present accompanied with small mystery headaches localized at random points in my head, and @Mr. Cartman i've also been hearing a static kind of T for years when i yawn or move my jaw or strain the muscles in my face, but i always thought this was normal and wasn't bothered by it, on top of all this i've had an inflammation in my jaw joint a year and a half ago, which was caused by chewing too much gum and thus straining my jaw too much while on amfetamine(which is something i do once a year while out clubbing, to put things in perspective ), which was solved quickly with some medication i can't remember unfortunately, and on top of that i do grind my teeth a lot, sleep sometimes with my mouth extremely wide open and the muscles tense (according to my gf), and on top of all this the right side of my jaw clicks whenever i eat something thats quite hard, and every time i move my jaw from one side to another, also my dentist which i visited recently hinted to me that i might have some form of bruxism.

It seems like the pieces of the puzzle are finally falling into place, and to add insult to injury, the first time since i had that jaw inflammation, that i went clubbing again while on amfetamine, and thus chewing a lot of gum, was 1week before my continuous loud T started 3weeks ago. I now realize this is probably the most stupid thing to do with an possible TMJ disfunction, and in any other case it's stupid too, and i feel REALLY stupid about it... but i felt like telling the truth as it is unfortunately probably part of the problem i'm experiencing even though it was a very occasional occurrence

My question is the same as @just1morething , i'm really wondering if its possible to have TMD and a continuous T related to it, even though i'm not really experiencing any of the other symptoms? But i'm 99% convinced it is, it all feels linked somehow and there is definitely something wrong with my TMJ. Gonna try the sub-occipital stretch for a while and make an appointment for a bite guard and further diagnosis of TMD, and hope it will get better

I've also had these weird tingling painful stings in the right side of my tongue for months, the same side as my jaw problems and the right ear is also the ear with the most T( the left ear being only 20% in loudness as compared to the right), could this be related? As already said here nerves seem connected in the most peculiar ways.

@Mr. Cartman Great to hear your T seems to get better! Makes me think mine and probably a lot of others might too! Did you experience a continuous yet fluctuating in loudness T for some period?

Thanks everyone finding this thread and TT.com has been a great help for me!

 

Hi there guys,


I was just reading your thread and I first noticed my T after I did some bench presses in my basement. I also experienced a lot of localized headaches combined with that and some other weird symptoms which i don't want to mention all over again. For that just search for my thread in the introduction part of the forum.

Anyways my T changed from my right ear to my left ear after some treatments with an osteopat. Although the right ear sometimes pops and accompanies it. It actually has never been really a whistle, but mostly just a rustle or hiss. A treatment with my osteopat also changes the sound dramatically, it gets harder first when all my neck/jaw muscles hurt, which is usual after a treatment. I notice a lot of neck pain and ive experienced frequent shocks shooting through the back of my neck which spike my T for a few secs. Besides that I can also influence the loudness by clinching my teeth and triggerpoints. When clinching teeth on the left side the T is loudest. The strange thing is I cannot sleep on my side. I always have to lay on my back because otherwise I'll wake up with a sore neck and increased volume of my T which I sort of seem to feel. When I wake up my T Is the lowest but increases throughout the day when I'm using my neck.

Anyways before I'm actually just summing up all the symptoms again. I'm currently stil under treatment with my osteopat and my left 1st cervical vertebra got stuck. Last time she was not able to crack it, but I didnt want her to push it too far because of exams. My right one cracked fairly easy and seemed to have had some influence on the annoyance of the sound and also on the headaches.

Anyways, did u guys heard of Atlasprofilax. Which is correcting your first cervical vertebra or something like that. Its not what I'm currently doing though, but I'm thinking about it if my osteopat doesn't manage to make any further improvements.

Cheers

 

What a great post you have made, and our symptoms are so similar.
I do grind teeth at night, pretty bad too. Before, I grinded my teeth during the days as well because of extreme stress. But I broke that habbit, and its now "only" during the night, and not as bad as I did before.

Now when I look back, I can really recall a lot of weird things happening before the onset of my T.
I do remember that I had kind of black spots floating around in my vision field for a few days while watching TV (never had those before), and a really weird feeling of a tight upper jaw (like my upper jaw was shrinking and that my teeth got closer and pushing against eachother), but it wasnt very painful and I literally thought it was because I was getting older or something like that and ignored it. If I remember correct, it started about 4 - 6 weeks before my full blown T.

In that period I also had quite a few episodes of temporarily T when I drove my car for a long time, and when sitting infornt of my computer for a long time.
I also had throbbing one-sided headaches (mostly on the right side) after those long car drives, but it all went away when I got out of my car and it was a usual headache so I didnt think too much about it.

About 2 weeks after the onset of my T I got very very bad headaches, it was pain I have never experienced before. I literally thought I was dying. I heard clicks around my head, like the sound of muscles contracting very rapidly. And I got "spots" of aches that appeared random around my head.
The headaches could be described as a feeling of vacuum inside my head, like my head was about to implode any minute.

I then went to a chiro, and he said that my first cervical vertebrae was stuck and he did a neck adjustment. When he adjusted my neck I could feel a very warm sensation on the left side of my neck (around where the sub-occipital muscles are located) lasting for a minute or two, and I was kinda baffled about this feeling and the chiro told me it was probably blood flowing better after the adjustment. My headaches then got better for some reason. I then went back to the chiro a week later and he did another adjustment and this time I could feel a very cold/cool sensation at the same spot.

After that the headaches came back with a vengance + some tingeling around my nose and I did not return to the chiro after this.

It got slightly better while time passed, and back to square one pre chiro for the most part.

Then after a while I started to get those weird tingling painful stings, not only around my head, but also in my arms, legs, and pretty much all around my body. Especially around my eyesk, lips and cheek that can remind a littlebit like an electrical buzz. Ive had two major stings, one in my neck that felt like a high voltage shock and the feeling of somone slamming sand or small rocks at the back of my head. It also tickles inside my ear from time to time, and it feels like something is moving inside my ear, like I have muscle spasms.

My current T started in my left ear, and then progressed to both within 3 - 4 weeks.
My jaw clicks, and I would guess I have a bit of TMD as well, and my jaw seems worst on the left side (the side im grinding my teeth). The T and the symptoms that seem related is worst on the left side as well.

Regarding fluctuation in T, my T seems to fluctuate all the time. When Im driving my car and make a sudden turn, my T disappears for a few seconds. When Im doing hard physical work my T disappears for a while as well. When I chew my T seems to somehow lower, but this could be due to perception.
Its louder and more of a hiss in the morning, and turns into a whistle or a ring later in the day.
Neck movements and jaw movements are affecting it as well.

What I have noticed though, is that the hiss I have always had when yawning is somehow stuck and when I yawn now, my current T, the hiss just becomes more high picthed. If I chew on my cell phone charger cable or put some pressure between two teeth (the second left and the third left tooth located at the top left side counted from my left incisor), the hiss becomes so high pitched that I almost cant hear it.

My aches seem to be connected with my T and I also have a sensation of fullness in the ear(s).

After I started the sub-occipital stretches, my headaches and tingling has gotten a ton better.
The headaches are virtually gone compared to what it was. The tight jaw feeling is for the most part gone.
And it all got better one day after I started those stretches. Could be a coincidence, but I doubt.
Yesterday my entire body felt light as a feather, and I think its 4 days ago I started stretching now.
Maybe, just maybe those stretches might actually work if its caused by tension in the sub-occipital area.
Could be multiple causes though, but I really believe its caused by nerves.

So far, this is what I have found to be possible causes (clinically):
1. First cervical vertebrae was stuck.
2. Negative density in my left occipital condyle probably caused by a lipom (seen on MRI and CT), but the neurologists dont think its related.

I will have a CT of my back and neck tomorrow, Ill post the results later.

 

Good stuff @Mr. Cartman! Suboccipital muscles are very important indeed. These types of stretches are recommended for example by one Swedish T clinic. I recommend reading all the material on this site.

http://www.yts.se/english/self_stretching.htm

 

Sounds very interesting and I see some related symptoms. Because the headaches I experienced started before my T began. They were sharp stinging pains, which I've never felt before. The funny thing is that they began on the right side of my head, located somewhere above my ear and after some treatments with my osteopat, they moved, maybe I'm just imagining this myself though, together with the sound to the left side of my head. These pains only last a few seconds /minutes or so, but seem to be related to the T. All in all I haven't experienced any since my last treatment.

Sorry cartman, but I just had to laugh about the chewing your phone cable part. Maybe that explains the electrical shocks your experiencing

Anyways, why did you not go back to your chiropractor. I mean I assume he had some kind of treatment plan?

I also had times when my T got worse after a treatment, but my osteopat doesn't seem like a money grabbing b*tch. Instead she keeps telling me that she is sure it is coming from my neck and she seems to have some sort of treatment "plan" she is following. I suggest you should go see that chiropractor again and see what he has to say.

Oh ye and when I try do these stretching techniques and move my head for and backwards my ears pop, especially left, but I'm quite sure that's because of the cervical vertebra which is stuck... Anyways we/Iwill get this puzzle solved.

 

Hehe, looking back, I have to laugh a littlebit about it myself.

After the chiro, the headaches got so bad that the only way out seemed to be suicide. The sharp stinging pain you describe, above your ear on your right side (which I experienced before the onset of my T as well) was nothing like it. Its a pain I cannot describe. Its a pain I didnt even know existed. No painkillers could take the edge of it. I was lying in my bed shivering for weeks and when they started to go away I got pretty much scared of it happening again. I did think of suicide many times during those days and I was hospitalized for a few days where they went through about every neurological condition possible, but found nothing wrong.

I will talk to the chiro again, sometime in the future, but for now Im going to enjoy that Im getting better. A lot better.

I forgot to say that I will also have CT of both my jaw joints tomorrow, which I will post the results for later.

 

I must confess, I have not read all of the posts here... but I wanted to add my input on the topic of trigger points and pain in relation to the suboccipital muscles.

Pain in the suboccipital muscles is usually due to prolonged incorrect (forward leaning) posture. Over time, trigger points will develop (and may also develop in the shoulder blades).

The best way to deal with trigger points is... to not let them occur in the first place! And the best way for that is to ensure a good working position at all times (this is probably common knowledge). The way to do that is to implement the following steps in your working environment:

1) Work at a standing desk: takes some getting used to (and may not be appropriate for everyone for the full day).



(And yes, former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld used to work at such a one all day long - not known to that many).

2) When not working in a standing position, regulate the table down and use a balance chair for the seated working position - this is the Swopper:



3) As a way of promoting good spine health, and preventing trigger points from developing, I recommend using the foam roller for back exercises, daily:



One good all-round foam roller is the green version of the Reebok foam rollers (which is more firm than the orange one):



Implementing these steps, will prevent trigger points from developing, remove blockades in the spine, promote good posture and overall spine health and... add many years to the skeleton.

Lastly, one doctor who specializes in removing trigger points and many, many other things is Dr. Klaus Müller:

www.dr-mueller-pfeil.de

(He is both a doctor and a chiropractor, and he is seriously competent in treating trigger points using shock therapy).

 

Thanks for posting!

I also found a lot of other useful info on the site.

 

You are right @attheedgeofscience - forward head posture (FHP) can play a key role in developing all sorts of problems with head, neck and shoulders. I started a thread about FHP some time ago. I am trying to correct mine...

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/forward-head-posture-and-tinnitus.3900/

 

I visted my physiotherapist today. She has been treating my neck and shoulders from the beginning. She is now learning fascial manipulation, which apparently is now hot in physio and massage therapy. She has found several stiff areas in head and neck always on the T-side. The treatment when she loosens the fascial hurts like hell and my T always flares up after that. Interesting to see if these will help.

I also have this hissing sound when I move my head / jaw in certain ways, which is a different sound compared to the regular T. She told me that she has had several patients who have developed hissing sound due to neck problems, which typically have been cured after treatment. Apparently these people don't have constant T, but I think this is promising news anyway.

 

A physio I was seeing about a month ago told me she had one patient with constant T and she said it was because of her neck. It went away in the end, after some treatments. Not sure how and how long, but at least that was what she told me

Another patient of her had T that went away after she got her kidney stones removed..

 

Awesome guys.. I lik the way you are dealing with this issue. I'm constantly doing research myself, because i just cannot imagine I got it from noise trauma, cuz i never go out and stuff.

@ Sound wave : I do experience the same thing after a treatment. My T gets louder for a few days. I also got hissing /rustle. Besides that my neck gets tensed when I don't support it.

Anyways looking back at the post of @attheedgeofscience. Before my T started I used to site behind my desk a lot. I was making a webshop at that time and I would spend literally hours behind my desk with my neck in quiet an unnatural position. During that time I developed these stinging headaches which hurt like hell. And during that time I had quiet a few times that I'd experienced "regular T" that when I moved my neck my ear popped for few secs. I think all in all that the bench presses could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.. Or whatever that expression is called like in English.

Anyways let the investigation continue!

 

This keeps on getting more interesting, i now recall that in the weeks before the onset of T and until a week ago i also was busy doing workouts and especially sit-ups, which were annoying me because they caused stinging headaches for a few seconds every time i did one, i think i strained my neck too much multiple times because i was doing them wrong (not so much of a fitness expert, it was a humble effort to get my condition back together, as i am one huge lazy ass), straining the neck too much, combined with TMD would explain it all, also i notice that when i move my head 90° to the left, away from the T side that is, my T in the right ear( the worst one), immediately spikes and becomes higher pitched, and also my ear feels "full" like its stuffed full of cotton i think, and when i move my head back to normal position, it all disappears again, doing this in the other direction causes no such symptoms, very weird, could this be the confirmation that something is pressing against the hearing nerve on that side, sore/swollen neck or jaw muscles perhaps?

I'm also someone who tends to sit in a wrong position, i notice that whenever i sit i have the tendency to lean forward with by back and head, i've always done this but never paid any attention to it and was quite ignorant of how bad it actually is for your spine, and again, what a coincidence, in the weeks before onset of T i have been sitting a lot because of exams and the fact that i bought a laptop, making me quite lazy

My knowledge is quite vague, but it really looks like were on the right track here!

I also keep being amazed by how much things you would never realize, can cause/influence T. But somehow in the future, when this all gets solved, i will be "glad" this T happened to me, it has been a real eye-opener and made me conscious about my own body, before i couldn't care less, thinking my health was infallible.

I'm thinking of going to a physiotherapist soon, when i get the very occasional massage (a friend of mine is a massage enthousiast) i get the remark a lot that my neck and shoulders are quite tense. But @Mr. Cartman @Sound Wave reading that yours did get worse after doing that has me slightly in fear, did it help in the longterm?

Concerning the sub-occipital stretches, ive been doing them at flour or five times a day for some minutes for the last 2 days and the weird tight feeling in the upper part of my jaw, which i was having quite frequent since onset T, and the small mystery headaches(never very painful, and they always disappear after a few mins), i haven't noticed them at all today, could very well be a coincidence, there have been other days without those symptoms, and no change in T (yet). But it's worth a try and looks promising!

Just like @Sjtof it does seem like a lot of unfortunate and minor unhealthy muscular issues did reach a boiling point, causing a most annoying T some weeks ago.

 

I also have that bad posture.

Maybe we are onto something.

I read on a website about jaw muscle stretches yesterday, and I did open my mouth as wide as I could for a few minutes and then repeating it for a few times. The headaches got really bad and so did my T for a good while after I did that. No idea why, as I first thought it was all from my neck.

I had CT done of my jaw joints today and quite a few x-rays of my back in different positions. The radiologist said I would have the results in about a week. If those are fine I will probably be sent to a hospital where they will look for compressed nerves and measure blood flow. Im scheduled up to a specialized ear lab next monday where they will also do some more testing.

Ill post the results when I receive them.

@Sjtof
@just1morething
@Sound Wave

 

Nice! Sounds you are in good hands.

I'm going back to my osteopath on Friday for my neck. Already made photos of my jaw joints, which seemed to be Ok, but despite that I'm getting some bites measured and created in about 2 weeks from now. Just to make clear. Do you guys experience less T in the morning when you wake up. I mean when I wake up or rest, my T Is so much less than when I use my neck a lot.

I also read something about the movement of your first cervical vertebra in combination with moving the jaw. Maybe that explains in my case, because my cervical vertebra is stuck, why clinching my teeth increases the T. However my ENT said that was due to difference in pressure within the ear. However I do not experience a louder T when I for example drive down a mountain or whatever. So when the pressure within the ear also changes.

 

After I started the suboccipital stretches, my T is so much less in the morning indeed. But before I did those stretches, my T was louder in the morning. Not sure why.

At least that jaw stretch did affect my T and headaches very badly. The neck stretches are great though.

The chiro I went to (that told me my first CV was stuck) said: "Wow, you have been walking around with this a long time, havent you? Tinnitus is one of the last symptoms to appear.". Not sure if I should believe him or not, as I got very bad aches the second time he adjusted it, but who knows. Its kinda interesting that we both have it though, and a lot of the same symptoms.

Im curious if they will find if your bite is off. Im going to measure that as well.

 

Correct.

That's normal after an adjustment.


Chiropractors are true experts at what they do. Unlike doctors they rarely get a diagnosis wrong. Many conditions are related to the nervous system (of which chiropractors are true experts); who would have thought heartburn could be related to a stuck vertebrae? If you went to the doctor with that, he/she would prescribe medication for it - which... doesn't exactly treat the underlying problem...