Hi!
I was reading another post that Subs had written and he mentioned the TMJ and you having it. How much have you discovered that the TMJ affects your balance? I didn't know anything about TMJ, never even heard about it before this thing hit me in July. I woke up one night spinning after turning over to the right. Was diagnosed eventually with BPPV. Had the Epley done several times, don't spin anymore, but still topsy-turvy. I have the typical head pressure, ear pressure, neck pain, TMJ headache. It seems like I developed the TMJ after the inner ear thing, but I was actually developing it before it hit. I remember for several months noticing that my "bite" wasn't right when I chewed gum. It bugged me but I had no idea what it was. I was also having headaches once in awhile that I believe fully now were TMJ headaches that I thought were sinus headaches.
I have had a bad habit of chewing on the inside of my mouth ever since I was a kid. I am always working my jaw and I think maybe I am paying the price for a silly, annoying habit I didn't pay much attention to.
Anyway, TMJ, glasses that are just not right (got them 3 months before the vertigo hit). I am wondering how much those things have contributed to my present condition of imbalance.
Would love to know what you know about the TMJ thing. My balance therapist is going to get me set up with a TMJ specialist. I figure it wouldn't hurt to see what could be done it that area. And I am getting my eyes looked at by a neuro-optometrist on the 18th. I have seen an ENT (did the Epleys) and a neuro-optometrist who didn't seem to think I needed to be tested and sent me straight to the therapist. Didn't tell me anything new I hadn't found out for myself.
Anyway, I hope you bounce right back!!! I remember feeling so happy when I read that you were doing so well!!!
I believe it will come soon for you like Subs says. Sounds like you are on the right track with everything!
Blessings!
Vicki

Hi Vicki,

I was diagnosed with tmjd a few months before I got my lab diagnosis. Initially I thought all my symptoms were down to tmjd but then I developed actual vertigo and had balance tests done and they pointed to possible vestibular damage. I am working on the assumption that, like you, I had signs of tmj before ever getting the lab and the lab stirred things up. It's true that people with tmj do get dizziness and balance issues - so it's always hard to say for sure what is causing the dizziness. I guess for some people it can be exclusively tmjd - if it is, my guess based on some reading, is that if you experience actual vertigo with tmjd it's caused by the SCM muscle in the neck. There is no other research done in to why tmjd could cause vertigo, although it has been know for a long time that muscular problems in the neck can cause it, so I'm guessing if people experience vertigo with tmjd it's caused by the knock on effect of neck problems. Tmjd can definitely cause visual blurring, a foggy head, pain/pressure in the ears, sinus type facial pain etc... Although a lot of people with lab/BPPV experience similiar things so it's difficult to know where one ends or one begins, or it it's all caused by one or the other.

I can only tell you the conclusions I've come to which is that if you aren't sure what is causing your symptoms but you suspect that tmjd might be making the lab worse, or indeed be the sole cause, the best thing you can do is take a multi pronged approached - namely treat both the lab or BPPV and the tmjd and hope that the combination of treatments does the trick. So in that sense, you're on the right track. Basically that's what I'm doing - wearing a splint to suppress clencing - doing physio on my neck and jaw, as well as VRT. That way you've covered all bases. The only other thing that has occurred to me recently is the overlap of symptoms btwn migraine and tmjd - they can often mimic each other. I will be asking my neuro oto if it's possible that I don't have 2 different things but indeed one - MAV - I've always been curious as to why the tmjd stuff flared up so soon after the lab started, which is what makes me suspicious, although I'm not sure.

Sorry I can't be of more help, what I basically found out is that when it comes to the overlap of tmjd/lab/BPPV type dizzy symptoms there are no definite answers.

Hope this helps,

best,

hbep.

Thanks, Hbep! for your information.
I does seem to me that probably my symptoms of TMJ were accelerated by the inner ear problem. I do believe that my initial problem began 9 years ago with a true inner ear virus. Boy, the inner ear just doesn't like being messed with!
Anyway, I appreciate your input and I hope all these things you are doing will help you get well quickly!
Vicki