I'm 22 years old and I have been suffering from ear symptoms for about a year and a half now. I have extremely intrusive and volatile tinnitus and severe hyperacusis (sound sensitivity) and I'm unable to leave the house due to these symptoms and getting to the doc is a hefty chore. Hygeine is extremely difficult for me (bathing, the sound of water in the tub is often times too loud for me, and brushing my teeth is tough to endure). I can't even talk to my friends because their voices are too loud for me, though I have a few that drop by time to time just to see me, it's quite sad. - Just to elaborate a little on my symptoms.. my tinnitus is reactive, so that when I encounter sounds too loud for me to handle the tinnitus increases, and if that sound is loud enough, it can sometimes permanently worsen my tinnitus. Couple this with the hyperacusis and I hope you can understand the tightrope I walk when venturing beyond my home.
In my quest to find out what was causing these problems I noticed one day that my jaw was feeling very tight after eating sometimes. Then it progressed to the point that eating was exacerbating my tinnitus dramatically, so I thought maybe I had some sort of muscle imbalance in my jaw. Then the problem progressed even more and my jaw started making "thud" noises when I moved it to the side and such (opposed to regular clicks, which I've always had since I can remember).
After reading up some I thought I might have TMJ, so I finally made it to a TMJ doctor who was very sympathetic to my case, but due to my ear symptoms he isn't able to treat me to his full potential (eg I can't make the drive to his main office 4 hours from where I live and can't do an MRI because of the sound etc). Nonetheless, he took a still side shot xray of my jaw joint and asked me if I ever had trauma to my jaw joint or had arthritis, to which I replied no to both.
He made me 2 splints, 1 soft and 1 hard. The hard one was too thick so I never wore it, and after about 2 weeks the soft one had begun to exacerbate my symptoms, never offering any real relief but here is where things got interesting..
Somehow, wearing that splint exacerbated a problem of occlusion in my mouth. I have wisdom teeth coming in and the one on the top right side of my mouth is impacted and it pushes down on my top right molar--so it protrudes down farther than the rest of my teeth. My top right molar contacts with my bottom teeth before any other teeth do, so it was my hypothesis that my right jaw (the problematic one) was taking all of that pressure, causing the initial trauma, and the splint only worsened this by forcing my jaw open wider and keeping the same malocclusion intact.
At this point, my jaw is in pretty tough shape, its inflammed alot and my tinnitus is so volatile it drives me crazy. Luckily I don't have much pain but I am in agony nonetheless. It's like my bite changes day to day, and even during the day, I swear my bite never feels the same from one day to the next. It feels like my whole jaw/neck/back area is out of alignment. When I walk and my head is held down its like I can feel my jaw moving with every step, even if my teeth are held together, its extremely wierd. Also, some nights I'll be woken up by a loud pop, and it seems its my jaw, because when I move it after that it feels like there's gravel in the joint, so I assume its the jaw bone breaking off or something.
Enough of the background_ I'm probably going to try and see the TMJ doc tomorrow and at least get a panoramic xray to help in diagnosis and see if there's some way we can maybe grind the tooth down in the back of my mouth which I think is greatly adding to this predicament, but I don't know how possible that is with such a limited opening and I would most definitely have to be put under anesthesia so I could endure the sound from the grinding.
I just don't know what to do, I have a wonderful doctor that wants to offer me all the proper care in the world but I am unable to recieve it due to my ear symptoms. If I was just able to deal with the inflammation some I think it would help the tinnitus, but NSAIDs are contraindicated for tinnitus and they do indeed make me worse, so I'm at a loss there as well. I guess I'm asking for any ideas, suggestions, or just a reply. Thank you for letting me vent.
I'm sorry that I don't have answers for you, but you've come to the right place. Everyone here is so informative and supportive.
It definitely sounds like you have problems with your bite. Did the TMJ specialist diagnosis you with TMJ? Do you have any of the other symptoms of TMJ? My son has problems with tinnitus and noise sensitivity, but not to your degree. As a teenager, he can't handle music, movie theaters, well, you get the picture.
A panoramic sounds like it's a start. See what's going on with the teeth. Now, an MRI, I'm sure that you know that they give you earphones to wear, what if you coupled those with earplugs? If you could somehow manage with that, it's a pretty good way of finding out exactly what's going on with the joints.
It does sound as if you're clenching or grinding pretty hard, though. The last specialist that my Son had made him bite down as hard as he could on this compressed cotton, and his tinnitus immediately got worse. Apparently, from the research that I've done, spastic muscles will sometimes cause tinnitus, therefore splint therapy should help you some. There's someone on this board, Cymy Sue, I believe she described her tinnitus as 'jet engines roaring', and hers tamed down through splint therapy. (Cymy Sue, please correct me if I'm wrong) Maybe read some old posts. I'm sorry that I can't help you any further. Let me know how your appt. goes tomorrow.
Cheryl
[This message has been edited by CherylLynn24 (edited 06-12-2003).]
Hi Cheryl and thank you for taking the time to reply.
I'm sorry to hear of your son's ear and jaw symptoms and wish him luck in getting relief.
My tinnitus is chirping, hissing, tonal, machine sounds, and the most troubling sound is like a spastic tea kettle that has an on/off switch that gets pressed about 100 times a minute. I hear these sounds 24/7, ie nothing covers them completely.
They allow me to wear ear plugs/muffs during a panoramic xray (i tried to have one before but chickened out) and it was too loud. Although his xray machine is a particularly loud one, he assures me that is pales in comparison to an MRI, and I just can't risk gambling with that.
Yes I am a chronic clencher, though I don't grind any if at all that I am aware of, and when I do clench it exacerbates my tinnitus. That coupled with the gravel noises in my jaw, the inflammation, and the trauma spotted in the right jaw led to the diagnosis of TMJD.
I hope you have a good day tomorrow Cheryl, and if I can make it up to the doctor I'll report back anything we find out.
You are a long way ahead of me as far as treatment and diagnosis, but I appreciate the things you are experiencing. I too am finding it difficult to even get out of the house and am experiencing a host of symptoms. Please post later and share what you've found out. I'm staggered at the number of people who live with this kind of chronic pain and am eager to learn what I can to do to prevent it in myself and others.
Have you tried any muscle relaxants such as Flexeril? It may reduce the muscle spasms, possibly helping out your tinnitus some. From what I understand concerning tinnitus, the key seems to be relaxing the muscles...
Have a good day tomorrow, and keep us informed.
Cheryl
Help and advice needed 
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