Help Please with ear trouble - TMJ Disorder -TemporoMandibular Joint Message Board

ohioguy28 · 04-29-2008, 02:16 PM

Thanks ahead of time for your help. I have had Tinnitus for about 2.5 years now that started after a stuffy right ear that nobody could figure out. The T started in the right ear then moved to both after the stuffiness went away. In my search for answers I saw a TMJ specialist (Dr. Wes Shankland) at the TMJ and facial pain center in columbus, oh. He diagnosed me with TMD and made a NTI for me to wear at night which I have been doing for the last two years. I grind my teeth badly and have broken one NTI already and have to have them filled in every few weeks from wearing a groove in them. The tinnitus has not been very bad for a long time but recently I had a couple flare ups and now my right ear has this stuffy feeling for the last 7 weeks. I have had hearing tests that came out better then average ( most measurments were negative) and the feeling in my right ear is hard to explain. It really annoys me most when I am talking or if I humm its like its stuffed up but outside sounds sound almost normal. I am suppose to go in this Thur to have injections in my temporal tendon because the Doc thinks that will help. I would just like to get any feedback from any of you on similar ear problems where your hearing wasnt effected but it felt like it? Oh also for a long time if I come home from work and lay down and sleep during the day ( I work 3rd shift) I always end up with a bad headache above my eyes, more on the right side, and back a little. Not right on the temple but close to it. I also have aches in my jaw when eating chewy stuff but never really any pain. Thanks again for your help!

snh39 · 04-30-2008, 12:42 AM

The jaw pain and eye issues are most likely caused by your TMJ. You should check into getting some PT (myofascial therapy). It may also help with your tinnitus. I have both TMJ with ear issues, including tinnitus and loads of other symptoms.

Tinnitus can be the TMJ or you could be developing an ear issue. You might want to check with an ENT doctor before this injection and get a second opinion. If it's ear related, than an ear doctor, not a TMJ specialist should be looking at it. Check out more info on the inner ear threads of this site. They're very helpul and the first post in the list is the one you want to read through to start. It will list different topics of symptoms and treatments.

Also if you're shreading your mouth guards that frequently, you're seriously grinding! You should look into the reason why you are; maleclousion (off bite), stress, sleep apnea. If it's stress, having PT will go a long way to relieving some of it, but also look at other stress relievers like biofeedback, counseling (I know that sounds weird, but most people don't even know what they're stress levels are and your body pays for it), accupuncture. These are proven methods at pinpointing stress and relieving it.

Take it from me, I've seriously paid for letting things go in my twenties and thirties. If you have a slight problem now with your jaw, it will progress and cause all sorts of other problems if you don't address it. It might not even be that problematic and can be eleviated fairly easily.

I hope you find some answers

snh39

ohioguy28 · 04-30-2008, 07:08 AM

Thanks for the response. I have been to many ENTs about the T and the stuffiness when I had it in the beginning ( OSU Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, as well as some others) and they all could not find anything wrong with my ears and said my hearing was perfect. The ENT I saw at the Cleveland Clinic seemed to think it was related to TMJ which is why I started the splint treatment.

snh39 · 04-30-2008, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohioguy28

Thanks for the response. I have been to many ENTs about the T and the stuffiness when I had it in the beginning ( OSU Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, as well as some others) and they all could not find anything wrong with my ears and said my hearing was perfect. The ENT I saw at the Cleveland Clinic seemed to think it was related to TMJ which is why I started the splint treatment.

With TMJ, it's almost like you have to undo what's been done to your joints and muscles. Many times doctors won't find anything on tests but you still suffer quite a bit and your symptoms are severe due to the TMJ/TMD taking hold of everything else.

I didn't have tinnitus until my TMJ got really bad, so I'm fairly certain it's what's causing it.

Yours is most likely then not your ear, but your jaw. Once you relieve your jaw joint and muscles from the tension or bite that could be off, the tinnitus will subside. You have to work backwards with TMJ. It's known to cause all sorts of other issues like stomach problems, neck and back, hip, knee, shoulder probs, migraines, eye tracking and blurry vision, and with me, I even get heart arythmia from it.

So if you go to the source for what's causing your T, which is probably your jaw issue, then find out what's causing your jaw issue, eventually you'll come to some conclusions.

snh39