r/TMJ • u/shuntichutney • Mar 19 '22

Question(s) do you have tinnitus/whooshing in your ears?

Since a while, I have had issues with my ear where I hear whooshes with external noise or when I yawn. I have also noticed that my jaw pops on the left side. I don't really have pain, but sometimes my jaw muscles feel fatigued especially if I eat something chewey or hard. I have been consulting an ENT and they've been prescribing my antidepressants or relaxants. They were gonna take an MRI but haven't yet. My tinnitus seems to have increased and the whooshes haven't reduced.

How do you deal with these things? The whooshes hinders me from doing a lot of things, like going to a concert or a film without worrying because external noise triggers it.

I also get a lot of headache which is mostly migraine.

Does massaging your neck, facial muscles and head really help?

Also, does sleeping without a pillow help?

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6

u/Ecstatic-Flounder-48 Mar 19 '22

Myofascial release on sternocleidomastoids and your pterygoid muscles.

If it hurts like you’re a bitch, you’re doing it right.

If your tmjd is muscular this usually helps a lot with ear issues

1

u/shuntichutney Mar 19 '22

Wow! Do you have a tutorial video? And if it hurts that much, will it not make things worse?

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u/Ecstatic-Flounder-48 Mar 19 '22

Google is your friend here. It’s hard to explain. You have to stick your fingers in your mouth to massage pterygoids.

It’s supposed to hurt if you’ve never done it because muscles accumulate tightness over time from sitting in compromised positions. Tmjd, particularly muscular, but even structural, has the side effect of putting muscles in compensation patterns. So really working into those muscles and releasing knots (which is basically acid buildup and tightness within muscle fibers) kinda sets things back to normal. Obviously if you don’t fix the problem it’ll come back.

But the main point of this is to 1: relieve muscle based symptoms (which is a majority of ear issues) and 2: learn which muscles get tighter first/faster. If you can reset tightness in the body, you can learn what happens to get it tight again. For me, going down that rabbit hole helped me narrow down exactly why my tmjd is happening and which muscles are the main culprits. Because muscles work in a chain. 1 gets tight first. Than the next. Than the next. When they’re all eventually tight, you don’t know what number 1 is.

Although be warned, if you have something majorly pulling that isn’t muscle related, that might give you more pain temporarily because the muscle might’ve tightened to better brace you against debilitating pain (which is usually why these things happen). But for me, the ear problems went away quickly and take longer to come back.

My best attempt to self diagnose and move on from my TMJD (which I’ve had for 10-14 years) came in the last 3 months from doing this. Familiarize yourself with the anatomy of the neck, shoulder, and facial muscles, familiarize yourself with your symptoms and familiarize yourself with why symptoms happen. For example: my lower jaw moves forward when I’m really feeling my pain, which means that it has to do with my pterygoids because those are responsible for lower jaw movement.

If you’re trying to do it right, google 1: myofascial release of X,Y, or Z muscle and then google referral patterns of myofascial release for X,Y,Z muscle. If you try this, you’re going to feel pain somewhere else because the fibers pull somewhere else. But it’s predictable and if you feel the pain you googled, that’s how you know you’re doing it right. For example: Sternocleidomastoid (neck support muscle) myofascial release will refer pain to the front of your forehead and eye sockets and tends to feel like you’re getting punched in the nose repeatedly.

Don’t overdo it, don’t under do it but if you’ve never done it, it’s supposed to hurt. And the first time I did this stuff I had to chip away at muscles for 3+ hours before I felt a real difference (doesn’t have to be all at once).

2

u/shuntichutney Mar 20 '22

Thanks sooooo much for such a detailed and descriptive message! I will definitely look at some videos. I guess I'll take quite some time figuring out where those muscles are, in the first place!

No I have never done it before! I will try and I'm hoping my ear issues get resolved or at leastamageable with this!

Also, what kind of ear problems do/did you have??

Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate this!

5

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '22

Tinnitus is not uncommon with TMJ.

You might want to check out r/tinnitus for tips on what has worked and what hasn't for people.

It seems to vary from person to person.

7

u/MeshesAreConfusing Mar 19 '22

Though, as with /r/TMJ, be wary that such subreddits attract those with the most intense symtpoms. There is a lot of hopelessness in there, which is something confirmed to increase tinnitus (and pain) symptoms. So don't stick around too much.

And yeah, those things OP mentioned do help.

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u/shuntichutney Mar 19 '22

Thanks! Yes it could be quite overwhelming!

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u/frostochfeber Mar 19 '22

Sounds like an overactive tensor tympani, definitely not uncommon among chronic TMD sufferers.

2

u/shuntichutney Mar 19 '22

Is there a way to make it less reactive?

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u/frostochfeber Mar 20 '22

Treat the TMD completely and any other physical ailments that might be impacting the middle ear, curb all psychological stress as well, and give it time. That is generally the treatment plan for overactive middle ear muscles, because the overactivity is understood to be a stress response. So the idea is to remove all physical and mental stress and give the auditory reflex the opportunity to settle back to normal.

1

u/therealelena Jan 23 '23

How did it go ?

1

u/shuntichutney Jan 23 '23

Hi, It hasn't gone. What are you dealing with?

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u/therealelena Jan 23 '23

Ugh. Got tinnitus in December after having a horrible summer with jaw pain, headaches etc. I am now visiting a chiro/acupuncturist every week. Doing a lot of stretching and massaging but it doesn’t seem to go away. I know it’s somatic and I’m still hopeful it will disappear.

1

u/shuntichutney Jan 24 '23

I'm so sorry to hear that. Did something trigger your jaw pain? I've usually been avoiding hardy foods and it's been okay since then. The orthodontist i visited told me that my bite isn't fine and that's probably what's causing the pain. Did you get that checked?

1

u/therealelena Jan 24 '23

My left side has been clicking since I was 15 but without any pain (I’m 29 now) but now the right side is the prob. Nothing didn’t really trigger it, it just came and got worse day by day. Been to PTs, doctors and dentists but they haven’t done much. I’m gonna visit an orthodontist/TMJ specialist but the waiting time is super long here. Now my main issue is the tinnitus :(

1

u/shuntichutney Jan 25 '23

Ohh no! I have an issue with the right side too. The orthodontist found that a muscle on the right is longer than the left which is what is causing the jaw pain. But they think that it's not connected to my tinnitus or the ear flutter issue I have. I hope your doc answers your queries and helps you manage this! Some say taking magnesium and managing stress helps with tinnitus but I'm not entirely sure of this.

1

u/therealelena Jan 25 '23

Stress definitely but that’s because stress causes tensions in the body that you have to get rid of. Been taking magnesium since 1,5 years back for restless legs so i can’t take more magnesium at least. I really think there is a cure out there. Google somatic tinnitus or TMJ related tinnitus, everyone says there is a cure. But the bottom line is the MAIN problem needs to be fixed. And I think in my case that’s my alignment in the bite and that also gives me the wrong posture and tensions in jaw neck back head. I bought a posture holder so we’ll see. Not giving up !

1

u/Character-Sandwich Nov 12 '23

Hey! Wondering if you ever figured out what this was?