Ear Pressure and Fullness?! Possible TMJ?

[jadebug]

Hello everyone it's me again. Only now I'm being tortured with another weird ear symptom. Does anyone else experience ear fullness and pressure and nothing can be done to pop the ears? This basically only happens to me when I go out which is extremely weird to me.

For example, I have been trying to get out of the house because it takes my mind off of the new high pitch awful tinnitus I have developed, but whenever I go out to the mall or the grocery store I get insane fullness in my ears like I'm on an air plane. It only goes away hours later when I get home or sometimes not until I go to sleep and wake up the next day.

I don't really have any congestion and when I went to the ENT my tympanogram came back fine and when he looked in my ears he said they looked good as well so no fluid or anything although when I had the appointment I didn't have the feeling of fullness. Then he started to examine my jaw and I'm not sure if it's just because he used a lot of pressure, but it hurt so much to have my jaw touched like that and he said the fullness and the increase in my tinnitus could be related to TMJ because he said my jaw was very inflamed.

I never thought I could have TMJ because I never noticed my jaw hurting at all. I could eat fine and never experienced any sort of discomfort ever except when I had my wisdom teeth removed last year which led to about a month of intense jaw soreness which I guess is to be expected. He prescribed me a weeks worth of ibuprofen and told me to do heat compresses three times a day for two weeks. Surprisingly the ibuprofen helped a lot with the fullness for a few days or perhaps it was a coincidence but it definitely dimished the weird vibrating tinnitus I get only in my left ear and the head buzz.

Now everything seems back in full force including the fullness and the vibrating ear feeling. And what seems to help my tinnitus just makes the fullness worse like going out. Does this fullness and awful pressure that makes me feel my breath in my ear and voice resonate ever go away? Could it be TMJ? ETD or something else? I'm so scared and depressed I'm only 20 years old. I guess I should mention I first got mild T in 2011 from nowhere probably stress and this increase occurred after I took a week and a half of lexapro although I'm not sure if that caused it since every doctor I've been to has told me that short amount of time on lexapro would never cause a permanent increase in T. And even if it could lexpro wouldn't cause this ridiculous ear fullness right? Also I haven't had any loud noise exposure if that matters. I'm seeing the ENT in a few days again and have made an appointment with a dentist who treats TMJ. Is there anything I should ask my ENT for or any other advice in general? Thank you everyone!

 

[BuzzyBee]

I get the same ear fullness, and it's awful! Sorry you are having to deal with it, too. It's always worse when I go outside (especially when it's warm), and then feels better when I come back inside to an air conditioned room. There's probably some sort of muscle or tissue inflammation that somehow affects the Eustachian tube. Because mine is cyclic I believe it has to do with fluctuating hormones and estrogen, but I'm not really sure and doctors don't have much to say about hormones. Another theory is that diet plays into it, so I've experimented a bit and it seems that cutting down on dairy (specifically casein) helps a bit. I do eat a little butter here so I'm not completely dairy free, but I stopped eating yogurt and regular cheese and ice cream. There are tons of great substitutes so it wasn't that hard.

Using Flonase on occasion and drinking a ton of water *kind of* helps, too.

 

[jadebug]

I get the same ear fullness, and it's awful! Sorry you are having to deal with it, too. It's always worse when I go outside (especially when it's warm), and then feels better when I come back inside to an air conditioned room. There's probably some sort of muscle or tissue inflammation that somehow affects the Eustachian tube. Because mine is cyclic I believe it has to do with fluctuating hormones and estrogen, but I'm not really sure and doctors don't have much to say about hormones. Another theory is that diet plays into it, so I've experimented a bit and it seems that cutting down on dairy (specifically casein) helps a bit. I do eat a little butter here so I'm not completely dairy free, but I stopped eating yogurt and regular cheese and ice cream. There are tons of great substitutes so it wasn't that hard.

Using Flonase on occasion and drinking a ton of water *kind of* helps, too.

Thank you for your reply! I feel better knowing that I'm not alone with experiencing this although I'm very sorry you're dealing with this as well. How long have you dealt with the ear fullness? I'm hoping that it is just the summer weather and perhaps maybe an allergy thing if not related to my tmj and within a few months it should go away, but I guess ears are extremely unpredictable.

 

[BuzzyBee]

Thank you for your reply! I feel better knowing that I'm not alone with experiencing this although I'm very sorry you're dealing with this as well. How long have you dealt with the ear fullness? I'm hoping that it is just the summer weather and perhaps maybe an allergy thing if not related to my tmj and within a few months it should go away, but I guess ears are extremely unpredictable.

Yours really sounds like TMJ and you seem to be on the right track heading to a dentist who treats it. Good luck! I actually have a myriad of middle ear issues, so it seemed implausible to me that the fullness and molar pain would be TMJ, but now my ear issues (except for the tinnitus) have resolved, thus I think it might actually be TMJ/TMD and am still trying to figure out how to handle it. My regular dentist and my otologist both recommended seeing either physical therapist or a TMJ specialist, so I think you are ahead of the game. Let us know how it goes.

 

[slipware]

Yes, count me in, feels like my right ear is permanently blocked, can't be cleared ever. Not jaw related but in my case, blood supply.

 

[BuzzyBee]

Yes, count me in, feels like my right ear is permanently blocked, can't be cleared ever. Not jaw related but in my case, blood supply.

You and I have remarkably similar symptoms including that sometimes when the facial pain (mine is in my molars) is worse, the tinnitus is quieter.

@jadebug, I hope you get some good info from the doctor!

 

[jadebug]

Yes, count me in, feels like my right ear is permanently blocked, can't be cleared ever. Not jaw related but in my case, blood supply.

Is there anything that can be done for that? What is exactly is wrong?

 

[jadebug]

You and I have remarkably similar symptoms including that sometimes when the facial pain (mine is in my molars) is worse, the tinnitus is quieter.

@jadebug, I hope you get some good info from the doctor!

Thank you I'll keep everyone updated! I hope I can find some relief I don't know how much longer I can deal with this all.