Has your TMJ/neck improved at all? Has it affected your tinnitus?
Hi
@Phat Tuna -
My tinnitus has improved significantly, is now mostly isolated to my right ear where it started, and sometimes goes away completely for a couple hours here and there since starting my treatment plan in Nov 2019. My tinnitus started two days after receiving a night guard for grinding in July 2019, and then went into free-fall from there. I had TMJ (worse on the right side) and a misaligned jaw sloping downward to the left. I have been undergoing dual orthotic therapy for my TMJ since Nov 2019, and I am currently on week 10 of 12. My treatment was not covered by insurance and cost $6K which I am paying out of pocket (but it has been worth it). Be patient with the orthotics as they take time to work. By Week 4, my ear pain, jaw pain, and hyperacusis were gone. Now, when watching my jaw open, my TMJ joints more or less rotate and translate to much of the same degree, the clicking is gone, and my lower jaw has straightened considerably. If you go forward with orthotics therapy, practice TMJ exercises and releases several times a day. Carefully try the lateral pterygoid release (see video earlier in the thread - was able to open my jaw ~5 mm more only after two days of doing this and this improved my sinus congestion as well which has not been as bad since (still trying to figure that one out)) and tape your mouth shut when you sleep to breathe your nose (mouth breathing can trigger bruxism). I also tend to get tension headaches in my temples. This facial massage device has been a godsend -
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z7P7FJX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I use this before going to bed and again if I wake up in the middle of the night as part of my routine to fall asleep, and in the morning if I wake-up with a tension headache due to grinding.
I would also strongly advise you check for other additional degrees of musculoskeletal misalignment and neuromuscular imbalance that TMJ, bruxism, and a misaligned jaw can trigger as well. On top of my TMJ and misaligned jaw, I had a leg length discrepancy with my right leg 1.5" shorter than my left, right lateral pelvic tilt, anterior pelvic tilt, misaligned shoulders sloping downward to the right, forward head posture, and a misaligned atlas. Your body can misalign top-down or bottom-up, and postural compensations for single minor imbalance can proceed quickly. I added 6 months of atlas orthogonal upper cervical chiropractic treatment to my treatment plan as this type of treatment is often combined to with other approaches to treat TMJ. Having a background in athletic training and powerlifting, I also designed my own Physical Therapy regiment. This has been a helpful site for me for this -
http://posturedirect.com/. I would caution you not to do this type of thing on your own if you do not have a background in it. If not, get a referral for Physical Therapy and get a comprehensive exam and then development a PT regiment from there. A game-changer for me has the Pso-Rite -
https://www.amazon.com/PSO-RITE-Pso...r_1_3?keywords=pso-rite&qid=1579460017&sr=8-3. If you have poor posture like me, pay special attention to the psoas, serratus anterior, serratus posterior, and QL muscles. Stretching all these muscles on a regular basis as part of a PT plan, has led to a sustained decrease in the volume of my tinnitus. Often times, the cause of TMJ is not straightforward as is the case with tinnitus and if it caused by an underlying misalignment and imbalance, correcting the symptom (TMJ) and not the underlying cause will only result in short-term relief and TMJ may well return. On a related note, practice good sitting and standing posture as well.
My treatment plan encompasses much more than this, but I continue to spend considerable time at sea and I will be moving in the early spring to take a teaching faculty position, so I have been too busy summarize all of my notes on my condition and subsequent treatment that now spans two full 3-subject notebooks. I will just say adopt the practice of the scientific method along with a holistic and systematic treatment approach to your tinnitus treatment. Most all papers I have investigated close saying tinnitus sufferers often achieve the best results when combining several different types of treatments; the only thing is that it is up to you with your doctors to find the combination of treatments that work best for you,
Other quick recommendations I have for treating tinnitus likely due to musculoskeletal misalignment and neuromuscular imbalances follow below -
1)
Prioritize Sleep! - Get 7-8 hours a night with at least 90-120 minutes of REM sleep and 120-180 hours of deep per night (these are my targets only). I noticed that the less REM sleep I got per night, the more tinnitus bothered me and the more irritable I was during the day. The less deep sleep I get, the more sore I feel. There are several devices that can track sleep nowadays. I purchased this one -
https://www.amazon.com/Withings-Nok...?keywords=sleep+tracker&qid=1579461298&sr=8-4. The gold standard seems to be the Dreem 2 (more info -
https://dreem.com/en). I plan on purchasing the latter once I am settled in my new job as it is 5x as expensive as the one I purchased. Tracking my sleep, also alerted me to all of my breathing disturbances that prompted an investigation of sleep apnea. Also, when sleeping, keep your spine in a neutral position. I have still not mastered sleeping on my back and continue to sleep on my side. I keep a pillow between my knees when sleeping, sleep with a lumbar support pillow, and am careful not to rotate my pelvis relative to my thorax and neck (which will cause or worsen misalignments and imbalances that contribute to tinnitus. Educate yourself about good sleep hygiene, develop a routine that incorporates deep breathing or meditation, and stick with it. With all of this, I was gradually became more aware of my sleep, was able to understand it, and now stress much less about it. Without good sleep, your body cannot heal, fight inflammation, and sustain proper bone metabolism; all which will help resolve your TMJ and possibly your tinnitus.
2)
If you are not a healthy weight, make sustained lifestyle changes to lose weight and achieve a healthy BMI. There are several health benefits of losing weight, which I will not restate here. For me with an anterior pelvic tilt, however, this means less of gut and weight in my abdomen that pulls my spine forward and out of alignment. Also, less weight above my pelvis that could pull it more to one side or the other. When my tinnitus started I was 6'2" and 235 lbs in July 2019 and now I oscillate between 195 and 200 lbs. Once I reach 180-185 lbs, I will restart light weight training. A PT regiment undertaken to address tinnitus attributed musculoskeletal misalignment and neuromuscular imbalance can help support this as it should consist of stretching shortened muscles that remain chronically contracted, strengthening weak muscles, and reversing muscular atrophy all while practice good posture. In my case, I mostly focus on my core, glutes, upper legs, important postural muscles (see above), and exercises to fix forward head posture. Start slow and work up from there. I started by walking at a brisk pace for 45 minutes 5x a week and did beginner Foundational Training in the morning, before lunch, and in the evening before bed -
3)
Normalize and learn control your cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine (stress hormone) levels! - Working in a high-stress environment where the need to publish and secure funding is always present and going thru graduate school to get there, I think I have been over-stressed most of my life. After learning the body releases excess cortisol thru bruxism at night, this eventually led me to Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) (more info -
https://www.annelemonswellness.com/blog-1/2017/12/31/adrenal-fatigue-what-is-it-and-how-do-i-fix-it). A good book for it as well that I bought and read -
https://www.amazon.com/Adrenal-Fati...drenal+fatigue+syndrome&qid=1579463404&sr=8-4). Conventional medical professionals do not agree AFS is a real condition, but as an objective outside scientific observer, I would say there are several things folks in those professions do not approach correctly including tinnitus; a condition that continues to lack a document that leverages all alternative and conventional treatments. AFS is similar. I am hesitant to offer advice on how to approach this since it will truly vary on an individual basis as it did for me. I would recommend a consultation with a naturopathic doctor for anyone who is interested in this treatment pathway. Simple things like exercise to release stress, practicing good sleep hygiene, developing hobbies, and staying social with friends and family has gone a long way for me. Also, I drink teas several times a day containing holy ginger and adaptogenic herbs between meals and before bed as well.
4)
Stay hydrated! - The more stressed you are, the greater your hydration need will become.
Probably more than what you were looking for, but I believe tinnitus caused by TMJ is much more complicated than it seems as it was for me. My combination of treatments has paid dividends for me, and I am confident my tinnitus will completely disappear in the next 6-12 months if I continue. In closing, develop a treatment plan and consistently stick with it (I know it is possible as I still follow the plan even when at sea).
Good luck with your own tinnitus journey and I hope your TMJ and tinnitus improves in the future.
Looking forward to being more active on the forum in the late spring or early summer once things slow down for me.
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