TMJ and Pulsatile Tinnitus

[Russell Grimes]

Since January I have had problems with a loud click when swallowing and high-pitched pulsatile tinnitus, primarily in the right ear.

I have an appointment with an ENT in one week. I have assumed this problem is vascular. The pulsatile tinnitus has been almost constant and it waxes and wanes. With greater cardiac output comes a more dramatic sound, especially when standing up, sitting down or making any sudden movements that increase heart rate.

I thought it might be a patulous Eustachian tube or ruptured eardrum, given the click when swallowing. However, it might be related mostly to TMJ.

I have ignored the loud clicking between my Mandible and Maxilla on the right side, adjacent to my ear. It has been popping like crazy and hurting a bit when I move my jaw.

When I close my mouth and press on the area of the jaw right across from the right ear, the pulsatile tinnitus goes away and returns if I open my mouth even slightly and release the pressure on my jaw.

Do any of you think this is a problem can be fixed? If left untreated, does this sound like it could be dangerous? It doesn't seem like any vessel there could cause a life-threatening problem though I could be wrong.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@Russell Grimes, hard to say for sure, but Eustachian tube association is one possibility.

As fluid drains from the Eustachian tube, the tube opens and closes. This function is influenced by more pressure if there's inflammation (mucus). With this action, pulsatile sounds can happen as surrounding blood vessels including within jaw carry fluid to the eardrum. Inflammation causing more pressure and so when moving (standing - sitting) small blood vessel activity increases.

If this is the problem, ENT will provide treatment.

 

[Russell Grimes]

I have been plagued with high-pitched pulsatile tinnitus since January. I finally have an ENT appointment Tuesday. My primary care doctor was dismissive the three times I went to see him, laughing off the possibility of cancer and even aggravated about referring me to an ENT.

Yesterday I felt a little soreness in my throat so I used my cell phone flashlight to carefully inspect it in detail. One tonsil is swollen and at the back of my throat on one side there is a white patch which looks vascularized. I have also had nausea and my ringing is worse than ever.

I went to the ER in the small town which I moved to six months ago. They were useless. For literally three seconds the nurse practitioner looked at my throat and said it looks white. She doesn't know what it is. She said maybe inflammation, maybe tonsil stones. She just dismissed the pulsatile tinnitus outright. I was basically shooed out of there with nothing but a strept test that came back negative.

I am a smart man, even though I have no medical license. I am certain I have nasopharyngeal cancer or another cancer of the oropharynx. However, nobody cares. These people are supposed to be educated professionals but literally sit in their butts and do not even minimal work. They are negligent and I am convinced they have no interest in helping me.

Essentially, I am going to skip the ENT appointment and just endure the torment until I am consumed by this "undiagnosed" disease.

I will continue posting until I am too weak. When I die, I will request my significant other get an autopsy and update you folks about my cause of death, a cause that may have been prevented if only I had encountered compassionate professionals rather than people just looking for a paycheck.

 

[Wrfortiscue]

I have been plagued with high-pitched pulsatile tinnitus since January. I finally have an ENT appointment Tuesday. My primary care doctor was dismissive the three times I went to see him, laughing off the possibility of cancer and even aggravated about referring me to an ENT.

Yesterday I felt a little soreness in my throat so I used my cell phone flashlight to carefully inspect it in detail. One tonsil is swollen and at the back of my throat on one side there is a white patch which looks vascularized. I have also had nausea and my ringing is worse than ever.

I went to the ER in the small town which I moved to six months ago. They were useless. For literally three seconds the nurse practitioner looked at my throat and said it looks white. She doesn't know what it is. She said maybe inflammation, maybe tonsil stones. She just dismissed the pulsatile tinnitus outright. I was basically shooed out of there with nothing but a strept test that came back negative.

I am a smart man, even though I have no medical license. I am certain I have nasopharyngeal cancer or another cancer of the oropharynx. However, nobody cares. These people are supposed to be educated professionals but literally sit in their butts and do not even minimal work. They are negligent and I am convinced they have no interest in helping me.

Essentially, I am going to skip the ENT appointment and just endure the torment until I am consumed by this "undiagnosed" disease.

I will continue posting until I am too weak. When I die, I will request my significant other get an autopsy and update you folks about my cause of death, a cause that may have been prevented if only I had encountered compassionate professionals rather than people just looking for a paycheck.

What the hell kind of care is that? I mention anything to my PCP and they start running tests. They have no problem charging insurances lol. Seriously find another doctor and get checked!

 

[Rockman]

I have been plagued with high-pitched pulsatile tinnitus since January. I finally have an ENT appointment Tuesday. My primary care doctor was dismissive the three times I went to see him, laughing off the possibility of cancer and even aggravated about referring me to an ENT.

Yesterday I felt a little soreness in my throat so I used my cell phone flashlight to carefully inspect it in detail. One tonsil is swollen and at the back of my throat on one side there is a white patch which looks vascularized. I have also had nausea and my ringing is worse than ever.

I went to the ER in the small town which I moved to six months ago. They were useless. For literally three seconds the nurse practitioner looked at my throat and said it looks white. She doesn't know what it is. She said maybe inflammation, maybe tonsil stones. She just dismissed the pulsatile tinnitus outright. I was basically shooed out of there with nothing but a strept test that came back negative.

I am a smart man, even though I have no medical license. I am certain I have nasopharyngeal cancer or another cancer of the oropharynx. However, nobody cares. These people are supposed to be educated professionals but literally sit in their butts and do not even minimal work. They are negligent and I am convinced they have no interest in helping me.

Essentially, I am going to skip the ENT appointment and just endure the torment until I am consumed by this "undiagnosed" disease.

I will continue posting until I am too weak. When I die, I will request my significant other get an autopsy and update you folks about my cause of death, a cause that may have been prevented if only I had encountered compassionate professionals rather than people just looking for a paycheck.

What in the heck! Ya, looks like something is wrong, oh well. Go home! Sleep it off. That's terrible doctoring.

Have you tried any TMJ exercises?

 

[Russell Grimes]

Have you tried any TMJ exercises?

I haven't. Although TMJ causes my non-pulsatile tinnitus - I can move my jaw back and forth or down to get a loud pitch - I am not certain it is causing my pulsatile tinnitus, even though I can often modulate the pulsatile tinnitus with jaw pressure or movements. I think my pulsatile tinnitus has a more sinister cause.

Ostensibly, I will get a full work up by the ENT on Tuesday. I expect him to find something. My left ear hurts with pressure change, such as when lowering my head. That likely indicates Eustachian tube dysfunction. My pulsatile tinnitus likely arises from Eustachian tube dysfunction also. The question is, what is causing the ETD? From my research, it could be nasopharyngeal cancer, or a benign paraganglioma, a glomus tympanicum or jugulare.

I am hoping for the best but preparing myself for the worst. I try to be as objective as possible using the information I have available.

 

[Russell Grimes]

What the hell kind of care is that? I mention anything to my PCP and they start running tests. They have no problem charging insurances lol. Seriously find another doctor and get checked!

Some emergency departments take the term emergency a little too literally. Unless people manifest symptoms and signs that may point to impending doom, they will not investigate the causes of an unspecified illness. They took my pulse, SP02, and blood pressure. Those three criteria have literally become the backbone of modern medicine to the detriment of everything else. I was told that if I have a tumor there is nothing they can do there

 

[Russell Grimes]

What the hell kind of care is that? I mention anything to my PCP and they start running tests. They have no problem charging insurances lol. Seriously find another doctor and get checked!

In November I moved from AZ to a town in NC with 4000 people. My wife and I wanted to buy a house and not pay rent. We got a great deal on a house we could not have gotten in a bigger city but the trade off is access to poor medical care, among other things like driving an hour to get anywhere worthwhile.

 

[Russell Grimes]

What in the heck! Ya, looks like something is wrong, oh well. Go home! Sleep it off. That's terrible doctoring.

Have you tried any TMJ exercises?

The last time I went to my PCP I was aggravated and wore the following t-shirt I got on Amazon just for the occasion:

Otolaryngology
Hard to Spell
Harder to Practice

 

[Wrfortiscue]

In November I moved from AZ to a town in NC with 4000 people. My wife and I wanted to buy a house and not pay rent. We got a great deal on a house we could not have gotten in a bigger city but the trade off is access to poor medical care, among other things like driving an hour to get anywhere worthwhile.

That sucks! I would drive out. It's your life buddy... tinnitus can always get better.