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Tinnitus with no hearing loss 
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| Hi, I'm a 22 year old male who has been experiencing noises in my ears for the past 3 months. I have had crackling in my right ear in particular for for about a year ago which seemed to come on around the time I was going through stress in my relationship. The crackling would mainly occur when I spoke and there was other noise present, and would stop as soon as I stopped talking or the noise had finished. This did not happen all the time, however occurred enough for me to research the condition and self diagnose myself with tinnitus, even though a person I knew with tinnitus had told me that it did not seem to be that clear cut. Anyway, around 3 months ago, i ended up getting this incredible fullness in my mouth, ears and jaw. My ears started crackling much more frequently with music, and when I spoke and everything seemed louder than usual. I went to the doctor and had my ear wax removed, however this did not help the problem, he also felt that my symptoms did not seem to be as clear as simply having tinnitus and to come back to him if they persisted. A few days later I went to a concert (Green Day) and was not at the front or near the speakers. I should mention I rarely ever go to concerts or nightclubs, and this would be about the 5th or 6th concert I've ever been to, and I have never been at the front near the speakers. During the concert my ears crackled a bit when I would be singing along with the music, or when certain louder songs would be played. When the concert finished I realised I had an incredible ringing in my left ear (Which I had never had in my life) and some deafness. This all seemed to gradually get better over a few days and my girlfriend who was with me at the time took about the same time to stop hearing the sounds. A couple of days later though, I started to realise my ears seemed a bit more sensitive to sound and in particular high frequency sounds and I also had some head noise. I went to an ENT after a number of weeks with this and she referred me to an Audioligist who determined I had no hearing loss, and the ENT told me it would probably eventually resolve itself. Weeks later though, my jaw and cheeks still felt full and my right ear in particular was still crackling although even more frequently, and a mild ringing was still there. I went and got a second opinion from a very well regarded ENT a few weeks ago and he believed my symptoms sound more "jaw" than concert related. He proceeded to move my jaw which made clicking sounds we could both hear, and asked me if I had pain in certain parts which I did have. I also sometimes get this pain when beginning to eat. He then had me do an X Ray on my jaw which showed one wisdom tooth was growing sideways into the gum on my right side, and the wisdom teeth on my left side were affecting my bite. He then said this is most likely the cause of most of these problems, and by treating them he has great faith that my symptoms will come under control. I am at wits end though and have been suffering these symptoms the last 3 months believing nothing will help me. I go through good and bad periods, and as I had never had any kind of ringing in my ears before, I was researching tinnitus literally the day after I went to the concert and before it, and have not stopped since. Believing I am living out a horror story. The sensitivity to sounds is the worst part. Certain frequencies in some songs sound louder than other parts and my ear noise seems to double as soon as I lay my head down. I want to know whether it is at all possible that this may still get better after 3 months now, and whether I may be on the right track for treating this by seeing a dentist and going through the TMJ procedures like my ENT is saying. Can this still be treated? | 09 Mar 2010 02:09 | |
| I should also mention I have had an MRI done which didn't show anything, and have realised my tinnitus came be made about 5 times louder by closing my teeth. My jaw also gets incredibly painful when open for more than a minute or so (Particularly noticeable at the dentist) and the tinnitus also increases when my jaw is opened wide and my ears make popping noises. I am also a very anxious person if you haven't yet realised and last year alone frequented the doctors thinking I had various illnesses which I didn't end up having. I also noticed quite frequently leading up to this problem that I would grind my teeth together. | Paulie | 09 Mar 2010 02:41 |
| Hi Paulie. www.headaches.com details several cases of patients with tinnitus and jaw/tooth/TMJ problems. I, of course, cannot vouch for the reliability of this site, but many people on the site claim to have been successfully treated. I hope something works out for you. | Suffering Without Silence | 09 Mar 2010 09:29 |