View Full Version : Been told I have tinnitus due to anxiety and muscle tension in jaw/neck
Two weeks ago I noticed a high pitch ringing in both ears. I was already at a time of increasing anxiety around work and money and so the moment it appeared I had that sudden typically HA thought "what if this is serious and what if it never goes way" and it didn't.
I plunged myself into 2 weeks of hell seeing multiple doctors and other specialists. All of them told me that as my hearing tests were perfect and I had no other symptoms it was not serious, one suggest it was to d with my Eustachian tube but those symptoms didn't quite fit and I began to doubt them and think I had a terrible diagnosis and started obsessing over the sound and imagining my life falling apart.
I got myself back into the depths of my HA, the first time in quite a while as you can see by my post history. I thought I had put it behind me but apparently not.
Anyway I ended up being able to make a few calls to top ENT consultants (thanks to my being a doctor I could just call directly) and I was reassured that I don't have any signs of any of the nasty causes of tinnitus at all.
They told me that tinnitus is often of unknown cause, resolves in most people and in those that don't is generally tuned out.
A final specialist told me that because I have a history of chronic tension headaches and neck pain, jaw clenching and recent anxiety plus the fact that the tinnitus changes when I move my neck and jaw and press on my temples that it is all muscularskeletal related.
So I just wanted to know if anyone else here has managed to give themselves tinnitus through stress and tension and if you had any success improving or getting rid of it? Diazepam massively reduces it but I don't want to be on this for long.
I have been told to go see a physio and dentist for a list of exercises and maybe some devices to help.
ServerError
29-09-17, 00:27
I have tinnitus. I can't say whether anxiety is the reason. As you say, it's often impossible to identify a cause. What I can say is that moments of tension or higher anxiety do trigger worse symptoms in me. Most of the time its tuned out, but I also think listening to loud music has given me some permanent hearing damage, so I just have to get on with it.
Sometimes it annoys me, but never for very long.
I have tinnitus too. I think it's made worse - if not actually caused - by a hypersensitive nervous system.
Many cases are idiopathic in nature but hope yours isn't permanent. Mine unfortunately is, and like Server, I have learned to live with it - although there are always times when I really feel ****ed off by it :lac:
Brunamateus
29-09-17, 00:37
Hey, I'm currently 20 years old and I've been dealing with tinnitus since I was 13, I had exactly the same symptoms as you, mostly the jaw clenching, it would even cause me pain that would last for days...at first, especially cause I was so young it was really hard for me to deal with it, my parents took me to doctors till I was around 16, I definitely noticed that in moments of high stress It would be much worse, I had to fall asleep with Music on my headphones otherwise I would not sleep and go crazy over the sound...the doctors also didn't know the cause, and they told me that I would have to live with it for the rest of my life, it was so loud I thought I would not make it and I would go insane, but at 17/18 years old I just tuned it out, it took me some years but now it really doesn't bother me at all, you will be fine :)
I have tinnitus. I can't say whether anxiety is the reason. As you say, it's often impossible to identify a cause. What I can say is that moments of tension or higher anxiety do trigger worse symptoms in me. Most of the time its tuned out, but I also think listening to loud music has given me some permanent hearing damage, so I just have to get on with it.
Sometimes it annoys me, but never for very long.
Sorry you have this too, Server. Can I ask how long you've had it now?
I have tinnitus in my left ear along with sensorineural hearing loss. No idea what caused it. Mostly my brain tunes it out, but it's always there. Interestingly, mine is worse when there's background noise, like the dishwasher or an AC unit humming.
I don't have any hearing loss but I do have chronic neck pain, lots of tension headaches and jaw clenching.
The ENT I saw said that basically everyone has tinnitus it's just how much you notice it. Some things make it more obvious, like anxiety, but I have been extremely anxious without tinnitus before. In my case he said that if I treat the muscle tension as well as the anxiety it should fall back to the "normal" level it always was, then it's a matter of my brain basically relearning how to ignore it.
I hope it works. Right now t can be very loud when I'm in noisy environments, but other times it can disappear for a few minutes or be very quiet.
I just want it to stop impacting my life :( I was so happy and hopeful of some big things coming up in my future before this started (although the preparation for those things was probably making me anxious), but since this started it feels like there's a dark shadow over life
ServerError
29-09-17, 01:37
Sorry you have this too, Server. Can I ask how long you've had it now?
I'm not sure, but I'd say it's been with me most of my adult life, and I'm 32 now. It's easily been ten years.
I no longer use headphones to listen to music. I can't stand music from headphones unless it's loud, but that's so damaging that I've just knocked it on the head.
As far as I know when it's related to hearing loss it's not thought to go away, but do you feel you are so habituated to it that it doesn't cause you any problems? Like it doesn't really affect your life?
ServerError
29-09-17, 20:51
It affects my life to an extent. It annoys me at times, and I'm sad about the fact that I'll never experience silence ever again. But I deal with it okay.
My brain tunes it out if I'm active or busy, but sometimes it's quite noticeable. Such is life.
I am a fellow tininitus sufferer too. I also struggle with my sinuses. I had the 'pleasure' of going for an mri scan to get checked out as my left side feels weird a lot and the I do get a muffled ear too. Everything came back clear thankfully but stress / anxiety does make it worse. Before my current high anxiety / panic I knew when I was getting stressed as the tinnitus would get worse. Not sure if that's because I was more in tune with it due to heightened senses or if just being stressed brought it on.
It's annoying but I try to ignore it although the most recent sound is like knitting needles clicking grrrr.
Oh wow. It's interesting to see how many people with anxiety also have tinnitus.
Mine started a few years ago when I moved home. For months I thought it was coming from an electric point behind my bed and I only realised when I went on holiday that it was in my head!
I went to a gp who told me it was from listening to music. I disagree because it gets worse with blood pressure, sinus pressure and stress. Anyway I had an MRI, a CT, hearing tests, the lot and no one found any problems.
I also have jaw problems, namely TMJ disorder due to a wonky bite.
It's boring, but mindfulness helped me. White/pink noise. Having a fan in the bedroom at night. Using a mouth guard to stop clenching might help.
You'll find in time that it will fade out and you wont even care. There should be regular groups in your area, maybe in the local hosptal who can help :)
Tinnitus sufferer here too!
Mine started about 2 months into my health anxiety. Only in my left ear. Had an MRI that came up all clear and I have no hearing loss. It really sucks but it could have come about because of my anxiety as well.
I think I it to mine started a week ago, hearing crickets in my right ear, I have neck issues and bad posture, I have blood pressure sometimes 151/96 my last check up it was 138/87. I have been having insomnia before this happened and not eating well or much, depression and anxiety for seven years now. Thankfully the cricket noise is mild I also feel like the ear is stopped up and has maybe fluid in it and it hurts just a tiny bit
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