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Well, we have an answer -
And everyone - including me - missed it.
While I am certain I've been having one infectious URI after another - underlying everything has been something else.
Acid-reflux disease. If it had been something as simple as heartburn, I'd have noticed it - but the ENT I saw on Friday says 50% of his practice is what he calls 'silent' GERD.
That's stomach acid passing back up the throat, probably while I'm sleeping. Enough so that it's burned my throat, burned the larynx, and invaded the sinuses and eustachian tubes up into my ears. Hence, crunchy ears, constant cough and the sinus stuff? My sinuses are clear and perfectly healthy. Everything follows this like carts follow horses.
The guy sent a camera on a 12" cable down my nose to the back of my throat. We're sure.
It's twice daily acid-reduction medication (Prilosec, but I'm taking generics) for 3 months and re-evaluate.
I'm the only woman in the last three generations to have retained her gall bladder. I also have a mild case of scoli. I'm not grossly overweight - nowhere near my high water mark - but there's some to take off, so I'm doing it. I'm going to blame the GERD incidences on the constant coughing on the true URI's I've had, increased stress and really bad food options - but I'm grateful this is not having to wait until the end of April for a change in tactics.
My ears are still crunchy, I still have a healthy cough (which means I can't recheck BP until that subsides a bit more) and sore throat - but the fever is gone, and both of the former are much less than they were on, say, Wednesday of last week. I started medication on Friday.
And so we go. It's lovely to be able to breathe again.
While I am certain I've been having one infectious URI after another - underlying everything has been something else.
Acid-reflux disease. If it had been something as simple as heartburn, I'd have noticed it - but the ENT I saw on Friday says 50% of his practice is what he calls 'silent' GERD.
That's stomach acid passing back up the throat, probably while I'm sleeping. Enough so that it's burned my throat, burned the larynx, and invaded the sinuses and eustachian tubes up into my ears. Hence, crunchy ears, constant cough and the sinus stuff? My sinuses are clear and perfectly healthy. Everything follows this like carts follow horses.
The guy sent a camera on a 12" cable down my nose to the back of my throat. We're sure.
It's twice daily acid-reduction medication (Prilosec, but I'm taking generics) for 3 months and re-evaluate.
I'm the only woman in the last three generations to have retained her gall bladder. I also have a mild case of scoli. I'm not grossly overweight - nowhere near my high water mark - but there's some to take off, so I'm doing it. I'm going to blame the GERD incidences on the constant coughing on the true URI's I've had, increased stress and really bad food options - but I'm grateful this is not having to wait until the end of April for a change in tactics.
My ears are still crunchy, I still have a healthy cough (which means I can't recheck BP until that subsides a bit more) and sore throat - but the fever is gone, and both of the former are much less than they were on, say, Wednesday of last week. I started medication on Friday.
And so we go. It's lovely to be able to breathe again.