Silent Reflux (officially diagnosed)
You may remember me talking about silent reflux a while back. My regular doctor thought my symptoms indicated this and gave me some samples of Nexium and other similar products. I took them for a couple of weeks with short breaks in between. And when I did not improve, I started to wonder if reflux wasn't really the problem.
Well, today I went to see an ENT because the throat irritation has never cleared up. He scoped my throat. Diagnosis: Severe LPR, more commonly known as Silent Reflux. He said my throat is very red and inflamed. So now I will be on Prevacid for at least several months. He said I didn't get relief from the other products because I didn't take them long enough. I'm wondering if this problem has been brought on by stress. I have had a stressful year in some respects and had a mild case of shingles in November, which is also when these throat symptoms began (after a case of laryngitis over Thanksgiving).
I also have a perforated septum from a surgery about ten years ago to remove a benign growth. It really bothers me because it whistles at night. It's not bad enough that I snore like a truck driver. No, I have to whistle like a tea pot as well! Poor John. I don't know how he gets the little sleep he does with me in the room. (But he won't let me sleep elsewhere.)
I've wondered for a long time if there was anything that could be done to plug that little hole. But I've never made an appt. to get it checked out. Turns out that there is an out patient surgery that can be done to repair the perforation. It is most successful when the hole is very small, like mine. Some people have very large perforations (which susprised me) from surgeries or, gasp, cocaine! I didn't know that and told him, "Well, I have never done that! I don't even like to use nasal sprays because they're addictive!" He cracked up.
The only down side to having the surgery is that it is not always successful. And if it fails, the hole will be bigger. But the up side to that is, if it's a little bigger, it won't whistle. But I hate the idea of a bigger hole in my head than what is already there! (Okay, I'm going for humor as much as possible with all this. My stress level has been pretty high lately and I need to laugh!)
The doctor said he thinks I would have success with the repair surgery. He doesn't even do the surgery when he can't expect good results. So I plan to have that done in late July. John has some medical stuff to deal with over the next eight weeks. And I first want to focus on him. He is a bit of a privacy freak (does not like ANY attention brought to himself), so I don't talk about it in any detail on my blog (although I often wish I could). Some of you close to me know what I'm referring to, but whether you do or not, I would like to ask you to pray for John primarily, and also for me, especially at this time. I'm an emotional little creature and it seems like I have so much anxiety to deal with lately! For me, anxiety manifests itself in tears. And I'm getting tired of being on the verge of tears all the time!
I'm thankful for the reassurance of scripture that all things work together for good to those who love God... (Romans 8:28). I am looking for what He wants to teach me through every new challenge I face. I trust Him for every outcome. I pray for His will and for the grace I need to accept His will, even when it isn't mine. I may have more days of anxiety ahead of me. But I have Jesus standing beside me.
Well, today I went to see an ENT because the throat irritation has never cleared up. He scoped my throat. Diagnosis: Severe LPR, more commonly known as Silent Reflux. He said my throat is very red and inflamed. So now I will be on Prevacid for at least several months. He said I didn't get relief from the other products because I didn't take them long enough. I'm wondering if this problem has been brought on by stress. I have had a stressful year in some respects and had a mild case of shingles in November, which is also when these throat symptoms began (after a case of laryngitis over Thanksgiving).
I also have a perforated septum from a surgery about ten years ago to remove a benign growth. It really bothers me because it whistles at night. It's not bad enough that I snore like a truck driver. No, I have to whistle like a tea pot as well! Poor John. I don't know how he gets the little sleep he does with me in the room. (But he won't let me sleep elsewhere.)
I've wondered for a long time if there was anything that could be done to plug that little hole. But I've never made an appt. to get it checked out. Turns out that there is an out patient surgery that can be done to repair the perforation. It is most successful when the hole is very small, like mine. Some people have very large perforations (which susprised me) from surgeries or, gasp, cocaine! I didn't know that and told him, "Well, I have never done that! I don't even like to use nasal sprays because they're addictive!" He cracked up.
The only down side to having the surgery is that it is not always successful. And if it fails, the hole will be bigger. But the up side to that is, if it's a little bigger, it won't whistle. But I hate the idea of a bigger hole in my head than what is already there! (Okay, I'm going for humor as much as possible with all this. My stress level has been pretty high lately and I need to laugh!)
The doctor said he thinks I would have success with the repair surgery. He doesn't even do the surgery when he can't expect good results. So I plan to have that done in late July. John has some medical stuff to deal with over the next eight weeks. And I first want to focus on him. He is a bit of a privacy freak (does not like ANY attention brought to himself), so I don't talk about it in any detail on my blog (although I often wish I could). Some of you close to me know what I'm referring to, but whether you do or not, I would like to ask you to pray for John primarily, and also for me, especially at this time. I'm an emotional little creature and it seems like I have so much anxiety to deal with lately! For me, anxiety manifests itself in tears. And I'm getting tired of being on the verge of tears all the time!
I'm thankful for the reassurance of scripture that all things work together for good to those who love God... (Romans 8:28). I am looking for what He wants to teach me through every new challenge I face. I trust Him for every outcome. I pray for His will and for the grace I need to accept His will, even when it isn't mine. I may have more days of anxiety ahead of me. But I have Jesus standing beside me.
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