Horrible discomfort in throat as a consequence of sinusitis?

Hi everyone,

As there is no subforum for undiagnosed throat problems, I'm using this "Sinusitis" subforum as the problem may actually have a direct relation with sinusitis. So maybe someone here can help by sharing an opinion. You can just read the final part after the arrows (>>>) for the part that is related with sinusitis, or you can read all the information about the situation.

4 and a half months ago I suffered some sort of accident (still to determine what actually happened) when I was eating hard shell seafood, as lobster, crab, etc. A piece as sharp as a needle and as hard as a rock pierced my tongue. It was not from one side to the other, but it was a deep pinching. It was painful (as you easily understand) but I got no more than a few seconds of pain from it.

After this I also started feeling that maybe a fragment of the shell was probably stuck somewhere in my throat. After finishing dinner, I felt like something was not right. I assumed that a fragment got stuck in my throat. It was not very painful and did not make me feel as if something was pinching my throat (as a stuck fish bone) but definitely something was wrong.

And a lot of times it was very clear to me that there was something stuck in there. It even really felt like the material of the crab shell. I was 99% sure that something was stuck in there. I waited for it to go away, which never happened. I went to an otorhinolaryngologist 20 days after the episode. Laryngoscopy found nothing. Then CT scan found nothing either.

But I still have it, it's basically the same symptoms of the first month, not much difference, if any. But it is horrible and it's driving me mad, giving me a lot of anxiety. I'm so exhausted and tired of this situation...

I'm 40 and I already had to deal with a few hard and painful health conditions in the past, but I never had something as bad as this. It's so horrible that since the first weeks that I've started thinking that I just wanted to kill myself, which was never a robust idea because I have a lot of good reasons to keep alive and I always had the expectation that some doctor would manage to help or that it could go away on its own with time. But, continuing...

After the exams and consultations with that first otorhinolaryngologist, without getting to any diagnosis, I decided to visit a second otorhinolaryngologist in the beginning of this month, about 4 weeks ago. His diagnosis was:

Severe allergic reaction to the sea food that made my epiglottis shrink in one of the sides. As I actually rally have an asymmetric epiglottis, smaller in the left side. And he says that the symptoms are due to this damage, it is for ever and there is no treatment or operation possible to treat it or soften the symptoms. He says I will have it for ever and it will not improve.

As I was not totally convinced, as many things didn't match up (I can list a lot of things that seem to be incompatible with this diagnosis), and as I was very anxious the days after I received that diagnosis, I decided to see a third otorhinolaryngologist.

This one has a different theory. As I have (for a long time now) poli-sinusitis, which he says includes a lot of "dirt" in the maxillary sinuses, as well as nasal polyps (a lot of them) and nasal septum deviation, he believes that all this has a direct relation with the problem and symptoms.

He assumes that I really had a a fragment of the shell in my throat at some point in the beginning which then came out but the injury that it made created a susceptible site for colonization of bacteria coming from the nose, due to the sinusitis and polyps.

Does it sound reasonable to you?

He asked for a CT scan of the sinusal area and for some blood tests. Already did that but still waiting for the results. He prescribed me antibiotics (cefuroxime), nasal wash and Airmax (budesonide). Third day of this medication and no signs of improvement. Actually, the last 3 days have been terrible. Sometimes the symptoms become lighter and more bearable, but the last days they have been very intense and the medication didn't have any impact so far.

He said that with this medication I will improve and feel better. So lets see what happens, as the antibiotics have to be taken for 8 days and the nasal washes and budesonide for 3 weeks.

I want to have faith and believe that this will help, but each day that passes, I loose a bit of it and get more anxious and depressed. I have 3 kids (daughters) with which I spend most of the days, and that's what's giving me some strength to hold on and have a bit of faith. Their also the only thing now that can still make the smile.

As I pointed out in the beginning of this post, I got my tongue pinched and it was right after this that the symptoms of something wrong in the throat appeared. Could it be that it pinched (and damaged) a nerve in the tongue that is connected with the throat area?

I know it's all very vague and hard, but any opinion would be truly welcome.

Thanks and king regards,

Anthony.

1 like, 1 reply