Is this Globus? Please help me find out..
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hi everyone!
As many of you who shared your experience in this forum, I'm struggling with something terrible in my throat that might be globus pharyngeus. And I really hope it is, because the other option is much worse. It is destroying my life in every way, I'm living the worst times of my life and I fear that I might not get out of this never. It has been 10 and 1/2 months.
In my case the problem, at least for now, is getting sure that it is globus or some kind of psychosomatic disorder similar to globus. The big difference between my situation and most situations that I saw in this forum (as well as in other websites) is the way it started. It was triggered by a specific episode.
By the 14th of November 2020, a day that I will never forget, I was having dinner and a spike of lobster shell deeply pierced my tongue. It was very painful, but ok, in a minute or so the pain was totally gone. Then I thought to myself "I must be careful because the tip of one of these spikes might get stuck in my throat". And, just like that, I started to feel that maybe something was already there.
I finished the meal quickly, in about 5 minutes, and after I finished it I did the test of "dry" swallowing to check it and my thought was "something is wrong". I then assumed a small piece of lobster shell (the tips were really sharp as needles and hard as rocks). I went to bed, feeling that sensation of a foreign body in the throat, or something like that, it was not totally clear. In the left side.
I though that the day after I could be gone, but once I woke up it was still there. I remember that 3 days later I had some pain one night. The day after the pain was also in my chest and also in my right shoulder. Then the pain stopped but the foreign body sensation was there, to an extent that I was like 99% sure that something was there as it was a scratchy sensation.
I first visited a doctor (an ENT) by the 3rd of December. Laryngoscopy found nothing. I then did a neck CT Scan by the 10th of December. Once again, nothing. I decided to give it time to get better, but by mid January it was still there. I repeated laryngoscopy as the ENT wanted to see it all again with more attention. Found nothing. Did a second CT Scan, this time with 0,6mm layers, instead of the 3mm layers of the first one but, again, nothing was detected.
Tried again to forget about it. But it was always there. And it is a horrible sensation, really scary, it also feels as if it is directly connected with the anxiety sources of my organism. I automatically and directly get anxious from feeling it. It's really disturbing. No one should have to deal with such symptom even for 1 month, and here I am, 10 months after, on antidepressants...
Well, by the 5th of March I went to a different ENT, this time to ask about it from a different perspective. So to say, I asked him, considering that there is no foreign body in my throat, what could this be? And his answer was like a life sentence for me. I almost fainted...
He said that I had a severe immune response to the seafood and it damaged my epiglottis, deforming it in the left side. He saw that my epiglottis is smaller in my left side, that is the side where I have the symptoms, he just put 2+2 together and gave me this diagnosis. He seemed very convinced of it.
He said that it can't be treated and I will have this symptoms forever. Also said that I have to see it as if I had a cancer or stroke and was left with this damage for the rest of my life.
But the facts are:
- I don't have a previous image from this zone of the body to check if the epiglottis was already like this or not;
- Research on in the internet makes it clear, asymmetry of the epiglottis is normal, there is even an article named "normal laryngeal variability" that leaves it very clear;
- Another ENT that I consulted afterwards says that the diagnosis of permanent damage to the epiglottis makes no sense at all;
- An allergy specialist, an gastroenterologist and my GP doctor also think the diagnosis makes no sense.
I also did MRI of the neck and nothing was found. I also did an upper endoscopy to check if the esophagus is intact, and it is. With biopsy, which also came out clear.
Blood tests confirmed that I'm not allergic to lobster or any other shellfish.
But I still feel the terrible symptoms and the match so much with a damage to the cartilage of the epiglottis. It's really very scary. I can't live with it anymore. If it's a permanent damage, my life is over, I can't cope with it. Even with antidepressants (which is something I never needed in my life), my life is still miserable.
My only hope is that it is globus. What do you think? Please tell me it might very well be..
My psychiatrist and my psychologist both think it is psychosomatic (globus or something of the same kind). A nurse that also has studies in mental illness and psychiatry, knows me very well, and also thinks it is totally psychosomatic. But for many reasons I still think that maybe it really is a damage to the cartilage and this idea freaks me out.
I feel like I'm getting insane. I lost tens of thousands of euros/dolars in work projects that I could not perform because of this "illness". My quality of life is about 20% of what it was before, or less. My wife has no compassion (all the opposite) and is about to leave me, after 19 years together, with 3 small children. I was never suicidal, it's not my personality, I love to live, but lately I really started to consider it, because I'm totally miserable.
I read many other users in this forum with globus saying that they are desperate with it. Well, I wish I was in your situation, at least I knew there was hope. Instead, I have the same symptoms as you but I have a diagnosis from a specialist saying that it is a damage and it will be forever. Like hell on earth.
Any opinions? Is there anything I can do to be sure that it is globus?
The psychiatrist said that I would get better after 3 or 4 weeks with the antidepressant (I'm on 15mg mirtazapine per day), but it has been 5 weeks already and I just feel zero improvement on the symptoms. And emotionally I'm a total mess, totally exhausted, I'm living a constant nightmare.. as if I was taken and tortured everyday.
I really need help and I don't know where should I turn to. Not being able to be a good father to my 3 daughters is also destroying me... they need me in so many ways and I'm slowly dying.
If the symptoms cam from nothing, it was easier to get totally convinced it is globus or psychosomatic in some way. But there was a trigger episode. Could my mind develop the subconscious mechanism of foreign body sensation in just a few minutes when I was finishing that meal?
Thanks for reading. I still have hope but I'm using my last strengths.
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1 like, 6 replies
cincis AnthonyMG
Edited
maybe you should try the cyclonenzaprine also i think im going to contact my dr and see if i can try it too. mine started after i had a surgery where they had to put a tube down my throat. that was 10 years ago!!! some days are worse than others. i have a cold right now do it feels especially wrong. i hope you are able to find dome relief, it really is awful. sincerely,
AnthonyMG cincis
Posted
Hi Cincis!
Thank you very much for your reply. I feel your pain... and 10 years it's a lot of time. I truly hope you symptoms are softer than mine, because I can't imagine 10 years of this nightmare.
Yes, some days are worse than others. But, please tell me, you feel as it is some sort of pressure?
Because I don't feel any pressure, that's one more reason why I kind of doubt that I have globus and not a rare case of cartilage damage that does not appear clear in the exams. I feel as if something touches where it never touched before, a bit of pain and a soft scratchy sensation when I swallow that can match foreign body sensation.
It's not that pressure as when you make an effort no to cry and it gives you a sensation of lump in the throat, as if the muscles get tense. In my case it does not seem to have a relation with muscle tension or muscle spasm. That's why I was saying that I doubt that a muscle relaxant will do anything in my case of globus.
Either way, I'm so down and tired of this that I'm willing to try everything, so I will probably also try cyclonenzaprine sooner or later, it's just a matter of time, as I'm also trying other stuff and have a few other to try afterwards.
Last visit to the ENT resulted in the finding of a cyst, close to the epiglottis, in the left side. The ENT specialist says that it may give the symptoms I have, but it's not sure. He says that he can remove it but he can't guarantee that it will be the solution to my problem. Which I obviously understand. But I may try it...
I'm just waiting for 1 or 2 more months to see if the antidepressants (30mg of mirtazapine per day) do anything. So far, it has been 2 months, and nothing significant. Maybe it helps me to deal a bit better, emotionally, but the symptoms are the same.
Thanks again for your message. I hope you can get well soon. Please keep me updated about your situation and how the medication works for you if you end up trying it.
Kind regards!
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zaakir89111 AnthonyMG
Edited
I had Globus and there's ways to manage it
sheyla85392 AnthonyMG
Edited
hey anthony, im really sorry you are going through this, let me tell you my struggle. im 33 and a healthy mom of 3 little ones. 2 years ago i was going thru a really hard time in my life and one morning i woke up and felt like some was stuck in my throat. i tried everything to get rid of the sensation but i failed. i went to see my primary care doctor, gi doctors, ent, neck surgeons and so on... i have done 5 endoscopies, and numerous tests, long story sort nobody knows whats going on with me. if you open any cabinet in my kitchen you would think its a pharmacy, cause have tried all supplements, meds, oils, diets and so on, but i feel hopeless, i feel tired, i cry alone in my room every single day (hiding from my kids and husband) it has been 2 super long years, im sorry i dont have a answer for us, but let me tell you something please dont give up. think of your little ones, and how much they need you. and lets believe that God is powerful and he will heal us. i know your pain cause im here struggling too. ill be praying for us
AnthonyMG sheyla85392
Posted
Hi sheyla85392
Thank you very much for your message. And sorry for only replying now. I had a look at your post when you placed it but then I thought to reply and just kept postponing it.
I had 3 weeks when I was not so down but then since mid December it has been really hard. I've been so depressed. I just keep thinking that I won't be able to function again if this is something that I have to deal with for the rest of my life.
I still have hope that the small cyst that I have in my throat can be responsible for the symptoms. Or at least for the main symptom, as the other peripheral symptoms could just be psychosomatic, from excessive focus in this part of the body. That is probably my last hope.
I know how you feel and how hard it is. I can try to send you some optimist by saying that at least in your case you have good reasons to believe that it is "just" globus. In my case, as it happened after a traumatic situation (a pinch in my tongue and then eventually a foreign body stuck in my throat), the diagnosis that an ENT gave of permanent damage to the epiglottis cartilage due to excessive immune response to an allergen, bacteria or food toxins, is just something that is really hard to deal with from a psychological point of view.
I wish my symptoms also came from "nothing". It would be easier for me to believe that I "just" have globus and so that it can be very hard but I can have hope that one day it goes away or that I can treat it to improve the symptoms. In my situation, I can't even have that hope, so please stay positive and think that it could be worse.
In my case, have a wife that has no compassion at all, nor empathy, for me and my situation, all the opposite, makes it even harder. It has been 3 months now that we don't talk about my problem. Not even mention it. I know she hates me for my problem (I don't understand how can someone hate other person for an health problem, but I know she does), so I don't even mention it, not even at stages when I'm feeling better.
She would never genuinely give me her support, so I prefer to avoid talking about it. But it's something that just adds up more stress and anxiety to the whole problem. I hope your husband has some level of empathy and compassion for you.
Hang on there. We have to be strong. There's no other alternative, so we really have to keep positive and strong. Keep us updated here. We can keep exchanging posts if you like. All the best to you!
Anthony.
leah75418 AnthonyMG
Posted
hello an wondering if your globus ever went away ive been suffering from it for 3 weeks now am 26 old with anxiety its got me done in