I’ve had a sore throat for about a month and a half now. Three weeks in to it I went to my family physician and he prescribed z-pack (a 5 day course of antibiotic) & 10 days worth of Zyrtec. After the 5 days of antibiotic, it still wasn’t any better, so he upped the ante to a stronger antibiotic, Levaquin for 5 days. After this second course I wasn’t any better, so he sends me to an Ear, Nose and Throat guy. My 2 week wait to get in to see the specialist was over today.
Because this was my first visit to him, he wanted a baseline, so he started out checking the ears. How embarrassing as he had to clean them out a bit before he could look in them. Then we moved onto the nose. He takes out the little plier looking things that work like snap ring pliers, when you squeeze the handles the ends *open* wider. Looks around in both nostrils and then he sprays some stuff in there. He tells me it’ll taste kind of bitter. Turns out it is a anesthesia.
Up until now we have been shining bright lights into orifices, now it is time to get up close and personal. He breaks out the foot long black spaghetti thing. It has a bright light and some fiber optics so the Doc can see inside *real* good. First in one side of the nose and then the other. The second time he goes in the full length. It is in there so far that reflexes take over and I try to swallow it. He politely asked that I don’t do that (not that I could have succeeded, but it messes up his view of my larynx. When the doctor is all done looking he tells me that my larynx looks like that of one of a heavy smoker or drinker. We can eliminate them because of my answers to the intake questionnaire, plus he would have been able to smell that sort of thing. That leaves one other thing that would make your larynx look like that. And in the slight pause that follows, the hypochondriac in me thinks the worse, until he says, “Acid Reflux.”
Turns out that more than half of all suffers of acid reflux don’t have heartburn, it shows up in other ways, sore throat, constantly having to clear your throat, funny taste in your mouth, voice cracking and others.
Can I sue my parents for passing along faulty genes? First it was medicine to lower my blood pressure, then we started medicine to lower my cholesterol and now comes medicine to unflux my acid…
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 230
I had acid reflux several years ago. It would wake me up at night. Choking. It could be pretty frightening. Also had a nice ulcer to go along with it. My problem turned out to be stress induced. Perhaps your spending too much time worrying about it raining while the top is down. Good luck.