A Doctor Visit
So, I went to the doctor today. Skip if you don't like TMI.
Finally got to see an ear, nose and throat doc today, since I've been shunted around various general practitioners for a while, since I didn't think what I had was that serious, though mum thought so. So a history: was sick since about March, after the PSICA concert, which involved much coughing and hacking that made me sound like I was dying and made people ask if I had SARS. *thwaps* So not funny. Anyway, the sick bit eventually went away, but the soreness of throat didn't. Baxter doctor gave me an inhaler that would theoretically make it so I wouldn't cough as much. I coughed *more* and stopped using it. Throat stayed ick. Visited a doctor back home, who suggested I take Robitussin DM to stop the coughing, which I *wasn't* *doing*, but my throat was still sore. Switched and tried again a couple weeks ago, this one gave me a referral and another inhaler and a post-nasal drip medicine. Yah, that's no good.
Today, the specialist. yay! Sprayed stuff in my nose to 1) make the nasal passages open wider and 2) numb the area and the throat. The first tasted yuck when it dripped down to my mouth, the second felt like when I inhaled orange juice once. Yeah. Once it kicked in, it felt so weird, since I couldn't feel myself swallow. Had to drink water in small sips so it wouldn't go down the wrong way. ^^ He came back and wheeled in this machine that has a long tube with a light and a camera in it, like when my mum got her stomach and esophagus looked at.
So he stuck the tube up my nose and down and around, to look at my throat and vocal passages. Felt really strange when he had me go "Hee" so it could get by my epiglottis, i bet. That's what it felt like, anyway.
Turns out I have an ulcer near my voice box. At first he said it was like a cold sore, and my reaction was "Whaaaat?! It's like a cold sore? It can COME BACK?!!" But he reassured me it was a result of trauma, not disease, heh. So, the doctor's orders? I can stop taking the medicines that aren't helping me at all, making things worse actually, and complete vocal rest for two weeks. No singing (alas) and as little talking as possible, since it stresses that area of my throat and vocal cords. yeah, I'm gonna have trouble, but I don't want to permanently kill my voice if it's gotten this bad. C'est la vie. Return checkup the day before I head back to school. ^^
link to original post:
http://melen-chan.blogspot.com/2004/07/so-i-went-to-doctor-today.html
Finally got to see an ear, nose and throat doc today, since I've been shunted around various general practitioners for a while, since I didn't think what I had was that serious, though mum thought so. So a history: was sick since about March, after the PSICA concert, which involved much coughing and hacking that made me sound like I was dying and made people ask if I had SARS. *thwaps* So not funny. Anyway, the sick bit eventually went away, but the soreness of throat didn't. Baxter doctor gave me an inhaler that would theoretically make it so I wouldn't cough as much. I coughed *more* and stopped using it. Throat stayed ick. Visited a doctor back home, who suggested I take Robitussin DM to stop the coughing, which I *wasn't* *doing*, but my throat was still sore. Switched and tried again a couple weeks ago, this one gave me a referral and another inhaler and a post-nasal drip medicine. Yah, that's no good.
Today, the specialist. yay! Sprayed stuff in my nose to 1) make the nasal passages open wider and 2) numb the area and the throat. The first tasted yuck when it dripped down to my mouth, the second felt like when I inhaled orange juice once. Yeah. Once it kicked in, it felt so weird, since I couldn't feel myself swallow. Had to drink water in small sips so it wouldn't go down the wrong way. ^^ He came back and wheeled in this machine that has a long tube with a light and a camera in it, like when my mum got her stomach and esophagus looked at.
So he stuck the tube up my nose and down and around, to look at my throat and vocal passages. Felt really strange when he had me go "Hee" so it could get by my epiglottis, i bet. That's what it felt like, anyway.
Turns out I have an ulcer near my voice box. At first he said it was like a cold sore, and my reaction was "Whaaaat?! It's like a cold sore? It can COME BACK?!!" But he reassured me it was a result of trauma, not disease, heh. So, the doctor's orders? I can stop taking the medicines that aren't helping me at all, making things worse actually, and complete vocal rest for two weeks. No singing (alas) and as little talking as possible, since it stresses that area of my throat and vocal cords. yeah, I'm gonna have trouble, but I don't want to permanently kill my voice if it's gotten this bad. C'est la vie. Return checkup the day before I head back to school. ^^
link to original post:
http://melen-chan.blogspot.com/2004/07/so-i-went-to-doctor-today.html