ENT Response

Update:

Just heard back from the office. I can have my CT/X-ray scan at one hospital on July 17th and my hearing test and other stuff on August 8th at another hospital. They couldn't coordinate everything for the same day without pushing it well into August. Even still, I'll have to put up with the vomiting for at least almost another month, until I see the doctor for the review on August 8. *sigh
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Three weeks ago today I had my first appointment with my new Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) doctor for my morning vomiting issues. When I sat down, he read off the referral from my GP which pretty much said, "Patient is complaining of throat irritation."

With my medical history, all the years of chronic issues, and with all that I explained to my GP when asking for that referral, I'm more than a little shocked that he did not include more than that in the referral. Needless to say, that did not start out the appointment on a good footing.

First, I explained the sensations I have in the morning that lead to the gag reflex kicking in and causing me to vomit or dry heave (or have to fight it off, rarely successfully). I then told him about the four medications I am currently taking, which led to explaining the chronic conditions I have, which led to explaining the hiatal hernia I have, which led to the multiple endoscopies I've had, which led to the ulcer in my throat I had.

My doctor said, "Well, that's one I haven't heard before" when I described the initial problem and, by the end, was saying, "Jeepers" under his breath.

In the end, he decided to schedule me for X-rays of my nasal passages, some sort of scoping of my throat and nasal passages, a hearing test (I've had ringing in my ears for decades), and a consultation. The office was going to do its best to schedule time for all of these on the same day, at the Regional hospital, so that I could come in and get everything done at once.

Needless to say, he had a full page of notes scribbled out by the time we were done. He went back to the original referral, reread it out loud, and then gave me a sigh and an eye roll. He mentioned something about possibly calling my GP and suggesting that one line wasn't really enough.

In the three weeks since that appointment, I have continued to have the issues. This week, for example, I have not been able to overcome the gag reflex and have painfully thrown up every day starting Sunday through this morning. Pretty much every time now I am seeing either blood or dark globs in my sputum when I throw up. I am certain this is not a good sign.

Since I haven't heard back from the doctor's office yet, I called and left a message (their answering machine kicked in when I called) for them asking where my appointment coordination stands. I guess telling them I'm throwing up every day wasn't enough to light a fire under them to get this moving. I will be explicit when they call back (or if I get ahold of him first).

I already have: problems with gum recession, my tooth enamel, my throat, and headaches. Each of those issues is getting worse with nearly daily throwing up, as the acids are hurting my throat worse, eating away at the enamel on my teeth, causing worsening gum recession, and the painful way this is whole-body heaving doesn't help my headaches.

Hopefully I will hear back from the ENT soon on the testing appointment. Sometimes I really miss my GP, Gastro, and Arthritis doctors from Southern California, as they knew me well, and would have gotten me in to see an ENT or for further testing within a week or two at the most from lodging my complaint. Here, they usually get you in for tests either after you've died or after whatever was causing issues is cleared up; either way, they can say they didn't find anything and move on. But at least it is "free" (and by "free" I mean paid for with a high income tax and double-digit sales taxes). *sigh

More Heaving

As I mentioned before, I have been having problems with vomiting in the morning. This has been going on for some months and the slow process of medical care here means that I finally have my Ear Nose Throat doctor appointment next week.

I mention it here because the vomiting has been slowly getting more violent and painful. This morning, for example, I was walking around collecting the trash when it struck me and struck me hard. Thankfully, I was holding a garbage bag. The pain and effort was such that I collapsed to my knees. The problem comes from having nothing in my stomach but air, mucus, and stomach acids. So, when the air and the mucus in my throat irritate enough to trigger a vomit reaction, all I have to throw up is more air, mucus, and stomach acid. And, since the trigger is air and mucus in my throat, I keep throwing up until the mucus in the throat is moved enough to no longer tickle things.

This whole event leaves me exhausted, feeling bad, sore, and out of sorts. This morning's session was so bad that I started having blood come out. In addition to those other reactionary symptoms, I now have an excruciatingly painful sore throat where the blood comes from. Because I have nothing in my stomach after a night's rest, and because the vomiting reaction is trying to remove something from my throat, my body is heaving much harder than in a normal, regular, flu-induced or bad food-induced vomiting scenario. As my wife can attest, my entire body is tensing and releasing and sometimes it seems like I won't stop (because the tickle remains in the throat and the heaving isn't forcing enough up and out to remove that feeling, or all the air).

I had an endoscopy not too long ago. Other than obvious signs of acid reflux, for which I take medication every day, they saw no other damage. I find this hard to believe with the fact that I have been throwing up (really, dry heaving) for months now, to the point where it is getting bad enough to cause blood.

If I can eat or drink early enough/quickly enough in the morning, the food and drink can wash the discomforting feeling out of my throat and help me to avoid throwing up. However, some morning even that is not tincture, and I throw up anyway (only this time with something in my stomach).

In the end, I hope that my ENT doctor is quality and will take the time to ferret out this issue and resolve it. It makes life much harder when you throw up (one of the most unpleasant things a body can do) nearly every morning to start your day. In addition, I'm hoping he can figure out a way to stop the near constant ringing in my ears I've had for around 25 years now. Boy, wouldn't that be some sort of awesome?