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What?
When I was on vacation in Albuquerque in October, I noticed that my ears were plugging up and I was having a heck of a time hearing people talk. I chalked it up to allergies, starting taking some medicine, and waited for it to go away.
It didn't.
After a month of dealing with this to varying levels of severity, I went to the medical clinic and saw a physician's assistant who immediately diagnosed me with an ear infection, gave me a script, and sent me on my way.
(My doctor is no longer at this clinic. My doctor is on a medical "time out" as he put it when I ran into him at the grocery store. Politics at the clinic, where he is a part owner, led to incredible stress and frustrations for the man, a recovering alcoholic. You can guess where this is leading- he was picked up for DUI over the summer, and went on various medical leaves from the clinic before finally leaving. He was refreshingly frank and upfront with me about this, which I respect, but then we've always had a good doctor/patient relationship- the guy is great. The DUI is not why he is no longer at the clinic, he reassured me, and once his medical time out is done, he told me he will probably be opening his own private practice, and I told him to let me know, because he's still my doctor. As I told him, I live in too large of a glass house to ever throw bones.)
I finished off the medicine, and nothing changed. So back I went. Got a different prescription, and one for steroid ear drops as well. This time, my ears go worse, especially the left one- the pressure and pain built up until I was ready to scream like a child and jam a sharpened pencil in my ear canal, just for release and relief. The pain spread down my jawline as well. But, I toughed it out, and after a day or two, it slowly began to subside. The ear drops did very little but run down my neck when I least expected it, and by the time I was done all the medicines (one week) I was right back where I started.
While our friends from Albuquerque were visiting last weekend for Andy's 30th birthday party (They drove up to surprise him, and boy, did they ever!) we went up the mountain to Sinks Canyon. I was in a lot of discomfort, as my ears would not pop and equalize the pressure. And I couldn't hear again. So, Monday, I went back to the clinic. The same PA saw me, and immediately referred me to an ear, nose and throat specialist in town, as by now, he was at a loss of what to do next. This took two minutes. I waited nearly one and a half hours to see him.
The ear, nose and throat specialist saw me Thursday morning. She ran some tests, had me go for a hearing check (92$ but I got to flirt with the hunky receptionist. grrrowlllll .....) and then told me my Eustachian tubes are inflamed and need exercised. She proscribed an inhalant for the next eight weeks to help the inflamation, and a simple exercise to help build up the tubes' muscles again.
I'm exercising my ears. Fabulous.
What's really interesting is that the hearing test showed that my hearing is actually slightly better than normal. Which is remarkable, because I have a horrible time hearing anything when there's background noise. If the dishwasher is running, I can't hear the tv, etc. Granted, I wasn't tested for hearing with background noise (that I know of.) But that lack of hearing ability, coupled with my years of working in radio when I was younger and the big giant headphones I was required to wear, has had me believing for the longest time that my hearing was impaired. I'm glad to know it's not.
It didn't.
After a month of dealing with this to varying levels of severity, I went to the medical clinic and saw a physician's assistant who immediately diagnosed me with an ear infection, gave me a script, and sent me on my way.
(My doctor is no longer at this clinic. My doctor is on a medical "time out" as he put it when I ran into him at the grocery store. Politics at the clinic, where he is a part owner, led to incredible stress and frustrations for the man, a recovering alcoholic. You can guess where this is leading- he was picked up for DUI over the summer, and went on various medical leaves from the clinic before finally leaving. He was refreshingly frank and upfront with me about this, which I respect, but then we've always had a good doctor/patient relationship- the guy is great. The DUI is not why he is no longer at the clinic, he reassured me, and once his medical time out is done, he told me he will probably be opening his own private practice, and I told him to let me know, because he's still my doctor. As I told him, I live in too large of a glass house to ever throw bones.)
I finished off the medicine, and nothing changed. So back I went. Got a different prescription, and one for steroid ear drops as well. This time, my ears go worse, especially the left one- the pressure and pain built up until I was ready to scream like a child and jam a sharpened pencil in my ear canal, just for release and relief. The pain spread down my jawline as well. But, I toughed it out, and after a day or two, it slowly began to subside. The ear drops did very little but run down my neck when I least expected it, and by the time I was done all the medicines (one week) I was right back where I started.
While our friends from Albuquerque were visiting last weekend for Andy's 30th birthday party (They drove up to surprise him, and boy, did they ever!) we went up the mountain to Sinks Canyon. I was in a lot of discomfort, as my ears would not pop and equalize the pressure. And I couldn't hear again. So, Monday, I went back to the clinic. The same PA saw me, and immediately referred me to an ear, nose and throat specialist in town, as by now, he was at a loss of what to do next. This took two minutes. I waited nearly one and a half hours to see him.
The ear, nose and throat specialist saw me Thursday morning. She ran some tests, had me go for a hearing check (92$ but I got to flirt with the hunky receptionist. grrrowlllll .....) and then told me my Eustachian tubes are inflamed and need exercised. She proscribed an inhalant for the next eight weeks to help the inflamation, and a simple exercise to help build up the tubes' muscles again.
I'm exercising my ears. Fabulous.
What's really interesting is that the hearing test showed that my hearing is actually slightly better than normal. Which is remarkable, because I have a horrible time hearing anything when there's background noise. If the dishwasher is running, I can't hear the tv, etc. Granted, I wasn't tested for hearing with background noise (that I know of.) But that lack of hearing ability, coupled with my years of working in radio when I was younger and the big giant headphones I was required to wear, has had me believing for the longest time that my hearing was impaired. I'm glad to know it's not.