Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired
It's been a week now since I finished the third round of antibiotics that I've had for my ear problems. Well, I call it an ear problem. The doctor said my ears look fine and that I have sinusitis, but my ears are the only things that hurt. Also, I don't have any snot or goo, which I thought came along with sinusitis. Perhaps Nurse Cazzie can set me straight if I'm wrong about that. In the meantime, I promise not to mention snot or goo again.
Anyway, this last antibiotic (and the steroid) was supposed to knock it out once and for all, and I'm sicker than ever before. My ear has continued to hurt off and on, and I've had headaches every. single. day. They're getting worse, and so is my ear. Then yesterday morning I woke up with a sore throat. Through all of this, my throat hadn't hurt before. I thought maybe I slept with my mouth open or whatever, but it got worse as the day went on, and by last night it was so bad that I had to take a left over Tylenol 3 just to fall asleep. Even that didn't stop the pain. This morning I woke up at 7:00, and it was even worse. My throat has not hurt like this in years. I was also freezing and sweating at the same time, and felt like I had not had a drink of water in a month.
The crappy thermometer said my temp was 94.1 (possibly because I had just drank a bunch of cold water) and I couldn't find the good thermometer. Later, the crappy thermometer said my temp was 99.5, which I still don't trust even though it seems much more likely than 94.1.
I went back to bed and finally fell asleep again after an hour or so, and TH woke me up at 10:30 as he was getting ready to leave for work. We had loads of laundry waiting to be done, and his scrubs were the most urgent because they have to dry outside on the line and it's supposed to rain later today. He kept waking me up and telling me to hurry up and get started.
He left for work and I fell back asleep and stayed that way until noon. When I woke up that time, my throat was still unbearably sore, but at least my fever was gone. I loaded our giant piles of laundry into the car and headed to the coin operated hell known as the laundromat. (No plumber yet, by the way.)
While I was there, my right ear suddenly went wacko. It sounded like someone was pouring water into a bucket right by my ear, and I turned around to see what was going on. There was nothing there. Then it made that high-pitched ringing sound for a few seconds, and then suddenly I was almost completely deaf in that ear. It freaked me out, but what could I do? I figured it would return to normal eventually. When I was about 8 years old, the exact same thing happened to me once when I had an ear infection, except it was in both ears and it lasted for a couple of weeks. At first, I was calm, but one day I got it in my head that it might never go back to normal. I almost went crazy because I thought I was going to be deaf for the rest of my life. I have an older cousin who is deaf, and everyone always thought she was retarded because of the way she spoke. I was afraid that was going to happen to me, but my hearing eventually returned to normal that time, so I figured it would eventually return this time.
It didn't last long. Within an hour, I could hear again. There is some wacky junk happening inside my head, I tell ya.
Before I went to the laundromat I left a message with the last doctor I saw about this, and her nurse called me back and said I have an appointment with the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor Thursday at 2:00. He'd better offer a solution. My patience, like my hearing, is fading fast.
Anyway, this last antibiotic (and the steroid) was supposed to knock it out once and for all, and I'm sicker than ever before. My ear has continued to hurt off and on, and I've had headaches every. single. day. They're getting worse, and so is my ear. Then yesterday morning I woke up with a sore throat. Through all of this, my throat hadn't hurt before. I thought maybe I slept with my mouth open or whatever, but it got worse as the day went on, and by last night it was so bad that I had to take a left over Tylenol 3 just to fall asleep. Even that didn't stop the pain. This morning I woke up at 7:00, and it was even worse. My throat has not hurt like this in years. I was also freezing and sweating at the same time, and felt like I had not had a drink of water in a month.
The crappy thermometer said my temp was 94.1 (possibly because I had just drank a bunch of cold water) and I couldn't find the good thermometer. Later, the crappy thermometer said my temp was 99.5, which I still don't trust even though it seems much more likely than 94.1.
I went back to bed and finally fell asleep again after an hour or so, and TH woke me up at 10:30 as he was getting ready to leave for work. We had loads of laundry waiting to be done, and his scrubs were the most urgent because they have to dry outside on the line and it's supposed to rain later today. He kept waking me up and telling me to hurry up and get started.
He left for work and I fell back asleep and stayed that way until noon. When I woke up that time, my throat was still unbearably sore, but at least my fever was gone. I loaded our giant piles of laundry into the car and headed to the coin operated hell known as the laundromat. (No plumber yet, by the way.)
While I was there, my right ear suddenly went wacko. It sounded like someone was pouring water into a bucket right by my ear, and I turned around to see what was going on. There was nothing there. Then it made that high-pitched ringing sound for a few seconds, and then suddenly I was almost completely deaf in that ear. It freaked me out, but what could I do? I figured it would return to normal eventually. When I was about 8 years old, the exact same thing happened to me once when I had an ear infection, except it was in both ears and it lasted for a couple of weeks. At first, I was calm, but one day I got it in my head that it might never go back to normal. I almost went crazy because I thought I was going to be deaf for the rest of my life. I have an older cousin who is deaf, and everyone always thought she was retarded because of the way she spoke. I was afraid that was going to happen to me, but my hearing eventually returned to normal that time, so I figured it would eventually return this time.
It didn't last long. Within an hour, I could hear again. There is some wacky junk happening inside my head, I tell ya.
Before I went to the laundromat I left a message with the last doctor I saw about this, and her nurse called me back and said I have an appointment with the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor Thursday at 2:00. He'd better offer a solution. My patience, like my hearing, is fading fast.
How's your Benadryl supply? My youngest son had an ear infection that lasted about 3 months. I think he had 5 rounds of antibiotics. Finally, an ear/nose/throat doc put him on an antihistamine along with the last antibiotic, and it cleared up.
He has to go to speech classes, which I attritube to his hearing problems when he was 1 year old.
He never had anything draining out of his ears, either. I could tell from him pulling on his ear, and the docs could tell by how red it was when they looked in it.
I'm sure Cazzie can give you some info. She's my favorite 'free medical advice over the internet' provider.
Posted by
Hillbilly Mom |
3:46 PM
That ENT should fix ya right up. I felt like I should offer sexual favors to the ENT my kids saw a few years ago. The things that their PA was just blowing off or either just ordering round after round of antibiotic for was suddenly fixed by the man who diagnosed a 30 decibel hearing loss in my daughter and scheduled them both for surgery to get rid of their gunky tonsils and adenoids and put tubes in their ears. The ear infection that Abby is just getting over is the first one she's had in 4 years. Those ENT guys tend to not beat around the bush so much. It's why we pay 'em the big bucks and offer them sexual favors. :-)
Posted by
Redneck Diva |
4:39 PM
And yeah, start taking the Benadryl. That's what finally worked on Ab this go'round.
Posted by
Redneck Diva |
4:39 PM
Have you tried Oasis nasal wash and the nasal spray. When I was pregnant, I had sinusitis/allergies/etc. so bad that one ear had 25% hearing and the other had nada. Not pleasant. The nasal wash and spray is some "aggressive" treatment that our ENT invented as the last resort before the tubes in the ears. Good luck!
Posted by
Marshamarshamarsha |
2:05 AM