Update on my health situation

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This is a quick update on my health, mostly for my personal friends who follow this blog. As you may know, I've been trying to treat a suspected case of silent (laryngopharyngeal) reflux, or LPR, after many months of persistent throat issues and ruling out many other potential causes (viral infections, strep, mono, mold allergies, post-nasal drip, polyps, tumors, etc.).

My new urban jungle oasis. I had two scopes done last week - one down the nose and the other down the throat. (Neither was fun; the nose one hurt quite a bit but didn't last very long. Thankfully I was asleep for the gastroscope but I HATE getting that intravenous stuck into my hand, it hurts like hell for me.) The results are confusing. For one thing, neither scope found any tissue damage whatsoever that might be associated with silent reflux - no inflammation or scarring or anything like that. The gastro scope DID find that I have a small (2 cm) hiatal hernia that I've had from birth, which can increase the odds of reflux disorders but not necessarily. The Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor even told me that everything inside my sinuses, throat and larynx looks very healthy! I'm not sure how to interpret this information and I'm extremely frustrated that I still don't have a diagnosis for what's going on with me. I'm also still not really responding to the medical treatment I'm on (proton pump inhibitors) or the low-acid diet that is making me seriously miserable - I'm on an incredibly strict acid detox diet that has removed my ability to eat literally everything I enjoy eating and also means no alcohol, no patio season, no restaurants period, no pizza nights or homemade nachos or burgers while binge-watching Billions with my S.O., no cannabis to relax after a long week at work. I'm also not doing circus right now which is making me incredibly depressed because aerial acrobatics is my passion and I'm missing out on the mood stabilizing effects of the endorphin rush. So now, because the treatment isn't working and there isn't any real evidence of LPR, I'm entertaining alternate diagnoses. One thing that the ENT suggested is that I might have something called Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) - basically an extreme tension in the throat muscles responsible for swallowing, speaking and even breathing. I might have that *and* reflux (reflux can cause it), or I might have it *instead* of reflux, or I might just have reflux (that for some reason isn't responding to treatment), or I might not have either of those things. SO CONFUSING. But MTD sort of makes sense as a diagnosis because I have a bunch of the symptoms (difficulty swallowing, a feeling of a lump in the throat, constant throat clearing, a hoarse voice, pain/a swelling sensation during certain types of vocalizations). It could have started with an throat/larynx infection, or due to the extreme personal and professional stress I have been under over the past nine months, or from the nearly constant rage-crying (abuse of my vocal chords) I have been doing in response to said stress, or even from overuse of vaporizers (excessive sucking motion by the throat muscles). Even incorrect breathing can exacerbate the condition (when I get stressed/anxious I have a strong tendency to chest breathe, which puts strain on the throat muscles rather than using the diaphragm to belly breathe as one is supposed to). And people who use their voices a lot (like journalists, for example!) are prone to such vocal disorders. I'm really hoping for an MTD diagnosis and NOT a reflux disorder because MTD is treatable without drugs or surgery and doesn't seem to cause any other health complications, whereas LPR/silent reflux can eventually lead to cancer if it's not controlled, the drugs to control LPR are extremely dangerous over the long term (leading to complications like C. difficile, osteoarthritis and even heart attacks) and it's a chronic condition that requires very restrictive, lifelong dietary and lifestyle changes, including possibly quitting circus for life - my BIGGEST FEAR right now - because of all the hanging upside down! In contrast, MTD can usually be treated/corrected through voice therapy by a speech pathologist who teaches you vocal exercises and performs some massage techniques on your throat. It can also be aided through other types of body work such as physiotherapy or osteopathy, which can correct bad posture and other muscle imbalances that may be contributing to the problem.( I'm seeing a speech pathologist on Monday and an osteopath on Tuesday.) So please cross your fingers for me that I have something like that, which can easily be fixed! Other diagnoses I've entertained include sleep apnea and a thyroid problem, both of which would really suck. I just want to be healthy again so I can regain my freedom and go back to living my life. By the way, if you've been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia and are interested in trying to reverse it naturally, I found an online course that promises to help do that. I'm not sure if it works but you've got little to lose by trying, and a lot of the habits she preaches here (relaxing the belly, eating more plant-based foods) are good for optimal health and digestion anyway: https://www.pamfox.org
Originally posted here: https://steemit.com/health/@theexaminedlife/update-on-my-health-situation