Thursday, February 28, 2008

I Hate This Connective Tissue Stuff!

Ugh.

Went to the ENT today, who said my ears, which were still mildly infected last Friday, look clear today and are definitely no longer infected. He did say that my eustachian tube in my left ear moves irregularly when I breathe and might require having a tube put in my ear at some point. But he says I'm not there yet.

The ENT thinks that at least part of my pain is being caused by my TM joint which, as you know, is just in front of the ear. He says that they're so close together that it is common to mistake pain in the joint for ear pain. It is true that when I open my mouth wide, I get a painful popping sensation in my ear.

But the TM joint issue doesn't explain why I get severe pain when my ears pop from sneezing or blowing my nose. That's when he mentioned the irregularity with my left eustachian tube.

And there are times, like this, that I hate it when my husband is right. The ENT says there is quite a bit of connective tissue involved in the ear (as well as in the TM joint) and this could quite likely be related to my connective tissue issues.

Sigh.

So he recommends that I go talk to my dentist (who I see March 6) and my rheumatologist (who I see March 11) about this and see what they say. In the meantime, he suggests taking ibuprofin, which I'm not really supposed to take because of my past history with ulcers.

This illness is just so irritatingly complicated, and I'm feeling really frustrated about this latest development.

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