PET and BCS

Before I really knew I had Lupus (still undiagnosed by the way, but I’m convinced that’s what it is) I visited my ENT because for most of my adult life, I have had problems with my ears feeling like they were clogged up. It really only bothered me when I sang because I couldn’t hear myself well. And as the Lupus progressed, the ear clogging got worse. To the point where they were clogged about 75% of the time and finally getting to where they were clogged about 99% of the time.

Imagine being under water. That’s what everything sounded like to me. I could hear my own voice amplified in my head. I could hear my heart beat and every breath I took, louder than any other sound. SUPER annoying, especially for a singer!

So my ENT first diagnosed me with ETD (eustachian tube dysfunction) and suggested that I try Afrin nasal spray to help open up my tubes because they were staying closed and they aren’t supposed to do that. After trying the Afrin, I realized that it only made my ear clogging WORSE!

This was in the beginning of December and I wasn’t going back to the ENT until January. So I did some research online to try and find some alternate ways to unclog ears. The thing that everyone said seemed to work for them was mixing water and 4 Way nasal spray in a neti pot. I tried that. It hurt, but it worked so I was happy. After my third try at the neti pot, the solution sent a sharp pain into my worse ear and didn’t work at all so I immediately stopped using that.

Next, I tried some herbal ear oil and ear candling. It worked at first, but eventually stopped working too. Frustrating!

Are you still reading this? Props to you if you are!

Anyway, I finally got to go back to the ENT to tell him about everything that I’ve been trying plus the lupus mess that I now think is involved with my ear drama. He shoved this thing up my nose and to my ear…

That was SUPER fun! And after a hearing test, he determined that I have PET. Patulous Eustachian Tube. So my tubes are staying OPEN all the time! He prescribed me some estrogen nasal spray to induce swelling in my tubes and so far, it has worked! It tastes awful in the back of my throat and I have to do it three times a day, but I won’t complain as long as it works!

So now, I go back and see him in a few more weeks to report my good news to him. I’m not sure if he will just have me continue the nasal spray for a while or if there is something else we can do now that we know what the real problem is.

Now onto the BCS! I am pretty sure that I am the ONLY person in Tuscaloosa that watched the Bachelor last night. I try to watch football, really I do. It just isn’t interesting to me at ALL. But I am proud that we won the National Championship last night! And I’m glad that everyone around town is in a good mood!

So Roll Tide! :)