Before you go oooohin and ahhhhhhin and gasping...let me say this....this is NOT a picture of what you think it is. Shame on you. Ha.
This *beautiful* shot is of my vocal cords and the swollen, red globs of skin surrounding them. The swollen, red globs of skin that sent me to the doctor and to the med center more than 5 times since last summer. The swollen, red globs of skin that feel like they are rubbing together and sometimes even clinging to each other when they get irritated.
I don't even know how to come close to describing the battle I have waged on these red globs of skin, which I will refer to by the proper name - EPIGLOTTIS - from now on
So, I'll start by saying there are two parts to this story...and I'm just going to tell the acid reflux portion here.
It all started while sitting in a restaurant in Hartville, Ohio with my mom. I noticed that I could really FEEL water when I was swallowing. Not feel it like "Oh wow that's so refreshing or cold," but feel it like "S@#$, since when did I have to work so hard to swallow an itty bitty gulp of water?".
And, that feeling really never went away after that one sip. In fact, it got worse.
About 8 weeks in, me and two coworkers took a trip to Swensons. I ate a veggie burger...and my biggest war against the epiglottis began.
15 minutes after returning to the office I was in a tailspin. I felt like I wasn't breathing...that my throat was closing...that those little flaps of skin were gripping hands and holding on for dear life.
I started crying and panicking all at once. Only exasperating the situation, I imagine.
So, I was rushed off to the med center. "Awefully, red," doc said in his bizarre and overbearing...boy are the other doctors stupid...speech. "Acid Reflux."
This wasn't the first time this had happened, just the worst. Oh, and it was accompanied by an emerging clucking habit. Clucking. Yes, clucking. (It was and is a really unattractive habit that took my social life hostage for a few months...but I'll get into the cluck in another blog.)
So, I make an appt for the ENT. With a camera up my right notstril and down my throat, he took this pretty lil picture of my inflamed epiglottis and sent me on my way with a prescription for acid reflux medication. Well three prescriptions actually because insurance didn't seem to want to cover any of the main ones.
I took the meds. They didn't help...well not with the tightness or the cluck. So, I stopped them.
Through the process of deduction I was able to figure out that I had two problems going on and that solving one of them wasn't going to free me of the throat pain.
So, I made some other important changes...which again will be covered in another blog...but no they weren't dietary and yes they did end up being the ones that helped me the most.
It turns out that my acid reflux is really a secondary problem (discovered only because another, bigger problem was set into motion)...and I've been okayISH for a little while now. Well until last night, doing yoga, when I could feel the acid gurgling up into my throat and this morning when the nausea cranked up to an unbearable level.
So to help balance out my misery...I wanted to post and share this picture (twice).
Gurgle. Gurgle. Cluck.
This *beautiful* shot is of my vocal cords and the swollen, red globs of skin surrounding them. The swollen, red globs of skin that sent me to the doctor and to the med center more than 5 times since last summer. The swollen, red globs of skin that feel like they are rubbing together and sometimes even clinging to each other when they get irritated.
I don't even know how to come close to describing the battle I have waged on these red globs of skin, which I will refer to by the proper name - EPIGLOTTIS - from now on
So, I'll start by saying there are two parts to this story...and I'm just going to tell the acid reflux portion here.
It all started while sitting in a restaurant in Hartville, Ohio with my mom. I noticed that I could really FEEL water when I was swallowing. Not feel it like "Oh wow that's so refreshing or cold," but feel it like "S@#$, since when did I have to work so hard to swallow an itty bitty gulp of water?".
And, that feeling really never went away after that one sip. In fact, it got worse.
About 8 weeks in, me and two coworkers took a trip to Swensons. I ate a veggie burger...and my biggest war against the epiglottis began.
15 minutes after returning to the office I was in a tailspin. I felt like I wasn't breathing...that my throat was closing...that those little flaps of skin were gripping hands and holding on for dear life.
I started crying and panicking all at once. Only exasperating the situation, I imagine.
So, I was rushed off to the med center. "Awefully, red," doc said in his bizarre and overbearing...boy are the other doctors stupid...speech. "Acid Reflux."
This wasn't the first time this had happened, just the worst. Oh, and it was accompanied by an emerging clucking habit. Clucking. Yes, clucking. (It was and is a really unattractive habit that took my social life hostage for a few months...but I'll get into the cluck in another blog.)
So, I make an appt for the ENT. With a camera up my right notstril and down my throat, he took this pretty lil picture of my inflamed epiglottis and sent me on my way with a prescription for acid reflux medication. Well three prescriptions actually because insurance didn't seem to want to cover any of the main ones.
I took the meds. They didn't help...well not with the tightness or the cluck. So, I stopped them.
Through the process of deduction I was able to figure out that I had two problems going on and that solving one of them wasn't going to free me of the throat pain.
So, I made some other important changes...which again will be covered in another blog...but no they weren't dietary and yes they did end up being the ones that helped me the most.
It turns out that my acid reflux is really a secondary problem (discovered only because another, bigger problem was set into motion)...and I've been okayISH for a little while now. Well until last night, doing yoga, when I could feel the acid gurgling up into my throat and this morning when the nausea cranked up to an unbearable level.
So to help balance out my misery...I wanted to post and share this picture (twice).
Gurgle. Gurgle. Cluck.
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