Monday, October 20, 2008

Not a Sinus Infection

I went to an ENT specialist today... my pain is not coming from a sinus infection (based on the CT scan). This may explain why antibiotics, decongestants, nasal sprays, etc. have been unsuccessful.

What is it then, this horrible, horrible pain that so resembles an out-of-control sinus infection?

Here's what I came up with as I rummaged through the possibilities (I'll be seeing my regular doctor again on Wednesday to discuss):
  • Migraine/Cluster Headache
  • Eye Strain
  • TMJ
  • Fatigue
  • Some/Most/All of the Above
I'm actually thinking TMJ is the strongest suspect. A few years ago, I had constant, severe headache pains; braces cleared that up pretty well. And lately, I've been noticing a regression in my teeth and jaw alignment...

... the question is...

Can I afford orthodontic correction?

I've been needing to buy a different car -- anyone who has ridden in my current car the past couple months knows why, but probably won't remember too well... that is to say, it smells majorly of gas... I suspect it will blow up soon... which I wouldn't mind; that could be extremely entertaining. Honestly, I would laugh.

Man, life is expensive! And speaking of expensive, I need to go get food; I'm starving.

2 comments:

  1. Bummer. Undiagnosable medical conditions are never much fun.

    Where is the pain / what is it like? I'm pretty familiar with migraine in all of its various permutations, having suffered from migraine headaches off and on all my adult life. I'm now on a medication that has reduced the frequency of migraine headaches from two or three per week to one or two per month, and reduced the severity significantly as well.

    I've never really associated migraine pain with my sinuses, but I've had some nasty icepick-in-the-back-of-the-eyeballs headaches that might not differ too greatly from sinus problems.

    I hope you can get it figured out and that you can afford to treat/correct whatever is causing the problem.

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  2. Where is the pain / what is it like?

    The pain is located and feels just like a severe sinus infection in my maxillary sinuses.

    I hope you can get it figured out and that you can afford to treat/correct whatever is causing the problem.

    Thanks... me, too...

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