When is it time to go to the doctor?

[Zazz 20]

Hey everyone.

So... maybe weird question?

How does one even know that something is worth going to the doctor about? Is it duration, intensity, symptom based (like how can I even trust my symptoms anyways)?

Per usual I'm stuck in a stupid loop of "I should ask a doctor about this but I'll probably embarrass myself and I've been in so many times lately and I'm wasting their time and I should just wait for it to blow over".

What's going on right now is that I haven't been able to hear out of my right ear for about four days (+tinittus (ringing and pulsate), mild achiness, warmth, mild swelling). I know it's probably not long enough to go in... and swear to God if I do it'll go away a couple days after I go in there while I'm waiting for a damn referral to the ENT.

I really want my body to stop doing weird things. I've had it. I'm starting to get actually a bit pissed off because I'm tired of this anxiety loop... and I'd get out of it if my immune system would stop being a douche!

On the bright side... I haven't Googled potential causes... so... that's an improvement?

[Iugrad91 501]

That sounds like your typical ear infection. I would go in and have it checked out so they can give you ear drops or antibiotics.

My rule of thumb is if it isn’t obvious what is wrong (UTI, sinus infection, other minor stuff I’ve had before) I usually wait at least 3 weeks to see if it goes away. In that time if it gets worse or progresses to something else then I would go in. Sometimes I wait longer if it is just a mild annoyance and isn’t getting worse. In that time I work on my thought patterns and work on resisting what ifs and catastrophic thinking. Every time it’s different though, based on past experience and knowledge so I don’t have a hard and fast answer for that one. 

In your case the warmth achiness and swelling make me believe it’s just an ear infection and for that I would go to the doc.

As you mentioned above, though, even if you think it’s just a minor problem, DO NOT Google. Google is a very poor replacement for a doctor and puts nothing in perspective, everything is just out there and no one thing is more likely than the other when you’re reading it online. That’s where we get trapped in catastrophic thinking. Google mentions things a doc wouldn’t even bring up because they have perspective and a long history of treating people which the internet does not have.

[Ms.Moon 18]

I get this when my allergies are acting up.  Do you have allergies?

[Zazz 20]

I do have allergies but I haven't been really dealing with any allergy symptoms (though I am allergic to my cat).

If it's an infection... it's very mild. The ache isn't much. I am hyperaware of my body though so... yeah.

This ear has actually been bothering me on and off for probably five years. I occasionally get a pretty fierce burning pain in it from time to time that I'm fairly certain is my arthritis acting up (especially since issues with it often show up early in the morning or late at night before bed). I would guess this why the swelling is so mild as well (like most of it's inside I guess? But the trigus is a little swollen from what I can tell).

That's just based off my knowledge... I would guess a mixture of inflammation and ear gunk... there isn't any puss or odd coloring. *Shrugs*

I guess I'll give it into next week since it doesn't hurt that much and then send my PCP a message (I'd wait longer and depending on how much my anxiety wants to be a dick I might... but this is actually really annoying me?).

My brain has of course gone worst case scenario already. Since I haven't Googled it, all it's got is "you could permanently lose hearing in that ear"

And I'm luckily not really that freaked out about that (though do not want cus... I'm already paranoid I won't hear something I need to be able to hear (and that's with normal hearing)).

[Iugrad91 501]

Ok, with that knowledge that you have had similar sensations in the past and have allergies (our weather has been weird in the Midwest and lots of people are having allergy issues this winter) then I would say let it be and if it gets worse then go in. You can always go to an ENT and have them take a look. Even if it’s allergies they know what to look for and can prescribe something if they feel it’s necessary. 

[Zazz 20]

I think I might have found a fix... which is hydrogen peroxide to break up the junk. First pass got some hearing back!

[Zazz 20]

I had forgotten that I had posted about this and here I am a year later with this issue AGAIN... and came here to ask if I'm freaking out. I'm on day four of this... again. I finally contacted my doctor who guessed it's probably allergies and suggested antihistamines and Flonase. Since Flonase is a steroid and I know I have inflammatory issues, I went with that. It's day two and no change. I'm back to having both types of tinnitus. There still isn't anything coming out of my ear and I've flushed it a ton of times with peroxide.

I'm getting worried this is going to become permanent... and I'm not sure if it's even logical to worry about that.

I didn't worry about it the first or second day. I guess three days is my limit of "I can ignore this" and four days is where I start to worry because this has been going on for too long.

I'm almost fairly certain that this will be here tomorrow. Symptoms and pain are still building. The ringing is constant, making me unable to forget that it's happening. Pain is starting to spread and I don't know if that's just my brain, being anxious and amplifying things.

I'm worried that it's just not going to go away... that this will be the time that I permanently lose my hearing in this ear.

ARG! 😵

[Zazz 20]

I'm starting to legitimately freak out. The pain is hitting a five on the pain scale... and while I recognize that's not that bad I have to wonder WTF is going on. I'm not sure the Flonase is going to do anything. I'm not even sure what the hell this could be. I just know the pain is building and I'm starting to get a legitimate headache and pain in the other ear too (though no plugged feeling, hearing loss, or tinnitus in that ear)... feeling a little dizzy and nauseous here and there but that's probably cus my anxiety is going through the roof!

Because this one came around half way through an arthritis flare I'm sure it's some inflammatory thing... but shouldn't the Flonase be making it better at that point rather than it still getting worse? I'm probably going to have to hang my head and go in... I'm thinking if it's not better by Thursday or Friday I'll set an appointment. If the pain builds over 6 or 7 I'll probably go to urgent care.

Is it crazy to build a strategy as to when symptoms are urgent or require care? I have no idea but I'm really so f***ing tired of my body right now and I'd like to toss it in the trash pile because it feels like it's always waiting to blind-side me with something like this...

And I always sit on it, try to take care of it myself... and have to come to a point of breakdown where I admit I need help cus I can't just *fix* it myself.

Sorry guys, I need to vent right now and I don't know if anyone really understands just... having something concerning going on in one's body and being stuck between worrying and trying to tell myself I shouldn't worry but that's not really helpful cus that "just don't worry" space is where my anxiety thrives.

 

[BirdieS 7]

I’m so sorry you’re feeling this way - sometimes we need to vent to others who have HA and understand the struggle. Sometimes I wish I married a doctor so I’d have around the clock medical reassurance that I’m healthy (haha). Sending virtual hugs.

[Zazz 20]

Thanks for replying Birdie. I ended up laying down for awhile and feeling better, I guess? Nothing's really changed... well I guess the nausea and dizziness has passed. Had a legitimate anxiety attack for a moment... but feeling a bit more mentally stable after resting.

I don't even want to sit through tomorrow like this. But I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see what happens. My brain has wondered a lot of things but this is not one of those things I think I can figure out. I know realistically, if becomes permanent... I'll cope with it (somehow)... realized I've been stuck in obsessive "what ifs" and I need to try to not stay there. Problem is, I'm also not sure what else to do...

I guess OCD falls down to control repeatedly. I want control over this.

I don't so much want a doctor at my beckon call... I want to be able to be my own doctor and not have to rely on others to treat me - I want to know what's going on in my body at any given symptom and know intrinsically what to do about it. Like I would be psyched to have the whole menagerie of diagnostic equipment.

But I don't... and I can't. I just hate having to rely on others that I have no idea if they're actually in my court and if I seem like a raving loon. 🙃

 

[NovemberTrue 1]

I get these same issues during allergy season every year. Its almost like my allergies drain into my ears vs out my nose, if that makes sense. I have actually used peroxide too and it does help. But ear candles worked even better for me. If all else fails, a visit to the dr and a steroid shot fixes it up within a few days. 

[MARC 431]

I have a client of mine who is a retired Nephrologist and Cardiologist. He has told me to give symptoms 2 weeks or so to resolve on their own unless the pain becomes unbearable or the symptoms get much worse. 

[Ironman 198]

15 hours ago, Zazz said:

Thanks for replying Birdie. I ended up laying down for awhile and feeling better, I guess? Nothing's really changed... well I guess the nausea and dizziness has passed. Had a legitimate anxiety attack for a moment... but feeling a bit more mentally stable after resting.

I don't even want to sit through tomorrow like this. But I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see what happens. My brain has wondered a lot of things but this is not one of those things I think I can figure out. I know realistically, if becomes permanent... I'll cope with it (somehow)... realized I've been stuck in obsessive "what ifs" and I need to try to not stay there. Problem is, I'm also not sure what else to do...

I guess OCD falls down to control repeatedly. I want control over this.

I don't so much want a doctor at my beckon call... I want to be able to be my own doctor and not have to rely on others to treat me - I want to know what's going on in my body at any given symptom and know intrinsically what to do about it. Like I would be psyched to have the whole menagerie of diagnostic equipment.

But I don't... and I can't. I just hate having to rely on others that I have no idea if they're actually in my court and if I seem like a raving loon. 🙃

 

While we do know our own bodies, doctors learn about the function of the body itself.  They will know what to officially worry about. 

You're not a loon; you are just trying to take too much on.....trust your doctor!

[Zazz 20]

2 weeks is way too long to wait on some things... so it really depends on what it is I think. I suppose most things can wait that long and should improve after that time.

I set an appointment for Monday. It's day six and if it doesn't improve by then I think I've gone over the threshold of how long most suggest waiting on this... though this kind of thing can spontaneously resolve... I guess anytime upwards of weeks.

I absolutely can't stand it! I do get to a point where I'm kinda used to it and don't notice it as much. The pain has gone down but the ringing is still pretty loud and still feel pressure. Since my PCP said to come in if it doesn't improve I'm going to take initiative.

And you're right Ironman. I guess that is my problem is I really DON'T trust my PCP. I guess I've come to the conclusion that he's doing his best and his mistakes don't come from any maliciousness (I mean, he's a nice guy)... he's just a PCP and I can't expect him to be an expert on anything, but I can trust him to put in referrals if it's over his head... and as much as I've had it suggested, I haven't fired him cus I guess I can understand that some of my issues require specialists and he's still doing his job just fine.

I do have to remind myself regularly that I can do a ton of research, read studies and medical literature, but even without the equipment I'm lacking a lot of knowledge that they have. Heck, I don't even know how to properly perform a reflex test (like on the knees), and short of going to medical school (which I don't want to do cus I couldn't handle the stress of their job... having people's lives in my hands... BUH!), I'll never have a lot of that necessary knowledge, nor the experience of treating several patients with similar symptoms and having to sort through little differences that literature doesn't really explain.

I guess I just can't shake that they're still just human and... tbh I have pretty severe social anxiety so humans kinda freak me out! 😅

 

[MARC 431]

I agree, 2 weeks is too long to wait for some things and that is what my client said.  I have pretty much constant ringing or some type of noise in my left ear and it has been going on for over a year. When I told my internal medicine and ENT physicians, their response to me was, they have it too and I have learned to live with it. I however think it needs to be checked out if it is really bothersome to you or is getting worse. 

[Zazz 20]

Ok but if a doctor suggests to me that I lost my hearing because of anxiety I will punch them in the face (not really but I sure will want to and that might be the moment I fire them).

Last time a doctor suggested that a legitimate medical symptom was anxiety it was much more legitimate and it still turned it to be something diagnosable and treatable without psych meds.

Don't get me wrong, in a whole basket of fries short of a Happy meal but literally the concept that a doc will look at me and tell me it's all in my head is what got me in this situation of trying to figure it out myself in the first place (and why I don't trust them - cus mental illness causes stimga that leads practitioners to default on "it's anxiety")!

I'm 33 and I've been mentally ill as long as I can remember and frankly, I know what my anxiety does it me (though the irony is, I suppose, that the whole body system works together - for or against itself... and having autonomic nervous system shit, yeah anxiety does indeed effect that too, but that does not mean that it's JUST anxiety, esp when medical tests PROVE it's not - anxiety can do a lot and it can exacerbate medical symptoms but it can't thin my bones, inflame my GI tract, cause bilateral motor neuropathy in both my arms and legs, kill the nerves in teeth, ad nauseum).

Dizziness, nausea and vomiting, muscle spasms, sweating, cold chills, hot flashes and flushing, racing heartbeat, hypertension, chest pain, headaches... Yeah all that is anxiety. Heck, even some of the fainting spells may be by all means.

There's this part of Googling that I inevitably always fall upon an article that discussed malingering or somatic/anxiety symptoms and that's where my anxiety skyrockets.

If it's all in my head, I'm fucked and I go through way too extensive of a routine trying to figure out if symptoms are strictly in my head or if they're really in my body... and you'd think I'd stop the buck right there, but then there's always someone just like you ready to push me back in that ditch.

 

Please never come on any post I make and suggest it's just anxiety. That's between me and my therapist... who unfortunately has had to remind me that I can't anxiety my capilaries into bursting.

Ya may wonder why I come back to this board. I've spoken about how it's not at much health anxiety... but let's face it... we're all dealing with OCD here with juxtaposed obsessions. There are plenty of things about my OCD and how it manifests that I just don't think anyone else will really understand. And indeed, many people on this board have been very helpful and supportive (thank you, everyone! ♥️).

Many people on this board are worried they have a severe medical condition. I'm consistently worried that I'm making it up with a dash of concerned this symptom is gonna stick... cus I have a systemic condition that can conceivably cause just about anything and I literally never know when the symptom is gonna stick around or be gone next week or month. It's fucking crazy-making! It makes me not want to go in because I KNOW that it's likely to be a transient thing and then I put off going to the doc when I have had things like a severe kidney infection... AND KNEW IT! I end up obsessing about "is this actually bad enough to even ask a doctor if I should do something about it" cus I'm always fairly certain it couldn't be anything serious, it's probably in my head, or I've manifested it... and I should just shut up, not worry, and wait it out (and then I spiral through the possibilities and the worry that if I say anything I'm going to make a fool of myself for daring to worry that I should even be concerned).

If my hearing loss were simply anxiety and not even remotely physical it would have gone away yesterday by the time the pain had started to go back down to levels I can ignore and I had gotten used to the partial deafness and ringing. A symptom that shows up and persists when no anxiety is present and hasn't been isn't just anxiety --- to be fair it also doesn't mean they're all serious or persistent... cus the body is weird and efficient at repairing itself.

Don't get me wrong... the pain? Might totally be anxiety - I'm no stranger to somatic pain and it is that dull ache, muscle soreness for the most part. The deafness... sorry bro but that's actually there. Whether it'll still be there next week is an entirely different story, and unfortunately... I'm just gonna have to wait and see. 🤷‍♂️

Thanks! 🙃

[MARC 431]

I have had a number of actual health problems in my life which were, compression fracture of vertebrae, esophageal ulcer, basal cell carcinoma, dizziness for 6 weeks in row due to shift in ear crystals, retina disease, diverticulosis, etc. The ulcer and fractured vertebrae were pretty painful. Real disease is not fun either. On top of it all I suffer from HA too off and on and the real health issues did not help matters. I try to do the best I can. 

[Zazz 20]

Marc, absolutely, and neither is anxiety! It's all cruddy... and we get the journey of learning how to manage it all - brains and bodies and how they're intrinsically linked.

How much easier it would be if they were distinctly separate and didn't tag-team! 😅

Realistically, OCD or not we're all going to have medical issues at *some point* in our lives. Some will be serious, most will not... and plenty will just downright suck. 😓

[BirdieS 7]

1 hour ago, Zazz said:

I'm consistently worried that I'm making it up with a dash of concerned this symptom is gonna stick... cus I have a systemic condition that can conceivably cause just about anything and I literally never know when the symptom is gonna stick around or be gone next week or month. It's fucking crazy-making!

I can relate to this 100%

[Zazz 20]

14 minutes ago, BirdieS said:

I can relate to this 100%

*Hugs (if ok)* sorry you know that feel too. It is teh suck. 😞

[Zazz 20]

Long story short... my PCP was gonna throw antibiotics at it. I asked him if he was sure it was an infection cus it gets better mid-day and worse in the morning and at night and he took a second look and said it honestly doesn't have any clear signs of infection, but the eardrum is swollen and dark and he's sending me to an ENT... so I get to wait on it.

I'll bet you money it's blood (based on the visit summary, my PCP is guessing the same thing as he wrote it up as "possible blood behind TM".

[Zazz 20]

-deleted-

Sorry, not gonna make you read that.