Please help me I’m sick and can’t find any help or comfort

[Fefe09]

Exactly 2 years ago I was put to sleep for colonoscopy and had a light ran down my throat. I was throwing up and lost 60 pounds within few months and the pain in my stomach was the worst pain I have ever felt. So when I woke up from being put under my right nostril was burning terribly and my lip was hurting. I noticed when I returned home that the inside of lip had a round circle like sore on it. I was told it probably got pinched from the tube ran down me. So 2 days after my colonoscopy I got severe dizziness. The worst. My head has felt like it’s infected. My nostril is still hurting and my mouth I forgot to mention has a sore in very top of soft palate that you can’t see but if I reach all the way in the back I can feel it. It’s hurting so bad and I’ve had throat scans and bloodwork . I have felt like someone has poisoned me and my body is in severe pain constant from my throat to my ear up to my head. I feel feverish even though I’m not running fever. I’m so sick and hurting with severe pain. I feel like I have infection through out and I need help. They just tell me your not running fever your blood work is good. The ent doesn’t see anything but there bypassing what’s in my throat you can’t see it I only feel it. It’s been constant torcher for 24 months and I don’t know who can help me. The er here they do bloodwork and look at my throat and send me home. The ent look in my mouth don’t see anything and run the camera down. I’m sorry for talking in circles but I haven’t slept . The pain is so bad and the dizziness. Who can help me I live in the United States and I need somone who can listen and help. I don’t know if something happened when I was out to sleep but the chronic infection that I feel is unbearable. It doesn’t stop. I feel when I close my eyes the dizziness is worse and I can sleep . Someone tell me who is someone who can help me . I hate to even tell this part but I sent a message to my sister telling her goodbye because I wanted to take my life. I told her the pain and the infected feeling won’t let up and I’m exhausted. I had a brain scan and throat scan too. All normal. I can hardly swallow. All my teeth feel infected and it’s feels like if you have ever had an abscess tooth . Multiply the pain by 10 and put the pain inside your head nose and ear and throat and mouth. Idk what to do . Anyone. Experienced anything like this? I have also taken antibiotics and it’s not helping anything .

[CLB1125]

Im sorry I can’t offer any advice. This sounds awful. I might suggest an infectious disease expert. You will have to do some digging to find one but they may recognize the symptoms. Maybe try your local health department or poison control office to see if they know of any in your area. I hope you find the answer you need.

[Fefe09 in reply to CLB1125]

Thank you I appreciate it. Yesterday was a terrible day . I don’t really want to harm myself . I love life . I love my Heavenly Father and my belief is it’s not my life to take. But the torcher I’ve been thru with this pain is all day everyday and never lets up. Hopefully i will get better soon thanks again

[hypercat54 in reply to Fefe09]

Oh dear it sounds like torture.

[Starrlight]

I’m so sorry I wish I had good advice it sounds terrible. I’m so sorry it’s that bad that you think of harming yourself. Sending love and hope you get some relief soon. 💕 I sooooo hope you find all that you need to get through it.

[2L84x]

What you are going through sounds truly awful. Could perhaps a dentist look at the sore in your mouth? Also if your teeth feel infected they should (I hope) be able too see something on X-rays?

If you can't get help from doctors or dentists I would recommend looking at alternative medicine, like acupuncture. Perhaps you have already tried this, but I hope there are some things left for you to try!

[Fefe09 in reply to 2L84x]

Thank you I appreciate it. My health declined right after I fell on my right arm and chest and the shortness of breath is a struggle constantly. So my immune system probably weak cause my whole right side feels numb all the way down and feels like my whole right side is completely not working. I’m tired so tired and everyone’s telling me take your antidepressants they just want to numb me but thets not gonna help my breathing . My c-2 all the way down was bulging and my collarbone still hurts after all this time down to my trachea but I can’t find anyone that thinks my breathing lack of is from my fall and continued to work for postal service . Anyway thanks for your thoughts

[2L84x in reply to Fefe09]

I would be so angry if people told me to 'take my antidepressants' when I have a totally different health problem! As if just because I am depressed, anything that feels wrong in my body is just in my mind?? My heart goes out to you, you should not be treated like this. ❤️

[Fefe09 in reply to 2L84x]

Thank you so much for that…. My family and friends think that an antidepressant will help with my airway . been dealing with this for 10 years and I’m broken hearted I’ve missed out on ballgames and vacation cause I’ll I can do all day is focus on just taking in another breath and now dealing with this infection. I love my family but I have to tell them an antidepressant isn’t gonna fix what I’ve been suffering with. I have taken antidepressants on and off for years and years. That’s all they tell me . Just take your meds . Thank you so much for being the first person to say that. I know antidepressants can help people but like I said I’ve been on them and I stopped them probably back several months ago. I was in the same situation with them and I’m in the same situation without. You are a breath of fresh air to me today. God bless you

[Zyxx in reply to Fefe09]

Have you seen a chiropractor?

[Zyxx in reply to Zyxx]

This sounds like something you might ask chiropractors on Quora about.

If you do ask on Quora make sure you include every bit of relevant data, including data that might not seem so relevant. I didn’t know about the fall, when I read your question. Thought it was just about the anaesthesia, but there seems to be more to it.

[Agora1]

Fefe09, I may not be a doctor but something is not right. Suffering for 24 months is

unfathomable. I totally agree with CLB in that an infectious disease doctor, someone

with new eyes on the case, may be what you need. I too hope you find the answers

you need to get your life back. With hope and trust the answer will be found. xx

[Fefe09 in reply to Agora1]

Thankyou from the bottom of my heart .

[Zyxx]

Fefe I’m sorry, I don’t know how to help you.

The only thing I can think of is go to Quora. Do you know the site? There’s many many people on there, including doctors and many are willing to answer questions. For instance dr Liang-Hai Sie, a retired internist.

What you do is you join Quora, then ask your question, and when you’ve finished your question you choose dr Sie as well as as many other doctors (ent/internists) as you can find for the question to go to. It takes a little fiddling with Quora and a little looking up, online, how to ask questions on Quora, but you’re intelligent and I know you can work it out.

Let’s say 1 in 3 answer, I’m not sure. If you could tag 30 doctors, say, you might get 10 answers and maybe one would be useful. Something is going on with you that someone needs to recognize. You’re far from the only person who has to shop around for ages in order to find a medical answer, sadly.

[Zyxx]

I just read that you’ve stopped antidepressants a few months ago?

From what you’re writing it seems your throat problem predates the quitting antidepressants, so it’s probably not related, but believe me, quitting ADs can produce odd effects and for very, very long times.

I’ve quit / tried to quit 3 times. The first time I thought I had a gastric infection. I went into the hospital, and was examined by an internist who told me I had anorexia (pfff….) because I couldn’t eat anymore. It was all because of the ADs, which I’d been off for a number of months, by then. I had no idea.

Equally, for many people the mental effects don’t subside after a few months - for some they never do. I have trouble believing that your suicidal feelings right now are completely divorced from stopping ADs. They mess with you in big ways, and it can be hard to spot that.

That still leaves your medical problem to be solved - but being off ADs right now in this hard time seems like a bad idea. You might consider getting back on a low dose, work on solving your medical problem and then, when that’s done, slowly taper off your meds again. I know that doesn’t sound attractive and feels like defeat. But your brain, I believe, is sabotaging you and you are suffering bitterly.

[Zyxx]

To continue the thread:

When I’m looking up your symptom of tracheal pain I come across numerous conditions that can cause it. They include lists of other symptoms and it would be very helpful, for any doctor on Quora or IRL, to know each ‘odd’ symptom you might have.

Just as an example, of many:

What are the symptoms of a collapsed trachea?

Mild cases of a collapsed trachea, or tracheomalacia, may have no symptoms at all, but symptoms can develop over time. These include:

irregular breathing noises, such as high pitched or rattling sounds

chronic cough

hoarseness

difficulty swallowing

recurring respiratory tract infections

shortness of breath

episodes of feeling like you are choking

So Fefe, can you think of every little symptom and oddness that you notice?

[Zyxx]

I’ll just paste some stuff I find, and you see if anything rings a bell:

What are the types of tracheal disorders?

There are two main types of tracheal disorders:

Tracheal stenosis is a narrowing of the trachea, or “windpipe,” that prevents air from fully reaching the lungs. The effects of this narrowing can range in severity from mild to more severe. In the most severe cases, the patient may be dependent on a tracheotomy tube to breathe.

What are the types of tracheal disorders?

There are two main types of tracheal disorders:

Tracheal stenosis is a narrowing of the trachea, or “windpipe,” that prevents air from fully reaching the lungs. The effects of this narrowing can range in severity from mild to more severe. In the most severe cases, the patient may be dependent on a tracheotomy tube to breathe.

Tracheomalacia is a condition characterized by cartilage in the walls of the trachea that has broken down, semi-causing weakness or floppiness in the windpipe. The trachea should be rigid for normal breathing. Infants can be born with tracheomalacia, but adults can also acquire it in later life. is a condition characterized by cartilage in the walls of the trachea that has broken down, semi-causing weakness or floppiness in the windpipe. The trachea should be rigid for normal breathing. Infants can be born with tracheomalacia, but adults can also acquire it in later life.

What are the causes of tracheal disorders?

TRACHEAL STENOSIS

The most common cause of tracheal stenosis is intubation, when a patient has had a breathing tube inserted into the trachea for surgery or other medical procedures.

Other causes may include:

External trauma to the throat or chest

Thermal or caustic injuries

Chronic inflammatory disease

Infections, including tuberculosis

Tumors that press against the trachea

Radiation therapy

Idiopathic (unknown) cause common in young women

Pressure from other structures in the chest such as blood vessels

Autoimmune disorders, such as: sarcoidosis, Wegener’s granulomatosis and amyloidosis

TRACHEOMALACIA

Tracheomalacia can have many causes, the most common are:

Damage from surgery or procedures on the trachea or esophagus

Damage from long-term breathing tube or tracheostomy

Chronic infections such as bronchitis

Polychondritis (inflammation of the cartilage in the trachea)

Emphysema

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

Inhaling irritants

What are the symptoms of tracheal disorders?

TRACHEAL STENOSIS

Many patients do not experience any symptoms of tracheal stenosis. However, you may exhibit one or more of the following:

Wheezing

Stridor (a high-pitched, musical breathing sound)

Shortness of breath

Difficulty breathing/respiratory distress

Coughing

Hoarseness

Frequent upper respiratory infections, such as pneumonia

Asthma that resists treatment

Bluish color to the skin

Bluish color in the mucous membrane of the mouth or nose

Hemoptysis or coughing up blood

TRACHEOMALACIA

Shortness of breath

Chronic cough

Hoarseness

Recurring respiratory tract infections

Abnormal breathing noises that improve when you change your position or are sleeping

High-pitched, noisy breathing, sometimes with a rattling sound

Difficulty swallowing food

[Zyxx]

From several sources:

Physicians have long known that intubations come with their share of complications. Such problems commonly include sore throat, hoarseness, scarring or paralysis of the vocal cords, and, most devastatingly, airway stenosis—a narrowing of the windpipe that often needs surgical repair.

What are the injuries resulting from tracheal intubation?

The clinical features consistently described fol- lowing tracheal disruption are subcutaneous and mediastinal emphysema, and pneumothorax. Other features include dyspnoea, cough, haemoptysis, vocal change and pneumoperitoneum.

Common risks of intubation include:10

Gagging or choking

Sore throat

Hoarseness

Bleeding

A hole in the esophagus or soft palate

Trauma to the teeth, mouth, sinuses, larynx (voice box), or trachea (windpipe)

Bacterial infections (such as aspiration pneumonia)

Damage to soft tissues with prolonged use

Inability to be weaned off a ventilator and needing to have a surgical procedure to insert a tube directly into the windpipe to assist with breathing (tracheostomy)

Tracheal stenosis, or a narrowing of the trachea, is also possible.

However, some damage caused by improper intubation can be permanent. This may include vocal cord damage, endotracheal perforation, bronchial intubation, and nerve damage. Improper intubation can also increase the risk of fluid or objects getting into the lungs.

Intubation also has consequences related to a reduction in airway caliber, to changes in respiratory mechanics, and to the creation of turbulent airflow in the endotracheal tube.

Some complications from the physical placement of the tube include bleeding, infection, perforation of the oropharynx (especially with the use of a rigid stylet), hoarseness (vocal cord injury), damage to teeth/lips, or esophageal placement.

As well as direct injury to the larynx, tracheal intubation can also result in ulceration in this area. While these injuries often heal spontaneously, sometimes granulomata may form. This inflammation can lead to fixation of the cricoarytenoid joint, which causes compression on the recurrent laryngeal nerve.

Complications of endotracheal intubation include throat pain, laryngitis, mucosal ulceration, laryngeal or tracheal stenosis, aspiration, esophageal intubation, bronchial intubation, atelectasis, and tracheal rupture. Tracheal perforation is a rare complication of endotracheal intubation.

… be aware of the fact that endotracheal intubation almost always causes some degree of trauma to the larynx and this can occasionally lead to permanent damage

Laryngeal injuries as a result of intubation of the trachea are common and widely reported, occurring even after a short general anaesthetic.8 The types of injuries sustained can be classified by onset (Table 1) and manifest in a range of signs and symptoms (Fig. 1). Even transient tracheal tube placement can cause mucosal trauma, whilst prolonged intubation can cause a range of pressure effects, including necrosis of the submucosa, perichondrium and eventually cartilage. The arytenoid cartilages, vocal processes, cricoarytenoid joints, posterior glottis, vocal folds and subglottis are particularly vulnerable.9 After extubation, patients may have stridor, vocal fatigue, sore throat, hoarseness, difficulties clearing secretions, audible retention of saliva in the upper airway, poor cough, absent or impaired swallowing and aspiration.8 Stridor often indicates laryngeal oedema and hoarseness, suggestive of abnormal vocal cord mobility, vocal fold palsy, mucosal ulceration or granulation.2

One long term effect may be glottic stenosis:

Respiratory symptoms are the predominant symptoms in posterior glottic stenosis, while anterior glottic webs mainly present dysphonia. In general, patients may present with respiratory distress, episodes of apnea, dyspnea, or tachypnea. Other symptoms include hoarseness, alteration of voice, and aphonia.

[Fefe09 in reply to Zyxx]

Worked for Postoffice in 05 and and felt like my muscle under collar bone was ripped . . So nothing was ever done with that. Stopped working in 07 there and went back in 2011. The pain kept hurting and getting worse. So 2014 I fell when a strap from a courier got wrapped around my feet. Fell hard on pavement and caught myself with right arm. Didn’t go see doctor right away cause I thought my shoulder and neck pain would go away. It got worse and worse as I delivered the mail. Then same year 2014 got my gallbladder removed. Then it started where it felt like a lump on my right side. I felt like my throat was completely closed up when I would talk or walk or whatever. They gave me first something for asthma. Did nothing for me. Went to shoulder doctor and neck. I was told I had severe spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease. The neck doctor said I think your pain is from shoulder and shoulder doctor said I can take out the bone spurs etc etc. not even helping with my breathing . I’ve been to 5 ent around here and they do the same test . Look in my throat with flashlight and run camera down my throat in the office and say I don’t see anything and send me home. I’ve been to lung doctor. Nothing . I’ve been to heart doctor. Nothing . Getting back to my fall. I wasn’t getting the help I needed because I was fighting workers comp and from the top of my shoulder all the way down my collar bone was black and that was probably 24 months after it started. About 3’weeks ago I could just now raise my arm up all the way. I still feel severe soreness in my muscle and collarbone down to the right side of trachea. I can turn my neck now but still hurts . Anyway I thought that when I was put to sleep with my gallbladder in 2014 that he did something to that flap in my throat I forget the name something pigg. My neck muscles have been overworked and damaged from my job reaching and stretching my right arm all day long and twisting and turning of my neck and body. My chest wall was constantly hurting as well. So I’m just laying here suffering and suffocating day to day with no hope. I don’t know who to see. Don’t know where to go. My insurance only covers my home state and don’t know what kind of doctor to go to. I have numbness also on my right side on the inside like when I swallow a cold drink I don’t feel the coldness going down my throat or chest on right side. I’m desperate for help and tired. It’s been 10 years of my life panting for air and I feel stuck in a cage and can’t get out. Thanks for your help. Wish I could get better it makes me so depressed and tired. And then now dealing with this constant headache and dizziness and the feeling of infection in my right side of forehead . Nostril burns and now my ear and my poor throat has a soft lump in softpallet way in the back close to your uvula. I feel defeated and I’ve prayed for 10 years . 10 long years has beating me down. And when I tell my family I want to just go be with the Lord they say have you taken your antidepressants. I try and say the years I’ve been on them hasn’t helped my shortness of breath or anything else. I need surgery on my muscle but I’m so sick with this my body and last time I was put under I’ve been sick ever since . My headaches well I feel feverish but no fever and my right eye nostril etc stays hurting and stopped up most of the time. Sorry for repeating myself. I’m just praying for a miracle. I need rest and peace while I’m living. I feel like I’m having a breakdown or already have because of my airway. I need God to heal me so bad. I beg him everyday . Every hour. I’ve been prayed over and people praying for me. I love God but I feeler abandoned right now. Nothing comforts me except the few minutes I sleep at a time.

[Zyxx]

It sounds absolutely horrible, FeFe. Beyond asking on Quora and seeing a chiropractor I cannot think of much you can do.

You say “Anyway I thought that when I was put to sleep with my gallbladder in 2014 that he did something to that flap in my throat I forget the name something pigg”

That would have been a picc line.

As to the antidepressants: I have nothing wrong with my airways but when I get off my ADs or even taper I become panicked about breathing. To the extent it becomes quite the torture. Again I really wish you would get back on them and do the tapering when you’re in better shape. Now is not the moment. For an unknown number of people the withdrawal does not end, or may take many years. I am one of them. And I didn’t even realise my withdrawal was causing my suicidal feelings, because I had enough other problems.

By which I don’t mean to imply it’s just the withdrawing from ADs that causes you to feel suicidal. Your physical condition is easily reason enough, I certainly see that. But you must not right now have the added burden of a brain that can no longer see solutions or hope.

[Fefe09]

Thankyou for your response. It’s just for 10 years the whole past 10 years I have been on an antidepressants , well since I was a teen. I realize your mind can do things like negative thoughts. But even taking these antidepressants my mood was fine. It’s just there is something blocking the whole right side of my airway. I’ve always feel a lump on right side when I swallow . Now everything has gone numb. I had these thoughts for a long time. I deal with chronic pain and have for a long time . I’ve never thought any bad thoughts with my pain but my anir is a different ballgame. every breath I take is a struggle. I know antidepressants do help but it’s not solving my lack of air intake. I’ve only recently stopped them to see if I felt any better and stopped my blood pressure meds. I actually have more energy since I stopped them. I know doctors hate for people to search online and try to diagnose themselves but I’ve had 10 years . The doctors where I live are all routine and we have some of the worst ratings as well. I’m sure there are some good ones though. I just get frustrated because the 5 ent I’ve been to over the 10 years like I said do the in office camera down the throat and send me home. When you keep hitting a brick wall it’s just depressing. And the meds made me feel the same. No different . My thoughts have always been the same. I love the Lord and have put all my hope in him. I guess my faith isn’t as strong as I desire . One min I do have hope and the next min I’m asking God are you there . I just look at all the time I’ve missed out on with my family sitting here in recliner just praying to God unblock whatever is going on. I do. Believe he puts medicine on earth to help us as well. But the meds can only do so much. Whatever is causing it i will keep praying and searching. It’s just hard to even travel though with what’s going on. I try to move around as much as I can. You have to keep moving regardless. But thank you for your thoughts. I hope you have a wonderful day and many blessings .