Two weeks ago, the pain in my ear/eustachian tube returned. The last time I went into Urgent Care (6 weeks ago), the lady Dr. kept telling me, my ear was "unremarkable", and I was "perplexing". She said I shouldn't be experiencing pain because everything looked unremarkable. She treated me like a drug addict, giving me a lecture on the current meds I was taking and blah blah blah. She was old, and crabby, and very unprofessional. She didn't LISTEN.
I left with antibiotics. And a followup call from her, haha... to tell me more about how I shouldn't be taking so many pain pills. "Talk to my rheumatologist, please. He seems to disagree with you".
Just in case someone is STILL reading, and curious. I take Tramadol and Vicodin. The Tramadol is 25 to 50 mg a day. The Vicodin is as needed, sometimes zero and sometimes 3 doses in a day. It's always different. This has been going on for 6 months. I did talk to the rheumatologist about it 2 months ago. I had actually taken myself completely off it all, except 12mg of Tramadol a day. I had to wean myself off of that one. My biological make up is funny, I withdrawal BAD from Tramadol, but not Vicodin. Tramadol is not a Schedule-something like Vicodin, I guess that means it's not as closely monitored. Because of this non-habit-forming label from the FDA and DEA, it shouldn't be a problem. So this is the Dr.'s drug of choice for me. Vicodin, on the other hand, is the schedule-worse and watched closely, I can take it or leave it. I don't withdrawal from that AT ALL. My point is, when I told the Dr. I was weaning off Tramadol, he looked at me like I was nuts and asked "why?". Paul was sitting next to me, and asked the same thing. When I explained to them both about my situation, they both didn't believe me. I walked out of that office with 400 more Tramadol. Geeeesh. "Why?", he asked. "You need to walk, just take the medication now and when you don't need it anymore, THEN, wean yourself off". He has a point... I guess. It's gross though. I use the Vicodin sparingly, of course, because of this.
Back to my ear. The antibiotics worked I guess. The pain moved from my eustachian tube to my hips. It stayed there for about 3 weeks. I just realized I haven't had any of the UAs that were ordered. ugh. Anyway. Two weeks ago, my ear HURT, again. I made an appointment to see the ENT that did my nose surgery 3 years ago. He put a long flexy scope up my nose, and back into the inside of my eustachian tube. It had a light, and a camera. Pretty cool stuff. He found hemorrages on the wall of the Eustachian tube. Bingo! No wonder it hurts. The blood vessels are rupturing, and it's getting clogged. He was very clear to say it wasn't Vasculitis that caused it. Really? He's never seen a Vasculitis patient. He told me Wegener's doesn't affect the Eustachian tubes. I think he should Google that, clearly he will learn a thing or two. I didn't care what he thought, really. I just wanted him to document his findings so that I can take it to Utah.
My eyes are getting worse. Blurred vision, and they feel like sandpaper. I should probably see an eye Dr. and take that info to Utah too. But I'm too tired. I used to think blurred vision was Vicodin, but I haven't had a dose in over week. It's intermittent though, and the Tramadol is consistent so I don't think it's the Tramadol.
Boring stuff. But I need to write it down or I won't have a complete puzzle to give to Dr. Koening.
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