[healthwork] symptom logging; tiny victories

[kaberett]

Tiny victory: blocked ear edition. Every few years, one of my ears blocks up. It just... does. I assume it's related to my general allergy to my scalp flora and related, but nonetheless it's tedious and this time it was especially tedious because I've always previously gone and been pathetic at my GP and they've Sorted Me Out, and I had no idea how to wrangle any of that while very much, er, in Belfast. But! Via the magic of OTC ear drops and the ridiculously good water pressure (and some slightly illicit q-tips, yes they're on paper handles, hush) I... fixed it myself? for the first time in my life? after a week? I can hear again? It's... really nice. It's really nice.

Symptom logging: hahahahaha. So I went to see a GP onnnn the 19th of December, who looked at my bloodwork and told me my numbers (free T4; TSH) were tending hyperthyroid, and as such in spite of my once-again-increasing symptom load I should reduce my levothyroxine dose from 75mg per diem to alternating 50mg and 75mg. Which I duly did, a week and a half later, when I got to the end of the dosette boxes I'd already made up, and I'm now two weeks into January and so far:

• post-nasal drip & general allergic response are on the increase again
  
• more nosebleeds
  
• more thermodysregulation
  
• it feels like more tiredness but honestly who can even tell at this point
  
• definitely doing the reduced appetite + weight changes thing Some More
  
• more breathlessness, including in circumstances that really don't warrant same
  
• ... right yep my insomnia is absolutely worsening
  
• my tinnitus may or may not be flaring up; see above for confounding factors

... and I really, really, really need to just. fucking get a referral to an endocrinologist. Because I am still very firmly at "something is wrong", but my local GP does not seem equipped to handle it. (Or maybe something isn't wrong and I've just got so used to thinking of my actual normal as "something is wrong" that I'm misremembering how well I was before all this kicked off, but.) So I suppose I stay on this dose 'til the end of Belfast (or tweak it if I decide I'd rather; I have the wherewithal to do that) and then start properly determinedly kicking up a fuss.

Comments

[ewt]

I have scalp flora issues also and tend to get blocked ears from wearing earplugs, which I'm not willing to ride the Tube without using (and also I use them sometimes at night when Himself is snoring like a pneumatic drill rather than, say, a very large purring cat).

I find that when I remember to use the OTC ear drops for 3-4 days once a month, things get less blocked up.

[kaberett]

<3

I use earplugs very rarely and they're not consistently correlated with Ear Gunk. My best guess this time is that I'd spent a solid week kicking up a lot of dust and Other Allergen in the Mouldering Ancestral Pile, so all my gunk-production went into overdrive, with the consequent result that etc.

I resent the hell out of paying for the OTC eardrops for use that infrequently (given cost/30 day lifespan/only having things go wrong every few years/etc), but now that I have proof-of-concept that I can sort it out myself I'm... going to Remember It's In My Arsenal.

[ewt]

Olive oil is another potential thing to use, though I find it makes scalp etc worse so tend to avoid it. (Almost any oil makes it worse for me, which is annoying, because things that allegedly treat it also dry the heck out of my skin with the result that I produce more oil to compensate. I guess this approach sells shampoo, though. Bah. Crapitalism.)

I blatantly ignore the 30-day lifespan on ear drops and nothing terrible has happened, but obviously cannot exactly recommend that approach.

[lunabee34]

No no. Trust your gut. Something is wrong.

Hugs

[kaberett]

<3

[alatefeline]

Listening; do not have useful to say, but am here thinking *go go go yes fix ears yes fuss for proper useful care yes*.

[kaberett]

<333