I have my second doctor's appointment for this in five days, but I'm really struggling to wait, especially since I know it'll be even longer before I'm diagnosed. I just want to share my experience with this over the last year and a half and hear some input.
Back in May of last year, I noticed an area of my head where if I applied pressure in a certain way, I would feel pain in nearby areas of my head. My nature made me think "tumor" but I didn't take it too seriously since I knew it was based on very little. I posted about
it here and was told it could be migraine, but that never really developed. This went away a few months later, but I still feel it come up on occasion. The next month, I noticed that I had developed what felt like mild carpal tunnel syndrome. Being a frequent computer user and, more notably, a piano player, this may not be too odd and I'm still unsure if that has anything to do with this. I'm too nervous to look up connections between tumors and carpal tunnel.
Things didn't really change for awhile after that, until around late February or early March the next year. I started feeling like I had water in my ears. Shortly after, I developed a bad cold. My ears would pop like crazy just from me talking. The ear symptoms mostly went away after that, but then began resurfacing and getting stronger in May. Whenever I move the ear area or surrounding muscles (not the jaw), there is popping and cracking. This is constant and has not stopped since it began in the last five to six months. Pressure, itchiness, and pains in the ears come and go, and all symptoms are stronger in the left than in the right. Being a choral singer, I also noticed around the same time that singing was beginning to hurt in...numerous areas. It's hard to pinpoint where exactly. This, along with jaw soreness when I chew certain foods, have also been continuous since they began many months ago. I've also developed throat tightness, or some feeling of having a lump or something in my throat, in the last couple of months. One more thing, but I sometimes have discomfort, and sometimes sharper pains, in the left side of head. It's never too bad, enough to be considered a full fledged headache, but it's been occasionally coming up for a long while now.
I noticed in the last few months that I might struggle to remember certain words or names that I should definitely know. This isn't too frequent and it has never stopped a conversation or anything, and it has seemed more common since I read that it was a symptom. So...that MIGHT be anxiety. But it makes me uncomfortable because if it isn't just anxiety, it instantly makes it so my problems are neurological.
Lastly, I had some concerning incident the other day. I had just gotten in bed, and immediately upon closing my eyes, I had that "falling" feeling that jolted me awake. Now, I know it's normal for me to experience this when I'm about
to fall asleep, but not right after closing my eyes like that. Nevertheless, it only happened the one time and I went to sleep without any other issues. This part might be unrelated, but figured I should mention it just in case.
After waking up, I just lied in bed for awhile. I noticed that two spots of my body were twitching, kind of in tandem. I have been having a lot of twitching lately and that could very well be due to increased stress. Twitching overall is nothing new for me. However, a few seconds after I noticed this, the left side of the top of my head suddenly went numb, or at least some similar sensation. I didn't notice anything else at this time, and the sensation faded away in maybe 30 seconds to a minute. I didn't notice anything else unusual afterward or since.
That mostly covers it. The ear and jaw symptoms are definitely the most concerning, because they are always there and are the ones that are definitely not caused by anxiety or anything. I know there are potential normal causes for the ear issues, but not so much for it to be constant for this long. The consistency screams "tumor" to me. I've looked into TMJ being a potential cause, but the lack of any sensation when I feel the joint makes me doubtful. And why are most of my symptoms stronger in the left than in the right?
Here's a quick summary of the symptoms:
- Occasional pain when pressing a certain part of the head.
- Mild Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, or something resembling it. Sometimes causes numbness or tingling in fingertips.
- Constant ear popping/crackling when adjusted. Sometimes ears have pressure, brief pains, or itchiness.
- Soreness in jaw when chewing certain foods.
- Pain in area of mouth/cheeks/throat when singing.
- Throat tightness
- Possible trouble thinking of words or names.
- Occasional discomfort or pain, mostly in left side of head.
- Single instance of sudden numbness on top of head.
I'm just losing confidence that this isn't tumor related at this point. And it's been so long since my concerns started, that I'm worried I've waited too long to get proper treatment if this turns out to be the case. I had a doctor's appointment about
two and a half weeks ago but I fear I didn't go into enough detail of my symptoms. She decided I just had some allergies and put me on a prescript
ion and an OTC medicine, neither of which have done anything. I plan to be more detailed in the next appointment, but the wait is killing me. These symptoms aren't particularly strong and certainly aren't disabling me in any way (aside from the tons of health anxiety it's causing me), but it just seems like so much when I go over it like this. Anyway, sorry for the essay, and I appreciate any input.
Post Edited (mahboi) : 11/5/2016 12:03:44 AM (GMT-6)