Last Halloween, I started having a sore throat. Lived with it for a few weeks, thinking it would eventually go away. It didn't. I finally went to the doctor and they prescribed me a zpack to get rid of any infection I might have.
It didn't work.
I made another appointment, and saw another family doctor at the clinic where I go because my doctor was out. He looked at my throat, didn't see anything, and prescribed me a zpack. I informed him we had already done this, and he followed up with giving me medicine for acid reflux. He was sure that was it.
I took it for 2 weeks with no change. It didn't work either.
So, I called back and asked for a referral to an ENT. By this time, its right after Thanksgiving. I got the referral, it took about 2 weeks to go in, and the ENT put this long scope down my throat and saw swelling that the other doctors couldn't see. He scheduled a biopsy which went off without a hitch about a week later, and it came back negative. No cancer. By this time, I'm having real problems swallowing and its bothering me all the time. I told him I wanted to get the lump removed and we scheduled a date, January 3rdish.
I had the surgery and felt a little better. Easier to swallow, but still sore and tender. Was told it would go away and for about a week, it did.
Then it came back with a vengeance. I was in a lot of pain and it was chalked up to the doctor having to remove some inflammation that had nerves bundled with it. It would heal I was told. It never did. January passes.. February comes and I have been referred to a neurologist to help identify why I'm having this "nerve" pain. He prescribes about 5 different medicines to try to help me. Each one take a week to 2 weeks to really get in my system and take effect. None of them work worth a crud. I feel like I'm having difficulty swallowing again and its affecting my sleep. "Normal" I'm told, as everything is healing. I don't buy it. I constantly press the ENT and neurologist for answers and was told these things take time.
In the meantime, I'm binging on ibuprofen, about 20 pills a day just to function, on a pain roller coaster. The neurologist doesn't want to prescribe any narcotics as nerve pain does not respond well to them. He puts me on amitriptaline, carbamezapine, and finally Lyrica to try to help me out. None of them work which is why I turned to the Ibuprofen.
Last week I told myself something had to change. I made another appointment with the ENT and with another neurologist. I told the ENT I wanted another CT scan and he wanted an MRI also. By this time, the pain is incredible. My headaches are all over my head, my neck feels like I've pulled every muscle in it as well, and my jaw is in intense pain. I'm sobbing daily due to the pain and can barely function. My left shoulder also feels like I've pulled it doing yard work. I can't sleep and haven't slept fully throughout the night in over two months. I'm a wreck.
The new neurologist explains I'm over medicating myself and am having rebound headaches and body aches. He cuts me cold turkey from the ibuprofen and puts me on 500 mg of naproxen sodium, 2x a day, and a muscle relaxer at night. I also get my MRI and CT scan.
Yesterday I'm told I have a tumor the size of a golf ball in the base of my tongue. I had a biopsy on it today where they go in and stick this huge needle in and pull out some cells. The doctors looked at it under a microscope and said it appears to be cancerous but they are sending it off to a lab to get it identified. I've known something was wrong for months and couldn't get anyone to help me with it. I'm so frustrated with this whole pain ordeal and not having anyone take me seriously when I've told everyone something wasn't right.
Anyway, had to get this off my chest. There are no cliff notes.
EDIT: I'm at the point where its extremely painful to eat. I'm eating soups and yogurt stuff now. I can't have burgers, chicken, anything rough that might be difficult to swallow. It's just too painful. My relief consists of sitting in the hot tub, taking hot showers, and sleeping with a heat pad on my shoulder/neck area.