Tuesday, July 28, 2009

What do you do when nothing seems to help....

I really don´t want to blog about this. But I simply can´t not blog about something that has been on my conscious mind ALL the time for the past month.

My throat is killing me. Seriously.

It seems to have a life of its own. Some days its not-too-bad, but today for example, it was horrendous!

I´ve been popping tons of throat drops but the minty taste only elevates the pain temporarily and leaves a stinging pain on the top of my mouth. Yup, I´ve been having so many of those drops that my mouth is beginning to hurt from the acidity of those sweets.

The worst thing is that nothing seems to be able to be done about it. The 2 throat specialists dismissed me a "no big deal" attitude, after 5 mins of examination. Hubby was there for one examination and he saw how quickly they looked over me and wrote me a prescription for some mouth spray. It tastes just like Listerine except that I have to spray it into my mouth and swallow it....makes me feel like I´m swallowing poison actually.

But then the pain continues! There´s no ceasing or stopping of the pain. As soon as I start teaching - which I don´t necessarily strain my voice. My classes are mainly small and when they are big, I tend to spilt them up into smaller groups. Its just normal talking. And it hurts.

And boy, how it hurts. It is so extremely p.a.i.n.f.u.l! It feels like the entire throat is on flames. Worse than when you eat chilli. It feels like chilli is growing on the internals of my throat and each time I talk, the chilli is rubbed against the skin on the inside.

I find myself massaging my throat on the outside in a futile way to cease the pain on the inside.

The worse thing is, how on earth am I supposed to continue teaching like this? The only thing that makes me go through the torture is to remind myself of the money it brings in.

But is it worth to teach when I´m hurting physically?

The best part of my job is the people contact, getting to know people etc. But for that , you´d need a mouth.

I unconsciously try to limit the number of words I say and I have cut all small talk to the students to a bare minimum. Its the "let´s get down to business" classes that I´m having these days.

Have another appointment with my GP on Thursday and I´m really going to tell him that nothing that the HNOs (throat specialists) have given me have worked.

It´s so bad that I´m already considering quitting my job, just so that I don´t have to dread going for classes, during which I have to literally bear the pain on the insides.

Plus, I don´t have anything to show for it! My voice sounds normal, my throat looks normal....etc. When you have a broken leg, at least you´ve got something to show for it. In this state, one of the throat specialists refused to give me medical leave because he claims that this throat infection does not make me incapable of working and that it would leave in a week or two.

It´s been more than a month!

Hello? If he really could feel the pain I go through, he would never be able to say those words!

11 comments:

Silence is Golden said...

Voice Care
http://www.into.ie/NI/Teachers/TeacherHealth/VoiceCare/

Teaching Risk...may want to inform GP that you are a teacher...more prone to throat infection, pain..

Maybe time to talk less and listen more......ha......ha....that is why we are given two ears and one mouth.......

Pris said...

Hey Dad, thks for the info. Not funny leh... its so painful.

All the doctors where I´ve been to, know that I´m a teacher...but its the "bo chap" mentality...I´m going to my GP tomorrow and he´s nice. He was on holiday, so until now he has not seen me. Hope he would be able to help.

Pris said...

I don´t mind not talking at all and listening, but it simply doesn´t work in my job. Not wanting to be impatient with God as I pray for healing, but what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Its hurting when I teach. Does that mean that I should stop working? That´s my dilemma.....

Silence is Golden said...

Monitor to determine when the throat infection came about..

Spicy food...barbecue food...fried stuff...during or after touring...

I notice that many untrained teachers do suffer from such ailment..as compared to those who had gone through proper voice projection etc as shown in the link...

Have enough sleep, at least 8 hours continously...no more late nights...

Pray and plan for other job opening...

Reduce talking after teaching......

Sabrina said...

Hey,

have a sore throat today, too, so can emphasize with your pain.

Don't think that you should give up teaching and your job because of a throat infection though, sounds a bit drastic to me. Once you know what the cause is, you will be able to deal with it appropriately. How upset would you be if it turned out to be something that you could get rid off easily - after you handed in your notice!

Stay positive, am sure that this will get sorted soon.

Lots of love,

jie jie

Pris said...

Hi Dad
I don´t think the sore throat was caused by any food. It started really after a short case of flu and slight fever - more than a month ago. And its not the normal sore throat which my voice changes. The pain is much deeper in the throat which is why I´m going to the ENT specialist again. I´m not meeting up with friends anymore because of this predicament. Trying to minimise talking....doesn´t seem to help either.... will see.

Pris said...

Hey jie jie
Thks for commenting. I am really down, because this has been dragging for so long and its by far the most painful sore throat I´ve ever had.

I know it does sound a bit drastic but I´m sick and tired of having to force myself to talk when it hurts so badly. Plus it takes a very long time to get an appointment at the HNO doc. so I´m just clueless about what to do in the meantime.

I fear that it might take a l-o-n-g time before the docs find out the cause of the problem....and I don´t really want to be suffering while teaching in the meantime. Its a self-preseveration type of thing and trust me, I wouldn´t consider such a drastic action if it wasn´t THAT bad.

Dr Hezel said that normal sore throat shouldn´t be as painful as I describe it to be, which is why he´s suspicious that it is something else. He advised me to go back for another appt at the HNO. I´ll try to get an appt. tomorrow since the doc is closed today. Hope they are not striking again.

Gute Besserung dir!

Sabrina said...

You poor thing, have my fingers crossed for you.

Feel hugged and am sending you energy over so that you will manage to get through this.

Lots of love,

jie jie

Pris said...

Dear Jie jie,
Awww....THANKS so much! I feel so loved! Feel hugged yourself too!!!! Hope you´re not missing us too much! Times with you are WAYYY too short!!!!

Salt of the World said...

Gaggle your mouth with salt water as often as possible even when you are at work....Bring along salt and leave it at your workplace...

Try it daily at least 4 times for continous two weeks and see if it would expedite healing.....

Pris said...

Sure, I will try that. Have tried gargling with salt water 3 times a day for a couple of days, but didn´t help...can try again.

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