30th November 2006
Hi, I'm brand new to this forum and found it by Googling "noises in throat and nose". I'm interested in the comments of jennyVee but would appreciate feedback from anyone else too.
I'm an otherwise healthy 54 y.o. male, and about 4 months ago I started getting extreme difficulty breathing through my nose. No runny nose or sneezing, or other cold/flu/alergy symptoms, just dry blockage. Pretty bad during the day, much worse at night.
A second symptom that showed up at the same time was a sleep wrecking event (which I now know is an "apnea"), where I would suddenly wake up several times in the night upon making a loud snorting noise, along with the sensation that I couldn't breathe. This sudden feeling that something was closing my airway began striking me occasionally during the day, too, if I pulled in a breath of air in a certain way...a very creepy sensation that something was "sticking" back there.
A third symptom that also arrived back then was a regular gurgling sound, way back in my nose. You folks have described yours as a soda can fizzing, but mine is more of a slow snap, crackle, pop or gurgle...nonetheless, I assume it's the same thing. Lastly, an additional symptom, is post nasal drip...some times not bad at all, but other days pretty significant.
The first ENT I went to gave me what seemed like a quick exam, including a scope up my nose, and said he saw signs of acid reflux in my throat. He gave me Prevacid and Rhinocort Aqua. He also suggested I consider getting a sleep study. I took the Prevacid and started on the Rhibocort, but my congestion was so bad I gave it up and started using fast acting sprays such as Neosynephrine. I bought a wedge pillow for my bed and began sleeping elevated as a further response to possible reflux.
Not feeling better and severely sleep deprived, I later went to a second ENT. He scoped my nose and said he saw pus, and that I had an infected "Rathke's pouch." He gave me a powerful antibiotic, Cefuroxime, and he also gave me Flonase. The idea of an infection made a lot of sense to me because I knew from reading on the Web that nasal congestion is caused by swollen blood vessels and blood vessels become swollen when they are trying to send more white blood cells to an area in the body where there is an infection, so as to fight it. The congestion itself, I reasoned, was then possibly responsible for the sudden apnea, day and night, because the blocked nasal passages were maybe deflecting incoming air in way that was pushing some part of my anatomy around.
I took all the antibiotic pills but left my Flonase prescription unopened, still relying on Neosynephrine. I went back to him a few weeks later when I was still blocked and barely sleeping at all. He said the antibiotic absolutely should have killed the infection, so now he really didn't know why I still had the symptoms.
He advised me that the apnea I was describing was a "palate collapse" and that there are a number of things that could be causing it. How it was related to the nasal blockage and the gurgling he didn't know. He suggested a sleep study, too, and also a CT head scan to see if there is any structural issue going on back there. I asked him if he saw any sign of reflux; he looked pretty carefully and said "None...I don't think that's your problem."
It's been a few weeks and I have kicked the Neosynephrine habit and started using the Flonase, and my nasal blockage has slowly started to get better. My palate collapse is is still there but not as bad and not waking me up quite as much.
Then, just the other day, I had what I thought was a real insight into the problem:
I woke up unexpectedly in the middle of the night and I heard the gurgling/fizzing noise in my nose....AND...in my throat! I thought this MUST be acid reflux...if I'm having the sound in my throat, that must be the acid I'm hearing...it has to get into my throat to also get into my nose. So I thought I had finally stumbled onto the answer. I had used all the Prevacid from the first ENT so I went to the store and bought Prilosec OTC, which I read on the Web is every bit as effective as prescription Prevacid for acid reflux.
I'm currently still using the Flonase daily and am almost finished with the package of Prilosec. I'm feeling a little better...but still have some congestion, some palate collapse, some post nasal drip, and some gurgling. One thing I have to wonder about is how is it possible, if the gurgling/fizzing is caused by reflux, that I often hear it during the DAY, when I've been up and walking around for maybe 8 or 10 hours or more...how can the acid be getting up there if I haven't been lying down ALL DAY? So...maybe it's not acid reflux after all? Can acid defy gravity?
I wonder, then, if I still have an infection of some kind back in my nasopharanyx area, like that Rathke's pouch, and instead of it being baterial, it's viral. I read on the Web that viral infections in the nose, untreatable by antibiotics, can last for months. Maybe the gurgling sound is just the sound of the post nasal drip from the infection, running down my throat. Again, the second ENT said he saw NO sign of reflux when he examined me.
I'm still pondering getting the CT scan of my head. Also considering seeing a gastroenterologist to pursue the reflux thing even further. And still wondering if I have some kind of long-lasting infection back there.
Anyway, even as I write this, I'm hearing the gurgling/fizzing noises in my nose and throat and I feel like I'm no closer to figuring out, and dealing with, this problem than I was four months ago.
Anybody have any thoughts?
Thanks.
Tom
I'm an otherwise healthy 54 y.o. male, and about 4 months ago I started getting extreme difficulty breathing through my nose. No runny nose or sneezing, or other cold/flu/alergy symptoms, just dry blockage. Pretty bad during the day, much worse at night.
A second symptom that showed up at the same time was a sleep wrecking event (which I now know is an "apnea"), where I would suddenly wake up several times in the night upon making a loud snorting noise, along with the sensation that I couldn't breathe. This sudden feeling that something was closing my airway began striking me occasionally during the day, too, if I pulled in a breath of air in a certain way...a very creepy sensation that something was "sticking" back there.
A third symptom that also arrived back then was a regular gurgling sound, way back in my nose. You folks have described yours as a soda can fizzing, but mine is more of a slow snap, crackle, pop or gurgle...nonetheless, I assume it's the same thing. Lastly, an additional symptom, is post nasal drip...some times not bad at all, but other days pretty significant.
The first ENT I went to gave me what seemed like a quick exam, including a scope up my nose, and said he saw signs of acid reflux in my throat. He gave me Prevacid and Rhinocort Aqua. He also suggested I consider getting a sleep study. I took the Prevacid and started on the Rhibocort, but my congestion was so bad I gave it up and started using fast acting sprays such as Neosynephrine. I bought a wedge pillow for my bed and began sleeping elevated as a further response to possible reflux.
Not feeling better and severely sleep deprived, I later went to a second ENT. He scoped my nose and said he saw pus, and that I had an infected "Rathke's pouch." He gave me a powerful antibiotic, Cefuroxime, and he also gave me Flonase. The idea of an infection made a lot of sense to me because I knew from reading on the Web that nasal congestion is caused by swollen blood vessels and blood vessels become swollen when they are trying to send more white blood cells to an area in the body where there is an infection, so as to fight it. The congestion itself, I reasoned, was then possibly responsible for the sudden apnea, day and night, because the blocked nasal passages were maybe deflecting incoming air in way that was pushing some part of my anatomy around.
I took all the antibiotic pills but left my Flonase prescription unopened, still relying on Neosynephrine. I went back to him a few weeks later when I was still blocked and barely sleeping at all. He said the antibiotic absolutely should have killed the infection, so now he really didn't know why I still had the symptoms.
He advised me that the apnea I was describing was a "palate collapse" and that there are a number of things that could be causing it. How it was related to the nasal blockage and the gurgling he didn't know. He suggested a sleep study, too, and also a CT head scan to see if there is any structural issue going on back there. I asked him if he saw any sign of reflux; he looked pretty carefully and said "None...I don't think that's your problem."
It's been a few weeks and I have kicked the Neosynephrine habit and started using the Flonase, and my nasal blockage has slowly started to get better. My palate collapse is is still there but not as bad and not waking me up quite as much.
Then, just the other day, I had what I thought was a real insight into the problem:
I woke up unexpectedly in the middle of the night and I heard the gurgling/fizzing noise in my nose....AND...in my throat! I thought this MUST be acid reflux...if I'm having the sound in my throat, that must be the acid I'm hearing...it has to get into my throat to also get into my nose. So I thought I had finally stumbled onto the answer. I had used all the Prevacid from the first ENT so I went to the store and bought Prilosec OTC, which I read on the Web is every bit as effective as prescription Prevacid for acid reflux.
I'm currently still using the Flonase daily and am almost finished with the package of Prilosec. I'm feeling a little better...but still have some congestion, some palate collapse, some post nasal drip, and some gurgling. One thing I have to wonder about is how is it possible, if the gurgling/fizzing is caused by reflux, that I often hear it during the DAY, when I've been up and walking around for maybe 8 or 10 hours or more...how can the acid be getting up there if I haven't been lying down ALL DAY? So...maybe it's not acid reflux after all? Can acid defy gravity?
I wonder, then, if I still have an infection of some kind back in my nasopharanyx area, like that Rathke's pouch, and instead of it being baterial, it's viral. I read on the Web that viral infections in the nose, untreatable by antibiotics, can last for months. Maybe the gurgling sound is just the sound of the post nasal drip from the infection, running down my throat. Again, the second ENT said he saw NO sign of reflux when he examined me.
I'm still pondering getting the CT scan of my head. Also considering seeing a gastroenterologist to pursue the reflux thing even further. And still wondering if I have some kind of long-lasting infection back there.
Anyway, even as I write this, I'm hearing the gurgling/fizzing noises in my nose and throat and I feel like I'm no closer to figuring out, and dealing with, this problem than I was four months ago.
Anybody have any thoughts?
Thanks.
Tom