Question: Hi there --

I'm 28, female, history of fibromyalgia and PTSD. Not sure if any of that will be relevant.

In the last four months or so, I've been having continuous ear, throat and nose symptoms that are sometimes mild, and sometimes interfere with my general daily tasks. They are (in order of severity):

1. Constant stuffy nose -- but the stuffy is a dry, painful sort of swollen stuffiness, almost as if someone put a lot of dry crinkly paper in my nose;

2. Related to that, bloody mucus and often scabs from the nose internally, which often itch and cause me to sneeze (at first I thought this was just due to dryness or allergies but with the new symptoms I wonder if not).

3. Ear pain, a dull ache at a 1 or 2 on the pain scale that feels like it is deep in the ear, behind it, and into the jaw. This comes and goes but doesn't seem to have a specific trigger (like cold wind, chewing, etc).

4. Ear crackling and popping, especially when laughing, that is painful and often leads to dizziness and ringing in my ears for an entire day afterward.

5. Ringing ears on loud noise, like a "halo" around sounds that makes me dizzy or causes me to flinch.

6. Dizziness and vertigo at random. Sometime this is bad enough that I can't stand. I've hit my head once or twice in the last 4-6 months because of this -- basically I can't judge distance suddenly and when bending over whack my head on things.

7. Some sore throat and fairly frequent tonsil issues (tonsil stones and swelling) from what my primary care doctor thinks is post nasal drip.

I think all these things might be connected, but I'm not sure. I'd like someone else's opinion! All of this is new. It's VERY uncomfortable and disruptive (the ringing happened once on a first day at a new job and I could hardly walk).

Thank you!

Thank you! That's very helpful, I will do that -- I haven't done ENT yet since we are new to this area, so I'm just now establishing care with my new doctors.

Are there any other specifics for allergy that I should be looking for in testing? I don't know very much about allergy tests, since I've never been allergic to anything before -- but I do know this can come and go in cycles of years, and I also know we moved to a place where I might well be allergic to something because everything is new, so I'm hoping that might help stop some of the symptoms.

In the meantime while I get the appointments set up, is there anything preventatively you'd recommend doing, or any general self-care that would help now or in the future? (I'm used to doing a LOT of preventative care for pain with fibro, so I always ask. I'd rather do a teaspoon of self-care a day than end up having to do entire gallons later!

Thank you for your help!