Hi!
Since the end of November, I've had increased nasal symptoms (sinus pain, stuffy nose, nasal drip) and ear symptoms (fullness in ears, high pitched tinnitus sound (in addition to my daily tinnitus sounds) ,ear popping and some hearing loss). I've also had increased joint pain and fatigue, as well.
In the past, when I experienced the above symptoms, for me, that meant I was having a flareup. I recently saw my ENT specialist, who tested my hearing and have lost some hearing in my left ear (affecting the low and high frequencies). I also had a positive tympanometry, which showed I had pressure in both ears (mild).
Unfortunately, at my last office visit with him, I was too fixated on my hearing problems and did not discuss with him, the nasal symptoms I was experiencing as well. So now I have an appointment with him next week and he will use an endoscopy to examine my nose.
Since I also had for the past month some pain in my eyes, as well, I've scheduled an office visit with my eye doctor in two weeks.
At my last office visit with my rheumatologist, he said that he would increase my medrol medication and/or add an additional immunosuppressant, if both find doctors find evidence of inflammation
I've had a long history of vasculitis involvement besides the eyes, ears and nasal symptoms (including other goodies such as
central nervous system involvement, skin rashes, etc, etc), so I am a bit reticent in increasing the medrol and/or adding an additional immunosuppressant as I've had alot of intravenous cytoxan given to me in the past for the CNS involvement I had, so hopefully this flareup can be managed with minimal additional medication.
I also wanted to add that prior to this current flareup, back in September, my hearing had improved (which showed up in the audiometry tests I took in Oct) and in general, I was feeling better back then, so I am a bit frustrated over this setback.
I am just wondering if anyone has had similar symptoms such as what I am experiencing and what did your doctor recommend for treatment, if any and also how do your cope with this illness, when you are having a flareup? Thanks!
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