13 weeks

Today has been a bit of a nothing day. I had a coffee this morning and got all dizzy and nauseous and stayed that way all day. I was pretty tired too (Bass Boy coughing all night), ended up leaving work an hour early. I came home and crashed on the couch for a couple of hours.

However today I figured out what the fuck is wrong with me!!!

Patulous Eustachian Tube.

Patulous Eustachian tube, also known as patent Eustachian tube, is the name of a rare physical disorder where the Eustachian tube, which is normally closed, instead stays intermittently open. As a result, when it is open, all of the patient's breathing, talking, swallowing, heart beat, etc. vibrates directly on the ear drum creating an effect that sounds like the patient has a bucket on his/her head. The medical term for this phenomenon is autophony, the hearing of self-generated sounds.

Exercise is a major trigger! Lying down gives relief. Rapid weight loss can be a cause (it came on early 2005 when I was heartbroken and lost something like 20kgs in 3 months).

Unfortunately there is no cure, not really any treatment (although a suggested one is GAIN WEIGHT WTF).

People who suffer from PET can find playing sport difficult as the increased breathing pushing onto the ear drum can become very noisy and can sometimes lead to a period of increased tinnitus after the event.

I realised I'm kind of lucky though - some people have it PERMANENTLY. All the time. I found a message board about it and a whole heap of them were posting about wanting to kill themselves. I reckon I'd be the same.

So apparently there's some Chinese herb and some nasal drops that caused relief for some people, more severe treatment includes cartilage grafts to close up the tube although it seems like it only provided temporary relief for a few people. Everyone on the message board was raving about some doctor in Boston - including a couple of Australians who reckon he's worth going to see!

Why can't it just be something simple? With a simple answer?

I did read of a potential correlation between PET and TMJ - I've never been diagnosed with TMJ but I do have a lot of jaw clicking and some pain on the same side. And I clench my jaw. So this all relates back to anxiety, which I have in bucketloads.

I think my dizziness and vertigo is caused by anxiety over the PET, btw.

Anyway, I finally found somewhere in Aus where I could buy 5-HTP which is supposed to help boost serotonin levels. We'll see how that goes with anxiety. I'd really prefer to avoid prescription anti-anxiety/anti-depressant medications after a stint on them as a teenager - which is why I haven't ever gone to my doctor since about such things.

Bah, anyway, today became my rest day. Eating - spot on at least! I guess I've just gotta keep doing what I'm doing - exercise and just sit down and chill for a bit if the ear becomes a problem. I hope it fucks off soon though - and now I'm scared that it'll just block up and stay that way forever :\

Oh and I've got this really really sore spot in my shoulder - a trigger spot? Is that what they're called? Anyway it's driving me nuts!