Talk about Stupid (with a capital S)

Well, I just got back from my appointment with an ENT specialist regarding my weird ear problem, and I think I have one of the most dumb problems ever. Really.

Okay, here's the deal. My ear has been bothering me for two months now, with a weird vibrating sound that happens when I breathe. This all started in late February and hasn't let up since. I've been to my normal doctor twice who has loaded me up on all kinds of medicines - decongestants, anti-histamines, allergy medications, and ear drops, so I've been feeling sort of medicine-head-ish for about two months. The whole thing, especially the vibrating noise, is really, incredibly annoying and then this week it was accompanied by pain and insomnia, so something had to be done.

We now think we know the cause of all my problems.

You see, your Eustachian tube is supposed to be closed about 90 percent of the time, only opening when you yawn or something like that in order to even out the pressure. Mine is stuck open. So, I need to get more congested, which means that the $80 plus that I've spent with my normal doctor trying to make it better has, in fact, been making it much worse. So that sucks.

The cause of the pain seems to be my TMJ flaring up because I'm so stressed out about the ear, and the TMJ is also part of what is keeping me awake.

But here's the best news. You want to know what the doctor thinks caused all of this?

Weight loss.

That's right, I lost most of the about 10 pounds I've lost in February and March, and that's why my ear is freaking out. Teaches me to exercise regularly and eat right.

So I have to stop taking all my medicines (hello, allergies, come on in and make me congested) and start taking an anti-inflammatory and prevacid (because the anti-inflammatory causes stomach issues) to make the TMJ better. This whole thing is too weird. I just hope everything gets better because I'm really tired of all of this. And not just because I woke up at 1:30 this morning.