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Throat problem

Hi I’m in desperate need of help in correcting an issue with my throat that has made my life a living hell especially in the past few years and still continues to do so, though I’ve been learning to cope with it better perhaps. I’m made tremendous efforts to remedy this situation—including meeting with many doctors, changing my lifestyle habits, my diet, exercising, etc.— but it’s all been very futile. It also continues to be a very time-consuming and costly process, and I still haven’t been able to really find an answer as to what this problem really is. It’s hard for me to describe but I’m certain that something’s just not right and needs to be fixed.

The adam’s apple area in my throat looks and feels out of place. It feels dropped below where it should be. The point where the larynx meets the thyroid cartilage seems to be much sharper than it should be as well. I’m not able to breathe properly though breathing isn’t entirely the problem. For some reason, this causes my whole body to just feel out of sync. I feel like it creates some kind of obstruction that prevents my body from functioning properly. I feel as if something’s paralyzed there. My neck/throat also feels weak as if it’s not enough to support the weight of my head.

This problem really became an issue about 5 years ago when I decided I wanted to live healthy, quit smoking, and exercise — as ironic as this seems. Prior to this time, I smoked hookah and cigarettes for about three years while I was in college. I was never a heavy smoker though. So, 5 years ago, I decided to live healthy by quitting smoking and exercising.  I could feel like my body was cleaning itself up. I spit out a lot of phlegm and whatnot. But somehow my throat became a huge issue. When I play sports like basketball now, I have much less endurance and stamina than when I used to smoke because my throat problem prevents me from breathing freely. In an odd way, occasionally smoking actually makes the throat problem better, but not in the way it used to be. Today, I try to still live healthy and exercise and do cardio but the problem still persists. It’s incredibly frustrating. To say that it’s a feeling of discomfort in my throat is a vast understatement. It prevents me from living normally and functioning properly and it’s been responsible for a lot of damage that’s happened in my life.

I know this isn’t a great explanation but again it’s very hard for me to put into words what is wrong.  I hope the pictures will help. When I explain it to doctors, they usually don’t understand either and think I’m just complaining about something that’s completely fine. They think I’m making something up or that I’m crazy.  This is making my life miserable and I feel so hopeless sometimes.

Thank you.
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9436463 tn?1409416356
I have same problem. My adams apple is not slight under my chin it deviated to left side and space betbeen adams apple and hyoid bone is more  than other people. Are u chacked it to any ent an are u have any pain there.
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Avatar universal
I apologize for writing this response so late. And to all that have read my initial post, sorry that it’s so poorly written and uninformative. I feel like I was venting more than anything. Shortly after writing it, I tried having it removed but my request was denied by one of the moderators. Anyways, I hope to fix that here by providing more details.

I’ve seen an ENT last fall. She took a look at my throat using this “noodle” device and pointed out that I had a lot of acid buildup. She prescribed me Lansoprazole 30mg to take twice a day and also told me to take Zantac.

She also told me to see a gastroenterologist to see if I was infected with H.pylori. I checked with one and he concluded it was very unlikely, and so I declined to schedule another visit to do an upper GI endoscopy. (All the doctor visits and tests have been setting me back quite a bit, and based on the likelihood I just don’t think it would’ve been financially justified.) The ENT also suggested I do a modified barium swallow test and so I had that done.  That test went fine, no issues.

During that period where I visited the ENT, I’d been kind of addicted to nicotine gum, 2 mg.  I have a strong feeling that this was responsible for the acid reflux and that this issue altogether isn’t really my underlying problem.

I’ve also seen two different thyroid specialists, one last fall and the other last month. During the visit last fall, I took a blood test and was told I have borderline hypothyroidism. The doctor prescribed me Synthroid 25 mcg and told me to maybe increase my iodine intake. The Synthroid seemed to not help at all. I bought liquid iodine drops and used that for a while. I also tried a thyroid support supplement and L-tyrosine as well. During my more recent visit with another thyroid specialist, I was told my thyroid is functioning fine, it’s neither under or overactive, so I suppose it might’ve made a difference. I also had an ultrasound done. The right side of my thyroid is a bit enlarged (technically making it a goiter) but the doctor said it’s nothing serious.

Last summer I also saw a pulmonologist. During the initial visit, I did very poorly with the spirometer test. A week or two later, I had a more thorough Pulmonary Function Test, and this time the results came out fine.  Told me everything was normal. I also had a chest x-ray and no problems came out of that.

Despite all of this, I still have almost no doubt that something is wrong with me. I think I’ll see another ENT soon, but again these doctor visits have been very unhelpful and frustrating so far, which is why I’m writing here hoping that somebody out there might be able to relate to my problem and shed some light on it.

Every now and then, when this problem becomes very unbearable, I relapse into smoking cigarettes for a while. It seems to alleviate the problem a bit. I smoked about 4 cigarettes today after a long time and I felt more “normal” again all of a sudden. I even went to the gym at night and had a great workout. I did some cardio and was well on pace to burn 500 calories in just 30 minutes (I came up short only because I had to leave because it was closing time).  Compared to days when I don’t smoke, this seemed almost effortless. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Again, though, this throat issue doesn’t just affect my breathing. I just can’t seem to function properly. I can’t think and act competently and I often offend people accidentally with my behavior. I don’t know, maybe this issue has nothing to do with my throat. Maybe I just feel it in that region but it’s something else. I haven’t ruled out that it could be an entirely different issue.

All in all, I try to remain optimistic about everything and not make excuses. I’m grateful to be as healthy as I am.  I know a lot of other people have far more serious health concerns. But I have a feeling that if I don’t get this squared away right now, it’s going to grow into a bigger problem later, or maybe I’ll figure out what was wrong down the road and feel very regretful for neglecting to not do anything about it much sooner. There’s a lot of things I want to do in my life and this has been a huge burden holding me back. Even if there’s no solution for it, just knowing whatever this problem is would at the very least give me some peace of mind.
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