Wide open nasolacrimal duct & patulous eustachian tube

[Nattling]

Since august 2009 i've been having a patulous eustachian tube that just came over me one day. Half a year before this i had a serious cold that lasted for months. My e-tubes where completely blocked and it gave me chronic tinnitus. To solve the blocked e-tubes i used cortison spray and did the valsalva maneuver several times a day for at least two months. Last fall I got what i suspected as the swine flu. Since then i've been having chronic post nasal drip (but in terms of green chunky pieces of mucous that i forcefully suck down the back of my throat...). Now this spring something funny started happening to my eye as well. I felt air getting trapped in the lacrimal sac, which produced funny noises. Now this problem has escalated. The lacrimal sac is moving in and out with every breath i take and i feel the air blowing in my eye. I've also been having a burning sensation around the area in my nose where the nasolacrimal duct ends. Now i've been having another cold and the nasolacrimal duct is worse than ever. I have pain and burning sensation from the mentioned area in my nose and also bleed from the same area. I've been seeing ENT specialists but they find nothing wrong with me. I also have other problems, with my digestion an so, which i got after a stomach bug nearly two years ago. The doctors haven't been able to help me with that either. I feel so helpless and depressed and i have these fantasies about pointing a gun to my head. I really don't want to die, but I feel with all these new problems coming up, I don't want to live like this either. I don't know what to do. Is there any systemic disease that could be causing this? Could the valsalva maneuvers have been causing this? Lately i've also felt dryness in my eyes, but i figured that is probaly due to my contacts and the increasingly low temperatures outside (i live in sweden).  

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Oculoplastic surgeon also deal other problems besides cosmetic surgery.  They are the appropriate eye specialist for nasolacrimal duct problem.

Dr. O.

[Nattling]

Thank you for your answer dr Oyakawa. Do you have any examples of what an oculoplastic surgeon could do to sort my nasolacrimal problem out? I've been told by an eye specialist dr that they only do plastic surgery to correct the opposite problem: a blocked tear duct. Isn't that right?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Please see an oculoplastic surgeon.

Dr. O.