I've had some throat irritation / upper respiritory irritation for a few months now and can't seem to get rid of it. During the last couple of weeks, I noticed a weird flesh-colored round 'bump' (maybe 1/4 inch in diameter) on my left tonsil which I don't remember seeing before (but I never really payed any attention until now). I'm wondering if it has been there all along and I just never noticed it, or if it's something more serious. It's not even really visible if I shine a flashlight in my throat, but in non-direct lighting it shows up quit well to me. In addition, I currently have a soreness which seems to be limited to the sides of my throat (and I sometimes get this drafty, cold air feeling in my throat on these sore spots when breathing) and my tongue has been getting pretty sore (like when you have braces and keep fidgeting with those sharp metal things on the brackets). The sore throat is accompanied by some pain when talking, both of which are nearly inexistant in the morning, but get worse as the day goes on (and the more I talk). Here's some history on symptoms I've had during the course of this whole thing:

It started off as what felt like post nasal drip and I was coughing like crazy due to the irritation and tickle in my throat (usually when getting worked up over something, laughing, etc.). The cough was seldom productive and it felt like exhailing forcefully did a better job at clearing my throat, the but 'clear' feeling would only last for maybe a minute. This lasted for about a month and I dismissed it as a winter cold.

Month two comes along and the cough was gone, but I had a pretty sore throat and some nervous throat clearing, so I started the regular vaporizer/cough drops/soup & crackers / cold medicine routine to try and get rid of it. When the sore throat didn't go away, I started getting pretty worried and made a doctor's appointment. The doctor noticed nothing wrong, but gave me antibiotics (10 days 500mg cephalexin 3 times a day). Near the end of the 10 day supply, I was feeling pretty good. The antibiotics ran out and the irritation seemed to come right back (or maybe it was there all along and I just mentally convinced myself I was feeling better...). I got another 10 days of antibiotics, which didn't help at all. At that point, I was worrying quite a bit (24/7) and now that I look back on it, I think I was causing myself to have some bad acid reflux (had some burning in throat, lots of belching, etc... which is gone now that I've settled down a little).

Anyway, I go back to the doctor for another examination, still nothing obvious that they find wrong with me. They do blood counts / thyroid counts which come back normal and a strep test that comes back negative. They send me on my way once again and tell me the next step is an ENT.

A few people suggest that I might have allergy problems, so I start taking claratin every day and get a prescription for singulair as well. At this point, the sore throat had kind of diminished a bit, but I was experiencing some kind of larygitis-like symptoms. It started to feel like I was straining my voice to speak and the more I talked, the more irritated my throat would get (and the more it would hurt to talk). I did feel a little better after being on the allergy medicine, but not enough to lead me to believe that allergies were the primary cause of my irritation (I had existing seasonal and dust allergies).

So now it's been about three months of continuous irritation of some kind (though not entirely consistent in symptoms). I've got an appointment set up with a specialist, but have been trying to scour the net to see if I can get a better idea of what is wrong with me, but can't find anything that is clear cut.

Any suggestions? Anything in particular that I should demand the ENT checks/tests for? After this amount of time, I really don't want to wait around playing guessing games until I'm one day coughing up blood or finding lumps all over the place. I should also mention that I'm in my mid twenties and have never smoked in my life and do not drink either (in fact, I'm pretty much an introvert that is rarely exposed to such things). Any suggestions or ideas would be very appreciated as I'm out of ideas and on a stressful roller coaster that doesn't seem to end... Thanks!

Hello DJT,

I just wanted to respond and let you know you're not alone. I've gone through similar symptoms recently although not as severe (not much throat soreness). The worst thing was the terribly tickly cough lasting a month or more, but that has gone away now. (So what was it and why do I still have a lump on my soft palate?)

It's good that you have an appointment with an ENT because you won't rest until you have some answers. Even if it's just irritation from speaking stress the ENT can tell you how to manage that, at least.

I'm currently waiting for my own ENT apt and going crazy with worry (even though, like you, I am not in a high risk category). Let's hope that both of us get good news soon, and in the meantime if I learn anything more about what's going on with me I will post it here. It does sound as if our symptoms are similar.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ZoraP,

I had my appointment this morning. The ENT looked down my throat with a mirror and noticed that it was red and irritated, but he didn't even seem worried about it. I pointed out the questionable bump on my one tonsil and he didn't seem concerned about that either and acted like it was normal. He couldn't tell me the cause of the irritation, so I still don't know what's wrong. I did end up with three more prescriptions, including two antacids and another antibiotic. I requested a CAT scan because I think it would be foolish of me to wait around for another month to try more trial and error diagnosis/treatment. Hopefully it turns out to be as simple as some kind of reflux problem, but I'm extremely skeptical at this point.

Hi DJT,
I've had many of the same symptoms as you describe and it's been just over 3 months. I'm sure you noticed a LOT of postings from others with similar problems. if like me you can't sleep from worrying and scan the internet all night. Of all the postings I've read, noone seems to have discovered a cure and some have had symptoms for years. Have you read about globus hystericus? It often occurs after some tramatic (major or minor, even reflux) event occurs in your throat. Anyway, I had a cat scan done a few years ago before this throat problem started, and it was of the same area of the throat. They noticed an unrelated lesion but weren't sure what to make of it. Then recently after going to the ENT for this throat problem, I asked if it could be related to any dental problems, she said no, but I went to the dentist anyway. He took an xray and noticed that lesion crossways in relation to the end of the root on my one remaining wisdom tooth. None of the dentists I've been to will pull it cause it looks to be too close to an artery or a nerve. I think that after years of the root rubbing on the artery or nerve caused that lesion and now it is making it's presence known. It feels like (sensation) a lump in my throat on the left side. I think that has caused the globus hystericus. Now instead of worrying about cancer, I stay awake at night worrying that the root will rub through the artery. Anyway, my next step is to go to an oral surgeon and get the tooth removed.
Sorry for taking so much time but I know what you are going through and I'm sure there is something causing so many people to have these throat problems, the doctors just havn't discovered all the causes yet. It could be a variety of things, and I'm really curious to know if it could be dental related. Do you still have any bottom wisdom teeth? It's strange how I've had sore throats, feeling of nasal drip way back in my throat causing me to cough. The Dr. increasing my reflux medicine. In fact, reading your posting was like you were writing about my symptoms for me.
If you happen to find out what's wrong, please remember to post it. Hope you get better.

Well, I had my scan this morning and I'm waiting to hear back from the ENT. I managed to get a copy of my scans and looked through them already. Obviously, I don't have much of an idea of what I'm looking at, but one of the pictures appeared to be showing the area around my thyroid gland / lobes. The left lobe (if that is in fact what I'm looking at) is about 3x the size of the right one and looks like a giant kidney bean (it's not really THAT giant, in comparison with the rest of my neck in the scan). It appears to be wrapping around the side of my trachea and then connecting with what apppears to be my spine (I think). Unfortunately, I can't find many pictures online of a scan with this same angle, so I'm having trouble figuring out if this is normal. Can anyone with experience confirm that this is normal or abnormal?

I think it was a mistake to look at my scans, as I'm more worried than ever now... grrr.

Hi DJT, what did your ENT say?