Dr. Don Paul Setliff, M.D.

That is a loaded question. "Sinus" is probably the most commonly misused word in medicine. The GREAT majority of upper respiratory illnesses diagnosed as "sinus infections" are actually simple colds, which are caused by rhinoVIRUSES and DO NOT RESPOND TO ANTIBIOTCS. That's right, a common cold. But primary care personnel (FP's, NP's, and PA's) most commonly avoid telling the patient that he/she has a cold, simply because patients hate to hear it, because they know there is no cure other than the passage of time (1 to 2 weeks). By calling it a "sinus infection" and prescribing antibiotics, it most likely ensures that the next time you get a "sinus infection," you will seek care with them again. So you leave their office happy, relieved, and grateful that you have been diagnosed accurately and have been given effective treatment. In addition to those good effects, the caretaker avoids having to explain the difference between viral and bacterial illnesses, why your illness won't respond to any medication, and having you leave unsatisfied with the service and saying to yourself that it was a wasted trip and vowing not to return when it happens again. The antibiotics (and whatever other "decongestants" or cough medicines) that were prescribed have NO BENEFICIAL EFFECT WHATEVER, but may have side effects of drowsiness or rapid heart rate. Your symptoms resolve about the time you're finishing the antibiotics, which makes you think the antibiotics cured you. NOT SO. When antibiotics work, they work (create a dramatic improvement) within 48 hours of being taken. If that doesn't happen, it confirms that the illness is viral, and that the only thing that will help is the passage of time, usually one to two weeks. The cough, however, can last up to 3 months, gradually improving over that period of time. While technically the common cold does produce a sinus infection, it is a VIRAL infection, not bacterial, and antibiotics have NO EFFECT on viral illnesses. When you have a cold, you also have rhinitis, pharyngitis, and usually bronchitis. These are all of the areas that are infected by the virus, so the more appropriate summary diagnosis is "viral upper respiratory infection" (or in medical lingo, a URI), which is a longer name for the common cold. There are at any one time about 140 rhinoviruses in circulation, and they mutate, so it is unlikely a vaccine will be developed. If you have muscle aches and profound fatigue in association with the usual cold symptoms, you may have influenza or COVID. In that case, a COVID test should be done, and if it is positive, Paxlovid should be taken. It is a very effective treatment for COVID but does not work for influenza or the common cold. Hope this helps.

Best to see an ENT physician. Sounds as if youve had a concussion of the inner ear. It can cause permanent hearing loss. You need a hearing test to make thorough ear exam and audiometry. If they offer you tympanometry, and youre paying out of pocket, decline that test, since it is mostly for producing revenue and wont doesnt contribute much to making a diagnosis in your case.

That's just a tonsillar cyst, which is benign and of no medical consequence. Don't be surprised if it ruptures and resolves itself.

You need to see an ear doctor, NOT a primary care provider. At a minimum, you have external otitis, an infection of the ear canal. Zithromax is not the drug of choice for your problem, which is why its not helping. You need a thorough (binocular microscopic) ear exam, which requires an ENT physician. Thats your shortest, most effective option for resolving the problem. Most commonly the infection is bacterial, but it could also be fungal. An exact diagnosis is key to arriving at the most effective treatment.

Easy. Every time you have one!

There are many possible reasons. You should take her to an ENT physician.

Patients with your story often have yhe habit of constantly manipulating their ears by using Q-tips, keys, bobby pins, toothpicks. etc., to dry or scratch gheir ears. Infection can result, and can become chronic. Antibiotic ear drops often work better than oral. You would best served by consulting an ear specialist.

95% of headaches are so-called tension headaches. Have you been under unusual stress lately? I'm not sure what "seemed to be swollen" means. If you truly had a disease process making your forehead swell, you wouldn't be describing it that way. I don't know what you're worried that these symptoms mean, but it doesn't sound as if you have an ongoing disease. If you've only had the symptoms for 24 hours, give it some time to resolve. Exercise (taking a walk or doing some simple calisthenics, perhaps) is often effective for tension headache. I'm assuming you don't have fever or symptoms other than what you described.

You don't tell me much about your child. Age? Other medical conditions? How many ear infections and only in one ear or both? Infection of the middle ear or of the ear canal? Let's assume it's only one infection and your child is less than 10 years old and that it's only one ear infection. The likelihood of it being due to an underlying serious condition is extremely remote, whether it's the middle ear or it's the ear canal. Nothing to lose sleep over.

Natural is highly overrated. Snake venom, TB, arsenic, bee stings, poison ivy, human disease, and death are all natural. Colds are viral upper respiratory infections (URIs). That said, there are almost as many home remedies for colds as there are people. The simple fact is that there is no cure for the common cold. This is because there are more than 140 viruses at any one time that can cause the common cold. That is why there are no vaccines for it. To make things worse, like influenza viruses, cold viruses are constantly mutating. Fortunately, colds go away in 2 to 14 days, although the cough may persist for as much as three months, gradually declining in severity. The stuffy nose can be treated with pediatric oxymetazoline drops, but follow package directions. In my opinion, so-called decongestants should be avoided, as they dont decongest anything. Clinical trials have never even been done for them, and overdosing an infant with them can be fatal. A doctor should be consulted for fever over 101 degrees. Most general docs will recommend decongestants. They DO NOT WORK. Preventive measures are handwashing, masks, and avoiding close contact with snotty-nosed kids.

I don't see any pictures, but if you've had ear problems "for years," why wouldn't you see an ENT doc to get a definitive opinion? If your symptoms are intermittent, it would be best to see him/her when you are having symptom(s), as that facilitates a diagnosis being made.

It is normal for you to hear a brief sound when you swallow, which is often described as "crackling." The eustachian tubes connect your middle ears with the back of the nose, where it joins the throat (also called the nasopharynx). These tubes are closed all of the time, except that when you swallow, they open for a fraction of a second to equalize the pressure in the middle ear with the pressure in the outside world. There are tiny muscles that go from the eustachian tube wall to the soft palate, and they "tug" on the tube when your soft palate contracts during swallowing. This equalization of pressures keeps the eardrums in the normal position for optimal hearing. In other words, the sound you hear is physiologic, just part of the way things work. You may not have noticed it before, or if you have a cold or allergies, it may be temporarily accentuated. As for Meniere's disease, you don't have it. The 3 requirements for a diagnosis of Meniere's are fluctuating hearing loss (both episodic and eventually chronic), tinnitus, and vertigo. You don't have any of these, so you don't have Meniere's. Bottom line: nothing to be concerned about.

Unfortunately questions such as yours require a face-to-face visit to answer. There is no substitute for that. That said, most patient encounters for throat symptoms do NOT result in a diagnosis of cancer. Make an appointment with an ENT physician.

Blood vessels that pulsate are almost always arteries, not veins. Veins are extremely variable in where they occur and in what directions they run, both of which are usually insignificant in the absence of any other symptoms. In other words, you shouldn’t lose sleep over it. All That said, there is no substitute for an examination by a physician, in this case specifically by an ENT physician.

No.

The anesthetic is the least of the risks associated with tonsillectomy, but yes, there are rare cases of adverse reaction, even death, from general anesthesia. Following are a few reasons I do not generally recommend tonsillectomy and perform very few:
1. Tonsillectomy has little (almost no) SCIENTIFIC BASIS. It is a social custom, or ritual, more than anything else.
2. Tonsils are composed of lymphoid tissue, which is tissue that fights infection.
3. The oral cavity is the most common way infection enters the human body. The tonsils act as a filter.
4. Each person has two sets of tonsils, the faucial (also called palatine) tonsils, and the lingual tonsils. You can't see the lingual tonsils because they are imbedded in the base of your tongue, just above the epiglottis. When the faucial tonsils are removed, the lingual tonsils
always enlarge. If you are obese and/or you have a small oropharynx already, enlargement of the lingual tonsils can make sleep apnea worse. And yes, you can still get throat infections (including lingual
tonsillitis) after a faucial tonsillectomy.
5. You have a strip of lymphoid tissue called the pharyngeal lateral bands, located along either side of the back of your throat (in the pharyngeal "gutters") that are only visible when you have an infection. They extend all the way to the back of your nose. They are also part of
the ring of lymphoid tissue that guards the entrance to your body, and they enlarge when the faucial tonsils are removed. "Why do these other areas of lymphoid tissue enlarge?," you may ask. It's because your body NEEDS lymphatic tissue at the entrance to your body!
6. The estimates from studies are that there are 7 deaths for every 100,000 tonsillectomies. Miss Brazil, a 25-year-old otherwise healthy (and gorgeous) woman, recently died a few days after having a tonsillectomy. The mechanism of death usually involves post-op bleeding, which can occur anytime in the first 10-12 days after the procedure. Have you ever heard of anyone dying from NOT having a tonsillectomy?
7. It is a very painful procedure for most patients. ENT docs at conventions often comment that if tonsillectomy doesn't accomplish anything else, it does teach the patient what a REAL sore throat is!
8. Tonsillitis does not originate in the tonsils. They swell and hurt because they are fighting an upper respiratory infection. If your finger gets infected, it swells and hurts too, but nobody says, "Hey, let's chopit off!" That's about how much sense tonsillectomy makes.
9. The vast majority of tonsillitis (95%) is viral. That means it doesn't respond to antibiotics, but it does resolve with time.
10. If you're having tonsillectomy because you've had a peri-tonsillar abscess (PTA), studies show that most patients who have a PTA and don't have tonsillectomy never get another PTA.
11. The GREAT majority of tonsillitis occurs in childhood, teens, and early 20's, when people are leading active social lives and encountering multiple sources of infection.
12. These are just some of the reasons that insurance companies are reluctant to approve their insureds for tonsillectomy.
My advice is to forget it and go on with your life.

My answer involves some speculation since I have not examined his ear. It's not clear to me whether he received any treatment at the time of the injury. It sounds as if he has chronic perichondritis, an infection of the cartilage of the ear. That usually responds to a 7-10 day course of antibiotics. I prescribe Cipro 500 mg to be taken twice a day. Health care has value, and it is worth paying for, just as any other service. I'm sure he pays for plumbing repairs, electrical repairs, etc., because they are worth what they cost. Health care is no different. It does not fall from the sky. It costs a physician to open and maintain an office, and it is logical that the people who benefit from it pay toward the expenses. If you pay a doctor $100, about $20 winds up in the doctor's pocket after expenses and taxes are deducted. The liberals may tell you
healthcare is a right, but the Constitution makes absolutely NO mention of that. If you hold out for free healthcare, you're probably going to suffer. Tell your friend to grow up. Good luck.

Your photo doesn't show the entire soft palate, and it's a bit out of focus. I don't know if this platform allows you to send better photos. How long ago did you first notice the bumps? Not typical cancer, if that's your concern.

Your best option is to consult an ENT physician. I don't think there is a way for us to have a dialogue on this website, but I would need to know the answers to several questions before I could figure out a probable diagnosis for your problem and recommend a treatment. If your pain is constant, the most likely diagnosis is external otitis, for which the best treatment is antibiotic ear drops. (General doctors and nurse practitioners commonly prescribe oral antibiotics for external otitis, which are unnecessary and ineffective.) If the pain is intermittent (only a shooting pain a few times a day), it could be caused by spasms of your jaw muscles, which have the same innervation as the ear. If it's your right ear, and you are right-handed, and you use Q-tips, the likelihood of it being external otitis is higher. Q-tips are the #1 cause of ear infections, even though there is a warning on the package not to insert them into the ear. Hope this helps...

If you’ve had multiple meals and drinks of liquid since then, it would be very unlikely. The end of the hair would have to have penetrated the mucosa of your tongue and be anchored there firmly enough to resist the swallowing movements. That is extremely unlikely. Throat doctors see patients every day who have the sensation of something stuck in the throat. Probably one in several thousand actually does. The problem is it that once you become overly conscious of your throat and the swallowing mechanism, it has a way of snowballing into persistent anxiety over the possibility of something being there. My advice is to relax and concentrate on other things. I have never in 50 years of practicing EMT had to remove a hair from someone’s throat.