Slightly embarrassed to be asking you guys about such a minor personal matter, but I’m not the first, so here goes:
The base of my throat is uncomfortable. Nearly all the time. The discomfort is on or near the “outside”, not apparently in my throat as such.
In itself it’s not incapacitating, just unpleasant. But I find I can get relief by stretching my throat (moving my head up and back), which makes me look like a weirdo if I do it often, and also can end up giving me neck strain.
So what’s going on? Should I go to the doctor? Any suggestions?
If you have had this problem for some time, and the discomfort is persistent, then you should see your doctor. If you are having any difficulty swallowing, or if swallowing is painful, you should see your doctor a little more quickly. There are several things that can cause what you describe, from swollen lymph node chains in the neck, anxiety causing the sensation of a lump in your throat, polyps, tumours, thyroglossal duct cysts, thyroiditis or thyroid disease… kind of hard to diagnose over the net.
I hope Dr Paprika’s reply has made you feel less concerned about your state of health, Hibernicus… I’d feel a little wary of sharing my ailments for fear of the replies I’d be liable to get…
What Dr_Paprika said was actually helpful - not enough info to tell if Hibernicus’ had a real problem or not, but enough to say don’t dismiss it out of hand, see a doctor, and if you’ve got these other symptoms that may have seemed too trivial to mention, do it sooner rather than later.
You want alarmist? An equivalent to Hibernicus’ symptoms, plus a slight but persistent non-productive cough were all that were troubling an acquaintence of mine. Pity she went later rather than sooner.
AKAmame is right. Dr_Paprika did exactly the right thing under the circumstances, by not only suggesting consulting a doctor IRL but also giving me some ideas about what might be the nature of the problem. This is what I needed (btw thanks Dr_Paprika). Without this response I would never have got around to seeing a doctor, unless things got much worse.
AKAmame, it would be helpful if you were to mention what your acquaintance was diagnosed with.
You are absolutely right, AKAmame; Dr_Paprika’s advice was, by all accounts (including yours, hibernicus), immensely helpful.
My comments concerned MY OWN state of health which, if described openly, would no doubt cause a far stronger, and probably rightly alarmist, response from the learned medical community.
However, thank you for alerting me to the possibility that my initial posting could be interpreted as “unnecessarily snide”.
Sorry about this Hibernicus. I know too many people who have had odd ailments, temporary or permanent, so I loose sight of how negative (or downright ghoulish) the bald facts can seem, and I posted without thinking of the consequences of my comment to you.
I met that person just as the problem was manifesting. It turned out to be throat (?laryngeal?) cancer - she was a heavy smoker. I hadn’t thought of her in years, but your post brought her to mind because she used to twist her head up and sideways like she was freeing her neck.
I hope you go to the doctor sooner rather than later, and will let us know that s/he said the equivalent of “You’re fine, why are you bothering me with something so trivial?”.
I have a similar condition, it’s caused by my jaw muscle. Pain from the muscle radiates to the throat, among other places. The most common name for this condition is TMD, maybe you could check it out and see if it seems right. As for doctors, mine doesn’t want to hear about anything he can’t treat. Yours might be different, of course.
Thanks everyone for your interest and advice. I found a doctor (usually too healthy to need one); he found nothing wrong with me and he’s referred me on for blood tests. I’ll check up the TMD thing as well.
The first thing you should do is always open your mouth, look in the mirror & see how things look around back there. Do this when you are feeling well so you know what it looks like.