Saturday 14 January 2012

You learn something new everyday!

Now being that I am a 60+ something lady I feel I am quite with it. I blog, as you see, I have a website, I use facebook and I twitter. I use the web a lot to look up things of interest and I e-mail and text my friends. I do use a telephone too but if I need to take my time the other ways of contact are better for me.

I was on facebook looking at a forum that Fred and I belong to and a lady asked a question about problems with her throat. Did other people have similar problems? She asked. She was told this was Cricoarytenoid Joint.

This joint is situated in the back wall of the larynx, it helps open, close and tighten the vocal chords during speech and breathing.

According to what I read on the internet about one in three people with Rheumatoid arthritis suffers from Criocarytenoid arthritis. But I had never heard of it.

The symptoms include:
: Hoarseness
:Pain when swallowing
:Sensation of having something stuck in your throat
:Pain when talking or coughing
:Shortness of breath

Many people, like me, have passed the problem off, or have mentioned it to a consultant but have not been told what it could be. I have seen an ENT consultant but all that came of that was to find I had a huge infection in my sinuses that had progressed to my lungs giving me pneumonia.

At present I have another problem with a herniated cervical disc and have increased my steroids dose. If along with the disc problem the problem with my throat persists I will telephone the Rheumotologist in two weeks, as arranged, and ask him what we can do.

I cough a lot, have sleep apnea (caused he says by the RA), have difficulty in swallowing (which I have told him, especially large tablets), a constant feeling of having a blocked throat and my voice has changed.

I am not sure if this is just me, but I have to say to my consultant 'do you think it could be....?' and invariably he says, 'Yes!'

My husband says he thinks that consultants don't want to be negative all the time and say this or that can happen. I agree but, when presented with a symptom they should be honest. I am a big girl I can take it so, why do I have to surf the internet to find things out and then present them to him?

Horray for the forums and groups I belong to. We support one another, reassure one another but we also help to educate each other too. That is the joy of being able to use the modern day technology.

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