AIBU to be worried about DD (18)’s health?

[kinfauns]

My DD (18) has been suffering from the following symptoms for over 3 months: sore throat, runny nose/nose bleeds, tinnitus / earache, numb face - all on the left side of her face.

We’ve seen GP four times, been prescribed antibiotics (didn’t work) and referred to hospital for ultrasound scan (nothing detected) and blood tests (came back normal) and glandular fever test (also normal) We saw a private ENT specialist in December (as waiting list for hospital referral is 8 months) who diagnosed sore throat as acid reflux but couldn’t explain runny nose and numb face (said it was possibly neuralgia) She has been on omeprazole for acid reflux since December but throat is still very painful. She said ystdy that her nose and eye (on left side) were stinging.

She is autistic and is frantically researching ENT conditions and becoming very anxious. It’s all very painful and debilitating. She is quite exhausted by it and comes home from college and falls asleep on the sofa which I don’t think is normal.

Can anyone (esp medics) reassure me? Hospital gave us an MRI scan last week but we won’t get results for 2 weeks.

Hi
Trust your motherly instincts and take her back to A&E and demand answers. Our children are so precious to us.
I lost my 31yr old daughter last April to SUDEP.

Good luck and I hope she's feeling better soon. Xx

So she has Neuralgia? You need to go back to the GP with that.

I’m so sorry @Shae1993 that’s horrific, you have all my sympathy and thank you for replying.

@Ponoka7 we don’t know if it’s neuralgia - ENT specialist said it was possible but he didn’t know. Possibly MRI scan might reveal neuralgia

You need to wait for mri results. Hopefully not too long

Unfortunately this is not how A&E works.

You can't just rock up and demand answers, especially since they're waiting for test results.

I hope you get to the bottom of it soon OP, it sounds awful

No medics can reassure you on here I'm afraid.

1. It would be unwise of a medic to self-identity.
2. They would put their licence at risk of they falsely reassured you about a patient they have never met without any understanding of the history or examination findings.

Priority will be to get the MRI results here (presuming it's an MRI head)

Have possible allergies been considered?
Sore throat, runny nose, sinus issues, sore eyes - all common symptoms such as hay fever, house mite allergy etc

Thanks for all the replies.

@LovingLimePeer that makes sense re: medics. I suppose I am seeking reassurance but I know that’s impossible to give online.

@Seeline we haven’t done any tests for allergies - but wouldn’t an allergy affect both sides of the face, not just one?

There are so many things that never end up being diagnosed formally.

I suspect that, if it isn’t getting worse and all tests , including the MRI come back negative, that there is a good amount of anxiety feeding into something minor, such as a post viral condition.

Of course, if anything seems to change or be getting worse, you need to go back for further investigation.

@Newbutoldfather yes I have wondered about anxiety causing symptoms too. But would anxiety cause a numb face and tinnitus?

It’s a bit of a catch 22 as the worse the symptoms are, the more anxious she gets. If I suggest that anxiety might be playing a part in this, she gets very angry and defensive and says I am “dismissing” her. All very tricky.

See what mri says. Then Ask if you can try stopping omeprazole . Rare side effects .

Proton-pump inhibitor use is associated with a broad spectrum of neurological adverse events including impaired hearing, vision, and memory | Scientific Reports share.google/icvGeYkTnIwoEyUyN

Proton pump inhibitors linked to neurological conditions | NeuroSens https://share.google/VIWwjPHTU3RAajeLR

How was acid reflux diagnosed? Could she try something "simpler" like gaviscon?

Studies on omeprazole and tinnitus
KWB20133(Es)omeprazoleand_tinnitus.pdf https://share.google/ukN2khuYuWaDXRE4F

The problem with it being identified as anxiety is that this usually means that you are simply told to go away and be less anxious.

there’s a lot of possible things it could be some of which can be explored without medics. Allergies is the obvious one - I have horrendous sinus issues during the specific pollen season that affects me.

worth trying an anti histamine and see if it makes any difference.

(New med= check. Dd had v rare skin side effect of an nsaid. Dermatology scratched head for months before the connection was made. Omeprazole does have links to rare side effects amd timing links)

Has she been tested for coeliac?

Thanks for all these replies, really appreciated.

@cestlavielife I will certainly ask about coming off omeprazole as it doesn’t seem to be making much difference. However she was suffering from all these symptoms before she started omeprazole in December. She is taking Gaviscon as well.

@Octavia64 i will explore the allergies route and try anti-histamines. She is having therapy for anxiety, not sure it’s doing much good. She is very set and stubborn in her thinking.

@patooties not been tested for coeliac, I didn’t know it could cause these symptoms - again something I will have to explore