Just over 2 weeks ago I was put forward for a 2 weeks urgent referral due to progressive symptoms I’ve been having over the past 8 months.

For the past 8 months I’ve been having one sided, semi-regular headaches and suffered from Eustachian tube dysfunction. I was put on nasal spray for 5 weeks, then told I should come off them for 4 weeks as it can make sinus issues worse. After those 8 weeks I was told I should have been using nasal steroids for 12 weeks for any real effect and then finally told to take codeine when this all failed.

In the past month I had a week with blood coming from my right nostril when blowing my nose (which stopped after this week and hasn’t returned) and many occasions of sharp pinching feelings on my tongue, right nostril, lip and cheeks (often triggered by head/neck movement). My right nostril has also become increasingly blocked in the past couple weeks (currently fully blocked).

As a 33 year old with 2 very young children, the urgent referral came as quite a shock and has thrown me a little. This post is mostly for a therapeutic post for myself to acknowledge my anxiety and express my fears, especially as my head naturally goes to the idea of worst case scenario for my children. It also doesn’t help that the NHS is broken and I’ve not heard back for any kind of appointment in over 2 weeks (never mind however long I’ll have to wait when an appointment is set).

If there are others that have sinus issues that have mirrored this and come back clear or anyone that can provide any reassurance of along the lines of “your doctor just needed to follow protocol with these symptoms and it’s unlikely to be anything”, that may be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ross