Giant lump at the very top of my throat. Help or advice?

Welcome to Connect, @brcc. Your post really resonated with me. I’ve had a combination of throat, breathing and digestive symptoms, along with weight loss, that has been difficult to make sense of. I remember how hard it was when I didn’t know what was connected, which specialist might be able to help, or even where to look next.

I want to be careful saying that because I still don’t know that what I have experienced is the same as what you are experiencing. I’m not on the other side of it with an answer, but I have made so much progress. I do understand how difficult it can be to have very real symptoms and not understand how—or if—they fit together.

It sounds like you’re already doing something important by preparing to talk with your ENT about the symptoms that don’t seem to fit the explanation you’ve been given. Something that has helped me is having specialists look beyond just their own piece and, when possible, work together. Sometimes progress has come not from getting an answer at an appointment, but from learning what that specialist can explain, what they can rule out, and what needs to be explored next.

You might consider writing out your symptoms and questions before the appointment so you can make sure the ENT understands the whole picture, including the weight loss. Are there one or two symptoms that concern you most or that you especially want help understanding?

@brcc
I ask only because I have had several similar symptoms and I was referred for an upper endoscopy and a large polyp was found in my duodenum. When I had my first consult the nurse practitioner told me that she wished everyone would have an upper endoscopy. You might ask your doc for a referral to gastroenterology and that you need to get to the bottom of these symptoms.

Hello @gravity3, I'm not trying to hijack brcc's post, but my husband just had this done 2 days ago and it's the EXACT same circumstances as yours. Except you said yours was large, but his is a medium sized Sessile polyp found in his duodendum. I'm so worried. We now wait 2 weeks for biopsy. We just lost his aunt to esophageal cancer. Hubby is a long time smoker. His Dad had lung cancer and passed at 57. Husband is now 62. We pray and wait.
Have your biopsy results came back? How far are you in the process? Thank you so much for any insight you can give.

@talltxlady

No problem and I am so sorry to hear about your husband. After my initial endoscopy I learned that I would need an advanced practice gastroenterologist to do the removal. I live in North Carolina and neither Duke nor UNC could get me in quickly so I did a search and chose a fantastic physician Dr. Mouen Khashab. He is at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. I asked for a referral to him and was in for polyp removal in a week. I had an adenoma polyp, the most common type. It was removed just one year ago without complications. 6 months after that my gastroenterologist here did another upper endoscopy....no reoccurrence and no evidence of cancer in the first or second procedure. I have another upper endoscopy in December to check again. If you go to the John's Hopkins site look him up. He has quite the curriculum vitae. When is your husband scheduled for his procedure?

I'm so relieved!! Results came back and he doesn't have C, Praise God 🙌🙏 thank you all for listening, and your guidance. Have a wonderful, blessed day!

@jlharsh thank you for responding! All good ideas and i have made a list of symptoms to go over him with, i just hope he listens. I’m so tired of being dismissed and not heard.
One of my biggest frustrations is seeing all these different specialists and getting different answers from all of them. I wish we lived in a world where all dr’s worked together with a patient to find a solution.
Best of luck to you on your journey and i hope you also get some answers.

@brcc, I hear that frustration. Something else you said caught my attention—you’ve noticed that some of your throat and digestive symptoms seem to occur along with your sinus symptoms. That may be important information to bring to your ENT, even if you don’t yet know whether or how they are connected.

I’ve learned from my own experience that symptoms don’t always stay neatly within one specialty. At one point, a pulmonologist sent me to an ENT for something I never would have thought was an ENT issue.

Maybe you could draw on your doctor’s curiosity by pointing out which symptoms seem to happen together and asking, “Which of these symptoms can you explain from an ENT standpoint, which ones don’t fit, and what would you suggest I explore next?”

How are you feeling about your upcoming appointment?

@jlharsh this is great advice, thank you! First of all I had never even heard of silent reflux until 2 weeks ago and i would have never dreamt that it could affect my sinuses but the more i research the more im convinced that my sinus issues are partly, if not all, the cause of my sinus problems. 10 yrs of suffering, 3 surgeries in the past 5 years and countless ENT visits and not once was this ever brought up by my Dr. Frustrating to say the least. When they say you have to be your own advocate, boy is that an understatement. I have an appt with my ENT on monday so i’ll be having a long discussion with him. I also have an appt with a gastro dr but the earliest i could get in is mid Nov. For now i’m taking prescription nexium 2x daily and i ordered some alginate capsules. Hopefully this helps until i get some answers. Thanks again for the post, much appreciated! I now have renewed hope that maybe i can get all this figured out 🙏🏻