Horrible nasal pain

Hello everyone, i have a very long story but i will make it brief. A year ago i had a Bravo capsule implanted in my esophagus to check for reflux and 6 days later i woke up with a lump in my throat and lost my voice. Ive had dozens of tests and the doctors arent sure if i have silent reflux or nerve damage.

Anyway, this throat pain has caused me to completely lose my voice and in december the pain migrated to my sinuses and nasal cavity. It started out like a sinus infection but now it is a daily problem with symptoms of severe nasal burning and headaches. I can hear popping noises by my nose and eyes and my nose even turns hot and bright red on the outside. My ENT thinks it is relate to the inflammation in my voicebox which still has not been diagnosed.

Nothing helps much with this pain. I take four or five tylenol a day with little relief and have tried nasonex with very little relief from that either. I have searched the internet and found only a couple other people with this problem and one of them was holydiver from this site but he hasnt posted in awhile.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Very miserable. Thank you.

Hi LG and welcome to CP.

First for those who dont know Bravo capsule is a small magnetic capsule that is inserted via nasal intubation into the esophagus where it attaches by suction and sends data via wireless connection to a small external unit you wear. It measures PH levels so they have a better understanding og your gerd. It stays several days and the detaches and is safely excreted from your body.

Now LG, Im more inclined to think that what ever happened to cause nasal pain did so at intubation and insertion. Possibly some type of nerve damage as they passed the scope through the nasal cavaity? Its not uncommon to experience sore throat,hoarseness,irritation but those shouldnt last more than a few days. Certainly not weeks.

The common complications of any intubation are those symptoms but rarely nasal/pharangyeal infestions and damage can occur.

My thinking is,was it possible an infection happened but went unnoticed/ untreated leading to some type of nerve damage in that area? And if they tried one of the meds for neuropathy would it provide any relief?

At this point in the game I cant see where it could hurt and if it helped at all then you would at least know your on the right track.

Just my thoughts but might be worth talking to your ENT about or maybe its time to bring Neurology onboard.

Wishing you luck as that type of burning pain must feel like getting water up your nose while swimming without it going away when the water clears.

Bravo capsule is literally pinned to the esophagus. When it's in place the technician pushes a plunger and the pin pushes through a bit of esophagus. After a few days, sometimes even a week or more, the esophageal tissue deteriorates and the capsule pulls off and is swallowed. X-rays are done to confirm placement and again after 48 hours to check location.

My experience with it was it hurt when the pin was inserted (despite a little anesthetic spray) and continued to be painful for a long time while the esophagus healed. I didn't even notice when it fell off early, but the readings suddenly went from 0 to 8. Fortunately for me, I was keeping hourly readings myself plus noting drinking (couldn't eat for 2 days). Since the thing was only in place 24 hours the first doctors who saw me said I'd have to have it done over, because the report that was sent to them was merely "failed attachment." But the head surgeon (I think considering the information I wrote down) said, "Well, the GPEH isn't going to cure itself" and told the others to schedule the surgery.

I sympathize with the sinus problems. I've had chronic sinus infections since broken nose 5 years ago. Hot, red cheeks or forehead indicate possible infection. It can be cultured. Antibiotics aren't very good at treating this because there is little circulation in the sinuses. For me, sinus surgery only made things worse.

I find using a large sinus wash works best to keep the infection under control. I only ask for antibiotics when it goes down into my lungs. Using anything that dries up the sinuses, or dry air in winter, makes things worse too. I try to keep the mucus thin, Mucinex 12 hour (available in generic now) helps me. A little AYR gel around the nostrils at night prevents crusties. I've read that oils or petroleum jelly can get into the lungs and is hard for the body to remove - I haven't read anything that proves that though.

Best wishes!