I am hoping you can share some things I discovered that are very helpful and I have not seen anywhere common in other pages. These things saved me through this process (I want to call it living hell).
1). When your ears are killing you chew on gum. Not a whole piece, maybe half. Be sure however not to push it back and forth in your mouth with your tongue because that will lead to your tongue then hurting. If you want to switch to the other side pull it out with your fingers and put it in the other side. I know it sounds silly but try it!!
2). Something that works one hour may not work the next but don’t nix it! Sometimes cold felt great and an hour later I could only do warm broth. Go with what your body is wanting and try things over and over again.
3). Day 4/5/6 I lost the inability to sleep because the pain was so intense when I woke up it wasn’t worth it. For me the humidifier was/is merely a joke. I did discover however that sleeping with a sugar free (don’t want cavities) cough drop in your mouth is very helpful! Although I understand the choking hazard, my give a damn was busted and I would do anything for relief. I slept for 5 hours on night 7 because of that silly cough drop. It still hurts a bit when you wake up but not nearly as much!
4) Once day 6 hit my scabs started a cycle I am not fond of: fall off, clot, white scabs would grow back, this has been a cycle for several days now (I am on day 9 currently). One thing that I found helpful was to suck on mints because your throat gets SO dry when the scabs fall off you literally have drink water constantly. Or I suppose you could get one of those fancy “beer hats” with two straws and do it that way, to each their own! Once again sugar free is a good idea.
Just a few things that made my life just a touch easier and I know I would have appreciated these discoveries. They may not work for everyone but if they work for someone I feel like my work here is done!
Oh and by the way, your site saved me through this process. There is something to be said about knowing what others are going through and how they coped that just made this horrific situation a bit less horrific.
Thanks Greg!
