Intermittent Pain Above Adam's Apple

[warren807]

I'm a 29 year old male, recently quit smoking and drinking.  Have had past issues of anxiety and stress, which resulted in drinking heavily on weekends, and I never really smoked unless I drank.  In January 2012 I have a bad chest and throat infection which last 6 weeks, I was given an antibiotic called "Eryc" to take 2 weeks.  I was after I started to feel better I noticed there was pain above my adam's apple specifically when I yawned, and mostly after having a cigarette.  Throughout February I barely smoked at all, and noticed that the pain went away, as it was only intermittent anyways.  As of recent, over the past couple weeks I have noticed the pain has come back.  I now notice that it hurts when I yawn, breathe in heavily, make my voice high pitched, and sometimes but rarely when swallowing.  I have noticed that it is worse some mornings and some it's not there at all.  As well as night times it usually isn't bad, but tonight it is.  I have recently moved into a new place that was just built, and I have noticed a high level of dust in the condo (dust bunnies reappear everyone couple days on the floors).  I also do have hay fever in the spring, which has come and gone a couple times already, since the weather has been so messed up.  My sinuses are very bad right now, I awake in the middle of the night from nasal drip, and I noticed when I awake that my nose is just full of bright yellow mucous.  Other symptoms that I have been noticing are ringing in the ears, frequent urination, chronic fatigue, slight tension in the back of the neck (feels like stress), and I noticed whenever I eat something sour or with a zing I can hear my glands moving saliva in my jaw, something I have never ever noticed before.  Also my tongue has a thick slight yellow coating when I wake up in the morning, and it always feels like I have pepper at the back of my mouth.  Is this all related to allergies?  Or could it be acid reflux, as I have had those problems in the past?  I'm really confused and kind of worried and am going to head to the doctor tomorrow to see what he says, in the meantime I am looking for any outlook to what has been going on with me, as I have never been this stuffed up with my sinuses or have had pain in my throat.  Also I have just done all blood and urine testing, all which have some back normal.  Thanks for reading!

[THlova99]

I'm having something similar. Pain on the outside of my adams apple. Comes and goes and is more annoying than painful. I don't have much pain on the inside of my throat itself. Mostly on the outside. However I have started feeling a tickle when I lay down to go to sleep. I have allergies and take medicine every day and they are doing construction in my building which could be contributing to all of this. I use smokeless tobacco and am starting to get worried that it might be cancer. I'm only 29 and it seems like its too early but you never know. My doctor looked at my throat and felt around. She said that she didn't feel or see any abnormalities and is sending me to the ENT next week.

[smudge1969]

Hi I had same symptoms,  doc said nothing wrong, I went private to ent doc within 2 weeks was having operation on throat lingual tonsil, it had grown and attached to back of my tongue in throat where you could not see, hence tightness when yawning and ear pain, biopsy taken all clear but waiting scan on neck  as pain still there 6 wks after op, may have to have lingual tonsils removed, my symptoms were pain swallowing, weight loss, sweats, fullness in neck when bent forward I am female age 44

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Good to see you have developed good lifestyle changes. The pain could be due to unaccustomed exercise. It should resolve with rest. The lungs age with smoking as in comparison to the person’s age. If you stop smoking at this point, the lungs are not damaged any further, though the damage that has already been done cannot be reversed. So, giving up smoking would be first step towards controlling the damage due to smoking. So, keep at it and Good Luck.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.

[warren807]

Thanks for your input.  It's now been 3 months since I have quit drinking, but am still having a hard time just not smoking at all, seems to be more a a social give in than anything, in about 3 months I have maybe had 20 cigarettes socially.  Shortly after I posted, I seen the doctor, and he said everything seems to be fine, and that if the problem with my throat worsened that I would be referred to and Ear Nose & Throat doctor.  Well things did seem to get better, I upped my fitness level, and started eating a very healthy diet, even losing about 15 pounds.. I feel and look great, but the pain around the Adam's Apple seems to have crept up on me again.  I almost feels as if the skin is tight around the chest area pulling up to the Adam's Apple all the way down to my collar bone.  Could this be something to do with an injury from the gym that I am not letting heal?  I will visit the doctor again shortly.  This again seems to worry me as it has returned, after all the infections I have recently went through.  I will continue to keep posting my progress.  Thanks again for reading!

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

If you don't have pain with swallowing, then I assume you have pain on touching your neck in the anterior (front) aspect. If with touching you are getting pain it is likely to be an inflammation of the skin, subcutaneous tissue or the trachea. This can happen with injury, repetitive activity or an infection of the skin. It can also be an enlarged lymph node or an inflammation of the thyroid gland.
If you do have a chronic sinus infection, typical antibiotic treatment is for 4-6 weeks.  A nasal steroid spray is also beneficial as well as oral steroids.  Nasal saline irrigations over the counter like NeilMed.  The best diagnosis for this problem is a CT of the sinuses. Surgery is recommended to patients that fail maximal medical treatment.

I would advise you to consult your doctor, for proper evaluation of your symptoms. In the meantime for pain relief you can use OTC  tylenol (acetaminophen).

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.

[Caryopteris]

I would suggest you stop consuming dairy products for a while.  Try almond milk if you don't have a nut allergy.  There is also rice milk, hemp milk, and soy, but try not to use too much soy.