Given your tobacco use history and the symptoms you are describing, you need to have your throat scoped and thoroughly examined. While these symptoms may be something other than cancer, they are also right off the list of warning signs for oral and pharyngeal cancers. Don't put off this exam, if it is something bad, catching things early makes all the difference in surviving it and having the minimum of residual problems when you do. Also, do yourself a favor...stop smoking. This scare should hopefully offer you the motivation to do so, as difficult as it may be for you to quit. Fear is a great motivator for most people. Use it now to change something negative in your life. I hope this turns out to be some chronic infection not related to the disease that some of us have had to deal with. Let us know how your exam turns out.