Hello Friends, Terrific board you all have here. I am 22 years old... I have been dealing with a slew of health issues for the past year after a couple of oral encounters with two women which has culminated in a diagnosis of Lupus and my last major hurdle which seems to be problems with my mouth and throat which have me terribly worried... I will try to sum them up below from a post I made on another forum I have visited recently... Thanks in advance for any help you can provide...

...I need help.

I dont see the ENT until the 29th of June and Im agonizing with worry over this last of my constant symptoms. As many of you know my body has gone crazy over the past year and recently I had a loose diagnosis of Lupus and either my brain or the medicine actually seems to be doing something for the other problems.

But the last conquest I have to make is my throat and tonsils, and I fear the worst for this area because of all the agonizing and debilitating symptoms I had over the past year, I ignorned the throat problems the most... I just couldnt keep up with it all, it was like a Full time job!!!

Anyhow, the tonsils have been very swollen (about halfway into the middle but not so far to touch the uvula) for about as long as Ive had these problems. The one on the left side seems to have a more cryptlike appearance than the one on the right which is smoother. What really worries me is the one on the right also has a longish kind of red patch next to it on the adjacent tonsillar pillar which it pushes against, but the LEFT one doesnt have this anomale. Of course Ive read all the bad news about red patches in the mouth, and Im not finding anything about ANY red patch being normal!, and keep in mind this all started after two oral encounters with women over a year ago (started with very swollen glands and difficulty swallowing, treated with a wide spectrum antibiotic which did cause the lymph nodes to go down but the tonsils never did). This red patch on the tonsillar pillar is my single biggest point of worry as it is kind of elongated and follows the curvature of the tonsil next to it.

Well I didnt pay much attention to them until my newest doctor (I have moved around a few times in the past year) actually seemed a little more concerned about them then the previous doctors did just because he felt they might be causing me discomfort. Now of course Im noticing an increasing amount of throat pain, both soreness and occasional hoarse voice and general sore throat, particularly on the right side (especially when I "force" my throat muscles closed on purpose). A few times on long road trips the whole right side of my neck has even hurt!!! Ive had various occasions of tinnitus and slight ear pain a couple of times. In addition to this, the skin flap that is directly behind the uvula seems more "pulled down" on the right side behind the tonsil than it does on the left side, and I have noticed sometimes the back of my throat is red with veins in it.

At the beginning of this whole thing I did have a time where it felt like nasal stuff was going back there alot, and of course these huge tonsils have caused me to have terrible snoring and I have bad breath also. When I push hard on the hollow area beneath my adams apple it also makes me cough... But of course I fear the worst for what this could mean and Ive read that the oral contact could have something to do with it. I am only 22 years old and do not smoke or drink.

Anyone else ever had problems like this?

Ian.