I will give you my suggestions based on my experience at A&E (of which I had plenty at in the past).
You mentioned that you are worried about your throat health. But yet it appears that you have not taken steps to reduce or stop the smoking, which increases your risk of:
- Acid reflux
- Throat and nasopharyngeal cancers.
I would suggest you consider seeking smoking cessation help if you can’t battle your addiction alone.
The reflux CAN cause throat irritation. You can reduce risk factors of reflux by:
- Avoiding alcohol
- Stop smoking
- Avoiding heavy meals
- Reduce coffee/tea intake
Lastly, I would suggest you consider seeing an ENT specialist to get a nasoscopy done.
This will help to rule out a Nasopharyngeal tumour, as that can interfere with your inner ear secretions and lead to increased ear aches.
Although your symptoms can really be attributed also to simple respiratory infections (cough/threat/ear symptoms), but if a scope can help you reduce your anxiety..why not?
