You could well still have swelling which can co.press the nerves…plus until the other side is done it’s hard to tell what the results will be…hang in there!
How exciting for your son, you must be so proud💗
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Oh thank you dear. This makes a complete sense. God bless
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Would you clarify what you mean by “neck crunching?” I have crunching sound/feeling when I swallow, and have even recorded the sound with my phone. Thank you so much.
Hi mwatts,
In case ramblinman doesn’t reply, here’s his last post -
Hello,
Not sure if I provided an update in that forum, but I ended up seeing a doctor in Utah. He thought it would need to surgically remove a portion of my hyoid bone and my thyroid cartilage, but it ended up being just the thyroid cartilage. The surgery was a success with an immediate resolving of my issues. Thank you.
If you’re getting those crunching sounds when you swallow, there’s a good chance you have calcification of your stylohyoid ligament(s) closer to your hyoid bone. SewMomma posted a lot about similar symptoms a couple of years ago. You can search for her posts using the magnifying glass icon above. She did not have elongated styloids but did have bilateral calcification of her stylohyoid ligaments which extended from her hyoid bone up toward her styloids.
I hope this helps.
A quick update: 2 months post op and I still have the same symptoms. When I wake up I have zero symptoms like before my ES surgery but the minute I start talking my throat, hyoid area would rage in pain. The pain would gradually go away after a few hours or days depending on how much I talk. I tried to inspect my hyoid and when I press on it hurts excessively. Yesterday I tried a new trick to see if it would work. Every time I spoke I gently pulled my hyoid to the left, and surprisingly I had no pain when I talked. At this point I highly suspect Hyoid bone issues/syndrome. Will be reaching out to Dr. Hepworth to investigate my scans and see what would be the next course of action. Will keep you posted.
So sorry that you’re still having problems, & I hope that you’re able to get some answers from Dr Hepworth. Sending you a hug… 
Hi Pinky:
So sorry for the late response, haven’t logged in recently, and sorry to hear the pain hasn’t gone away yet. I too had similar symptoms as you mention, but as others say, many of the things it could be share similar symptoms. Pre-diagnosis, I will say that I became very in-tune with my hyoid bone as well (this is before I even knew it was an issue). I would move it around and get some relief sometimes, and other times it would just rage - specifically the rear parts of it.
When you move the hyoid bone from side to side, do you happen to hear any clicking? I know that some folks exhibit the “click” when the bone rubs against other bones structures. I felt something like this pre-surgery.
I do think it’s good to have the doc investigate the scans. That said, when Dr Dewan looked at my scans, we could not point to the hyoid as being the issues so even if you don’t “see” anything, I wouldn’t rule it out completely.
I know the feeling of desperation and what I can say is that you are on the right track, in that, you haven’t stopped seeking the answer - you will find it, hang in there and ping me anytime for support.
You had asked above how I am feeling now a days: thank God I am feeling great. I can speak again throughout the day with very little pain (if it was a 9 before, it is now a 2 - and as I told someone else - it’s probably due to all these darn Zoom calls requiring me to speak loudly!). I sometimes pinch myself and ask “was that really the issue?” and at my determination at figuring it out - people (including doctors) thought I was straight up crazy and I knew that I wasn’t. Even some of the most respected Eagle’s doctors out there had no clue about Hyoid Bone Syndrome and were doubtful when I asked for their second opinion post-diagnosis (but pre-surgery). All this to say: I admire your determination and we are all here to cheer you on as you figure this out.
Feel free to shoot me any questions, I am an open book (because we here know there is damn near no literature/books/articles on this topic).
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READING MATERIALS:
I ended my last post on the topic of lack of literature around Hyoid Bone Syndrome. Here is my collection of what I was able to dig up when I was trying to figure this out; so many google searches and long nights on the internet spinning due to lack of material. I found these resources to be invaluable in learning about the condition and in helping me to realize surgery was the course of action I personally needed to take to solve my issue (and that I wasn’t loco or making the pain up):
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anterior-throat-pain-syndromes-causes-for-undiagnosed-craniofacial-pain.pdf (5.2 MB) - this was my favorite of the bunch. It goes through a bunch of conditions that cause throat pain, Hyoid Bone Syndrome being one of them. Funny enough, the best piece of medical reading I found on the topic for me was this and it’s by a dentist, not an MD
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This paper, by an MD, talks about Hyoid Bone Syndrome from a degenerative muscle condition perspective. While my Hyoid Bone/muscles did not exhibit degeneration (we tested it after they cut out the bone), it’s still super informative and instructive.
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This paper refers to Hyoid Bone Syndrome as “click throat” or “click larynx” because it’s a symptom that some folks exhibit. It talks through the symptoms and also evidences several surgical outcomes (via rescission of hyoid bone), all of which eliminated the pain. For me, the positive outcomes kept me optimistic when I was scared pre-surgery and needed a dose of optimism.
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As opposed to surgery, this paper talks about injections as a solve for throat pain at the hyoid bone. For what it is worth, I tried injections pre-surgery with no luck. That said, my doctor, and this article, state there are solid outcomes with this approach.
My hope is that anyone trying to solve for mysterious throat pain can read these articles and try to piece things together enough to get in front of the right doctors to solve your pain.
Please reach out to me with any questions and don’t give up, you got this!!!
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Does it sound like a click? Bone on bone rubbing?
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Hi Pinky,
I’m really sorry you’re still in so much pain, but am glad you’ve gotten some good input regarding hyoid bone syndrome. The symptoms are so similar to ES it can be very hard to differentiate them.
I noted you have bilateral ES, & in some cases, the symptoms being caused by the remaining styloid don’t become clearly evident until the first one has been removed. Those symptoms can continue to magnify over the months that a person is healing from his/her first surgery, giving the illusion that the surgery didn’t help at all when removal of the second styloid is what is necessary to get the remaining symptoms to abate. I speak from experience here though I had my less symptomatic styloid removed first (per doctor’s recommendation) so I knew that the terrible symptoms that remained had to be coming from the final styloid. Sure enough, when it was gone, I healed up nicely & was able to return to my normal lifestyle.
That is not to say your hyoid isn’t playing a role in your current situation. I just want you to consider the possibility that what remains might be coming from the styloid that is still intact.
I will pray for you & Dr. Hepworth to have wisdom going forward so the correct procedure is done to give you relief.
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Thank you so much for your input & for those research papers- really helpful! I do agree that HBS is very difficult to find out about, & we’ve not had much feedback on here from members who’ve had surgery, so really good to know that yours was successful! Thanks for taking the time to come back 
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Oh wow , thank you for all the support and information. This helps a lot. I do have a clicking sound when I move it. I always thought it was normal or is it not? I am at the cross roads and need advise. Dr. Hepworth said he can do hyoid and thyroid cartilage trimming if he sees it but I haven’t heard of any success stories from his hyoid bone surgery patients on his side. Of course it doesn’t mean that he hasn’t performed the surgery with success but instead people just didn’t report their success stories. He is in my state, 20 minutes away from me. Dr. Dewan on the other hand has at least one success story but in California. Who do I pick? Thank you again.
Pinky,
The decision you have to make is a big one. Dr. Hepworth has rave reviews from our members who see/have seen him. If it was me, I’d start “at home” & if I felt there wasn’t progress being made or didn’t feel comfortable w/ the advice given, then I’d look farther afield. The other option is to consult w/ Dr. Dewan for a second opinion then decide which doctor might better serve your needs.
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Considering exhausting your local specialists before looking else where but move out of local area if you are not getting traction (just because it’s so much easier to work with someone local). I learned that many Eagles specialists do not believe in Hyoid Bone Syndrome and many I saw/spoke with do not even know about it. So if you get stuck, try to get a hold of Dr Dewan. There is one other doctor I heard of that does the surgery named Dr Chetri at UCLA Medical. Apparently, Dr Dewan and Dr Chetri studied under an older doc (now retired) and learned the ins and outs of the condition. Dr Dewan told me she has done (if I recall correctly) 30+ HBS surgeries with a very high success rate. When I asked her how in the world would someone outside of my areas find someone like her with this specialty, Dr Dewan told me “people like you with this pain will eventually find me.” Thank God I have insurance.
From what I remember, the clicking is not normal and a symptom potentially indicative of HBS.
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Thank you so much. I am so relieved now as I got another phone call from dr.Hepworth’s nurse today telling me he is not comfortable doing it as he believes it doesn’t stem from my hyoid but I know 100% it’s my hyoid because that’s where the severe pain starts when I try to talk and even my PT said it’s a functional irritation issue with hyoid. Thank you so much. I have submitted all my medical records to her for the review and should be getting a phone call from her for my initial appointment. It is so relieving to know that she had done so many of these surgeries with high success. I just can’t wait to finally be pain free and cheer at my boy’s swim meets. Thank you again. This means a world to me. Many hugs.
P.S. I will keep you updated on my progress.
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Yes, absolutely.
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Thank you for the info about Dr. Chhetri. He is on our list but we didn’t know he does HBS surgery. I will add a note after his name.
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Hey guys, a quick update. It’s been 4 months post op, and like I suspected I probably have a Hyoid bone syndrome as my symptoms continue to be exactly the same in severity. Severe pain in jaw/tonsils/tongue/hyoid and ears when I only talk. The pain would gradually start to decrease if I cease talking and will take hours to get back down to manageable levels before I can say a word again. Then, the it is all over again. I will be having my second styloidectomy with Dr. Hepworth at the end of June here in Denver. I will also be getting neck injections into the area to confirm HBS and get insurance approval. I did speak with Dr. Dewan and have my second face-to-face appointment with her at the end of June to discuss possible HBS surgery. I will keep you updated on my progress. This is surely a very challenging journey and I am sure many of you can relate. God bless.
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I’m sorry that you still have a bit of a journey ahead of you before you may get some good relief from symptoms, Pinky. Hopefully getting your second styloid out will help at least somewhat & the HBS surgery will knock out whatever still remains.
Thank you for updating us. Please let us know how things progress for you.
It sounds like you have a way to go yet, Pinky…so sorry that your first surgery hasn’t helped. Maybe the second one will help more, but good that things are moving with Dr Dewan if it doesn’t. Let us know when you get a definite date for your surgery