I have ossification up to 9 cm both sides. Fullness on the left ear/temple, swallowing problems, throat pain and other strange things.
Perhaps one day I can learn to live with this symptomes. BUT I am out of control with dizziness.
I can walk fifteen min. and after that I feel dizzy. I find out that my blood pressure rises then. I asked that to my fam. doc. but he said people with calcified throat veins do not feel dizzy. I get some med. for hypertension but did not help. I can`t go out more than one or two hours.
Can please someone try to explain me how dizziness caused by the ossification of the ligament. Compression of the veins or irritation of the nervs?
I have not yet a CT. My ENT did a dynamic X-Ray of swallowing to analyse the swallowing problems caused by the ossification. It was also confirmed so far.
I am certainly not a doctor, but I believe the dizzy may be caused by interference with the arteries in the neck. I am "off balance" often and feel very slightly dizzy but by no means does the room swim. Also I have frequent bouts where I get woozy upon standing from sitting or stooping ect..............like my blood pressure actually drops. However; I don't know if its related to the ES or not
Yes, I believe Ivy has a good suggestion. The few journal articles I've read on Medline seem to link dizziness in ES to interference with blood flow. That said, dizziness can be caused by any number of things-- pressure on the inner ear comes to mind. With 9 centimeters of ossified tissue on both sides of your neck, I could not imagine you feeling well.
Definitely agree with Ivy and Minnesota- and if you're getting pressure in your temple it could be that one of the blood vessels is compressed. I have off balance problems, in spells, and some funny real spinning out of control episodes recently, but only very short thankfully. My theory too is that nerves to the ears could well be getting irritated sending confused messages to your brain..... also if the vagus nerve is compressed (I think that it helps to control blood pressure), then that could be something to consider too. As Minnesota says, with all that ossified tissue in such a small space, it stands to reason that nerves and blood vessels are going to be compressed/ irritated!
So it means I have to do a CT with contrast for the compression and interference with the arteries or veins.
I noticed that the diastolic blood pressure is constantly a bit higher as normal. I hope it is not the pressure of the internal arteries.
I think a CT shows also issues at cervical spine, skull base and other things like Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome.
And as jules said also to the neurolgist agian for spezific nerve irritations.
I hope the doctors take me serious if I explain and do a request for a CT.
I was also to an other ENT for a second opinion about EG. He didn't recommend the surgery because of tight scares from the tonsillectomy. So nobody want to have people with EG. They don`t belive when i talk about my symptomes.
I have positional vertigo (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vertigo/basics/defini...) which comes & goes, & I believe it is a symptom of my ES. It is very annoying & is caused by inner ear disturbance. I believe because of the orientation of my styloids (& now since I've had one shortened, my remaining styloid), the granules in my inner ear that affect my balance get out of place & cause temporary dizziness.
With your styloids being as long as they are, you may have constant inner ear trouble along w/ vascular involvement which would make your balance problems more persistent. I also have intermittent blood pressure problems during & after exercise but mine drops instead of getting too high. It is an interesting side effect of ES. I was not diagnosed w/ vascular ES, but I have no question in my mind but that my styloid(s) periodically bother my carotid artery or jugular vein & maybe even the vegus nerve. I can feel that my remaining long styloid isn't stationary. It does move a bit as I move my head & neck so my symptoms are likely to change depending on the position of the styloid at a given time.
Have you looked at the doctors on Emma's list to see if there is anyone near you?
It seems that something disturbs the inner ear. I did already a test with eyeglasses the doc moved quickly my head to left/right and the glasses traced my eyes. I suppose it was the test for the positional vertigo or it was for the eye reflex test. But.. even EG sympomes are not easy to find/determine. As you said it seems an inner ear disturbance with nerv irritations and a vascular involvment.
It is so difficult, I feel the symptomes but I am not a med. proffesional so every time I try to explain the possible reasons for my problems the docs look strange at me. They don`t like if a layman gather information on his own on the web. I had a look at Emmas list but there is no doc near me yet. I am living in Switzerland.
In my case I think I have to ask for a CT with contrast for the vascular problems and have to see a neurologist for the specific nerv tests.