Extreme heart rate increase when lifting head up 110-135. Drs can’t figure out my high resting heart rate. Think it could be related?
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That is curious. My guess is it would be related to your vagus nerve which may be compromised by your elongated styloid & maybe C1 since it’s also situated between the styloid & C1 along with/ the internal jugular vein.
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Yea I had a normal neck ct with contrast from a regular ent addressing airway, awaiting a consult with Constantino in October. It’s very weird to me. Drs seem to think it’s normal
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Not normal! It could also have something to do with your carotid artery(ies) and that’s something you should also bring up w/ Dr. C when you have your consult i.e. carotid vs vagus nerve vs jugular symptoms.
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Will check it out. It’s difficult because I clearly have some sort of circulation issue. Maybe a vascular dr is a good idea on top of constantino
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As @Isaiah_40_31 says, the vagus nerve is a common culprit for heart arrythmias, but also if the carotid sinus is being irritated by the styloids then that can affect heart rate & BP is often affected too…
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Bp is completely normal which I find odd
@6tdog6 - That is unusual as when the heart rate is crazy, the BP usually responds as well. Prior to my first ES surgery, when I would do hard cardio work that affected my neck muscles (rope slamming) my BP would drop & my heart would race crazily. I’d feel like I was going to pass out. I’d expect a similar response from your body when your heart rate jumps up so quickly. Have you measured your BP during neck extension to see if there’s a change as your heart rate rises?
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@6tdog6 what about holding a left head turn and holding a right head turn? Any differences in HR?
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it seems to be mostly when looking up. the pain comes from the back left side though. Im pretty sure most ppl feel uncomfortable when looking up though. I asked my parents and they both said it is difficult for them to stay in that position. They dont get the hr changed though at all.
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yea I will try more but for the most part my bp looks perfectly normal even with a resting hr of 110+.
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The only thing I can think of is that going into neck extension like that could be putting pressure on the front of your neck and causing taught/stretched front muscles to compress against like your carotids or something. But you’d typically see a reduction in BP and HR with pressure on the carotids so I don’t think that makes sense. Odd.
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interesting, yea the pain is def the back left and not anywhere in the front
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Maybe it’s a C1 issue on the vagus nerve? 
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Maybe, this would be a hard pill to swallow as I don’t think many drs take that at all seriously. I have an appointment with Dr Lo next week
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You don’t necessarily need them to take that seriously, so long as they take the styloid seriously and cut it above C1. If they do that then the vagus is free and if symptoms go away than it doesn’t matter what the doctors believe in. Luckily they believe in and treat ES, and if done properly, the vagus will also be treated whether true or not
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It is most definitely not normal. Your vagus nerve is likely getting trapped causing your heart rate to increase. I have the same thing. It happens when I lay head down on pillow on either side. Sleeping upright or on back helps me avoid this. I also get the shakes at time from low blood pressure, so I take midodrine to boost it a bit.
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