Is having difficulty moving the tongue (and therefore speaking as well), for example trying to put the tip of the tongue to the palate and then it causes a pinching sensation towards the thyroid cartilage and cricoid cartilage towards the jugular notch as well (red circle in the image) with a sensation of tangled cables or as here in the photo of gel beads that you move the sensation of sliding, which pull from the base of the tongue to there and it’s as if it wants to suffocate you for a few seconds, part of one of the symptoms of eagles or of hyoid bone/thyroid cartilage syndrome?
My tongue also feels numb, like I can’t feel it properly
When I swallow my saliva or anything else, I also hear a sound of saliva being sucked in, as if passing through a narrow space, and I feel that it’s constricted in that area.
Movement of the tongue can be affected by the hyoid bone, & in turn movement of the hyoid bone can be affected by calcification of the stylohyoid ligaments/styloid process elongation. It’s very hard to know whether your tongue symptoms & the pulling you feel in your neck are because of hyoid bone syndrome or thyroid cartilage (which is very close to the hyoid) or because of the stylohyoid ligaments which may be tethering the hyoid because they are calcified. When the hyoid can’t move properly, it can affect swallowing, tongue movement, breathing & speaking among other things.
Tongue numbness would be the result of the hypoglossal &/or glossopharyngeal nerve being irritated or compressed by elongated styloids &/or calcified stylohyoid ligaments.
Here is a good article I found about the hyoid bone. I didn’t read the whole thing, but it might help answer some of your questions. It does mention ES:
Thank you, I read the article. The hypoglossal nerve passes near the hyoid bone and the sh ligament, so maybe that’s it? I don’t know if in my case it’s the styloid and eagles nerves or HBS.. I have a teleconsultation with Dr. Chhetri on Friday; I hope I’ll get more information then
I’m so glad your appt. is finally near, @Calista21269. It seems like you’ve been waiting forever! I’m also looking forward to hearing what you learn from Dr. Chhetri.
Since July I’ve been trying to contact Dr. Dewan Karuna without success, so I had to contact Dr. Chhetri instead; it’s faster and his office staff are professional. I’ll keep you updated on what he tells me
I’m sorry Dr. Dewan’s ofc has dropped the ball & not contacted you. Soooo Frustrating when you’ve put out so much effort. I don’t understand why some doctors’ offices behave that way.
Yes, it’s very frustrating… but I hope Dr. Chhetri can help me with the diagnosis. Then, if I need surgery, I’ll see if he can refer me to Dr. Dewan himself, because it’s cheaper..
Dr. Dewan is also closer to you so use that as a reason you’d like a referral from Dr. Chhetri. I do recall that Dr. Dewan requires a referral in order for a patient to have a consult. If you didn’t have a doctor’s referral, it’s possible that’s why her office never got back to you.
Even worse then that you never heard back from Dr. Dewan’s office, @Calista21269!! I was turned down by a doctor I wanted a consult with who was in another state just because I was out of state. Pretty frustrating, I know, first hand.
Yes, it’s very frustrating, especially when you don’t have any other solutions. In Europe, it’s even worse, unfortunately..
Regarding my appointment with Dr. Chhetri, he says he needs a neck scan (not cervical). I didn’t know there was a difference? With contrast injection to get a clearer picture.
Because the standard scan apparently doesn’t show anything unusual, either with the hyoid bone or the styloid process (he said my styloids were normal, which I don’t quite understand because several people have seen 3D scans and said they were long. Dr. Hackman also saw a 3D scan and said I have styloid elongation, so I’m confused). But Dr. Chhetri says my symptoms aren’t common for Eagles, at least.
He also mentioned about glossopharyngeal neuralgia due to my tension in the soft palate, but those aren’t the symptoms I have. I looked it up online and I don’t have any of those symptoms at all. I have discomfort in my throat on the right side, pain near the hyoid bone and cartilage—basically, the symptoms of hyoid bone syndrome.
So I’m waiting for his report in about a week to see what I’m going to do… I also asked him to refer me to Dr. Dewan after
He says that HBS surgery is easy, but it’s 50/50; some get relief and others nothing
That’s frustrating & confusing! I don’t know what he means by a neck scan not cervical either! A neck scan would cover the cervical vertebrae as well ?!
We do find that it does vary enormously with the doctors, even the experienced ones on our list, regarding what length they consider is normal, & often what symptoms they take notice of or ignore!
See what his report says, it’s not easy trying to get consultations organised for yourself, thinking of you
I don’t see the difference between a neck scan and a cervical scan either… to me it’s the same, I don’t understand… yes, I’ll look at the report and we’ll see what happens next… Thank you
What is the difference between Eagles syndrome and Stylohyoid syndrome? They noted that on the notes during the appointement.
(They noted intact tongue movement because I can stick my tongue out; in fact, I can move my tongue, but with difficulty because it pulls on my throat if I do that as if it wants to suffocate me..)
It’s just another term added to confuse people I think Basically Eagles syndrome is either elongated styloid processes and / or calcified stylo-hyoid ligaments, which sounds like it covers your situation… I think what they’re trying to stress is that it’s not so much the styloids themselves which are causing your issues but the stylo-hyoid ligaments. And it sounds like it may well be hyoid bone syndrome too, in that your hyoid processes are longer than average & causing symptoms… It’s just there’s alot of ignorance about ES , what it can or can’t be caused by & what symptoms it can or can’t cause.
I hope this helps make sense of it?
So maybe my problem is actually the calcified stylohyoid ligament on the right which is causing my symptoms, similar to Eagles’ and similar to hyoid bone syndrome, both ultimately?
I think i need ct scan with contrast to see better ..
It could be the stylohyoid ligament or just that Dr Chhetri is referring to your situation as styloidhyoid syndrome as a more general term until he has a definitive idea of what is causing your symptoms. I’m glad he hasn’t ruled anything out and has made good suggestions as to tests that may help clarify what the proper diagnosis is for you.
The problem is that in France, these injections aren’t available; they know nothing about HBS. I’ll simply have to have the CT scan with contrast. I also have an appointment with a neurologist for an EMG regarding my tongue
Basically Eagles syndrome is either elongated styloid processes and / or calcified stylo-hyoid ligaments, which sounds like it covers your situation… I think what they’re trying to stress is that it’s not so much the styloids themselves which are causing your issues but the stylo-hyoid ligaments. And it sounds like it may well be hyoid bone syndrome too, in that your hyoid processes are longer than average & causing symptoms… It’s just there’s alot of ignorance about ES , what it can or can’t be caused by & what symptoms it can or can’t cause.