ES Information- Treatment Available For ES: Pain Relief
Disclaimer: These answers to common questions were put together for new members to gain a head start in finding information about Eagle Syndrome; to give you confidence to discuss issues with your medical team and to encourage you to research issues further for yourselves. It was compiled by a volunteer Moderator, who does not claim to be a medical professional, merely an informed observer and patient! The sources used are personal experiences, LivingWithTheEagle members’ experiences, and research from professional publications (some of the articles can’t be read fully unless subscribed to). Many thanks to heidemt for her research and contribution, and for her example of being your own advocate and not giving up. Members are encouraged to seek medical opinion and these pages are not intended to replace that. Members are also encouraged to research more for themselves- there is more research available but with the limitation of time and neck pain, this was the best that I could do! Past discussions are useful sources of info as well; search whatever the subject is, and you’ll often find someone who’s been through it too!
Medication:
It depends on what is causing the pain, but if ES is causing nerve pain, for example GPN or TN then either anticonvulsant or antidepressant medication can help at low doses.
Some of these medications are:
+Tegretol (Carbamazepine),
+Trileptal (Oxcarbazepine),
+Neurontin (Gabapentin),
+Lamotrigine,
+Topiramate,
+Elavil (Amitriptyline),
+Nortriptyline or
+Lyrica.
These should be started at low doses, and gradually increased to find effectiveness, and it can take a little while and possibly mixing and matching to get pain relief.
For good advice on nerve pain medications, have a look at the Ben’s Friends TN site, http://www.livingwithtn.org/page/medication-possibilities
SnappleofDiscord also found using Lidocaine patches on painful areas can help:
I believe that you can also get Lidocaine mouthwash too, which might possibly be helpful to those with a lot of tongue burning/ pain. (Can be difficult to obtain in the UK though).
Some members have also found muscle relaxant medication such as Baclofen can sometimes help.
Opioid drugs such as Percodan, Percocet, or Vicodin might help, but often doctors are understandably reluctant to prescribe these.
You can read about the side effects of almost any medication in common use through sites such as RxList.com.
Steroid Injections:
Transpharyngeal injections of steroids and lignocaine, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or local anesthesia with long-term effects can be used on the tonsil or tender areas. Members have reported mixed results with these; sometimes they can help ease the pain if members have found the right surgeon. These injections can only be given a few times though, and the length of time they work for can vary.
In the article Transoral Surgical Resection of Bilateral Styloid Processes Elongation (Eagle’s Syndrome), by Bahurudin, Rohaida, Khairudin, 2012, the authors state: ‘Even though medical treatment using analgesic or local steroid injection is an option, the condition is not yet proven to be well treated or resolved’. (Reference to Kishore Chandra Prasad M, Panduranga Kamath K, Jagan Mohan Reddy, Krishnam Raju, Saurabh Agarwal. Elongated Styloid Process (Eagle’s Syndrome): A Clinical study. J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2002;60:177–175).