@Isaiah_40_31 thank you again for your helpful response. I went in to see my PCP last week. He is very busy but scanned the links you sent. We also went over your reply in this thread and he is was happy to order the dynamic CTA of neck with and without contrast. He said he suspects insurance will call him with questions but that he will do his best to present the case. Luckily, elongated styloid syndrome—which I have been diagnosed with—is an ICD code (which I didn’t know and it looks like it was added very recently) so he was able to add that to my chart for insurance.
He also recommended I try physical therapy. I’m planning to do so as I think my neck muscles have become very weak and unstable.
He agrees that continuing the muscle relaxers is the right thing for now since they’ve been so helpful. He also said he thinks propranolol (the beta blocker the neurologist prescribed) could be a good medication to try, but he understands my hesitancy. The reason for his tepid recommendation is due to me having a very high heart rate—118 bpm at my last visit, but usually it’s around 99—and propranolol does lower heart rate. The high heart rate is a new symptom for me that has arisen in the last 6 months or so and is quite distressing as I almost always have heart palpitations. I have had high blood pressure readings at doctors offices for a few years now as well, but no official diagnosis of hypertension. I’m still undecided about the propranolol and would be curious what your thoughts are.
For now, I am waiting to hear back about whether insurance approves the dynamic CTA and am going to call and schedule physical therapy appt. I’m very grateful that most of my pain symptoms seem to be 90% under control with the cyclobenzaprine muscle relaxer. I’ve even been able to go a few days without taking any pain free! My facial muscles perhaps have benefited the most (they usually have constant tension and pressure-like pain. Still some pressure but barely any tension!)