For those who feel as though you are being poked in the throat....Just like so many of you,I have calcification of the stylohoid ligaments and elongation of the styloid processes. Just like so many of you, I suffered a long time feeling like something was stabbing me in the throat everytime I swallowed. After dozens of specialists, no one was willing to say that it was from ES! How can there be so many people with the same physiology and same symptoms and it's just a coincidence?!? I went back to an oral surgeon several times asking him to look again and reconsider. He said he found nothing and that I should see a neurologist for trigeminal neuralgia. I thought that was ridiculous-- CAN FEEL SOMETHING IN MY THROAT! The neurologist put me on Tegretol and after 2 days that feeling went away! It's been 6 months. It would have SWORN it was a bone and it turned out to be a sensation caused by irritation of one of the branches of the trigeminal nerve!! Not saying that ES didn't cause the nerve irritation, just saying that this felt like a hard solid object and it was not. It might be worth a try for many of you. I am by no means pain free, but it certainly helps a LOT!! I really hope this helps someone else. Best of luck toward being pain free.
ES is very rare and it’s not unusual for docs to not be familiar with it. We are a group of people with ES who have found each other However; if it were not for the internet we would be thinking we are the only one in the world with it. My doc said I was his 2nd patient in 22 years to have it. It is rare. Only 4% of the world population has an elongated styloid process. Fewer than that 4% actually have symptoms (Eagles Syndrome). I have not found a treating physician in the entire state of Michigan!
I read a lot of the back posts and apparently eagles syndrome can affect the various nerves coming off the brain stem. Glossophayrngeal (sp?) and trigeminal neuralgias are both side effects that a number of people have from eagles syndrome. So your pain is probably from the eagles syndrome. Several people seem to have help from the facial pain medications. We should start of list of all the various medications that help people. My doctor has me on neurontin and it doesn't help me at all but i know its helped other people.
Also…nerves are tricky things. Yes you can have nerve involvement that feels like a foreign body in the throat. Really doesn’t matter whether it’s an actual foreign body or a nerve reaction…it’s going to feel the same. This is also why they inject analgesics into the area and many get short term relief. Many people will not lead a life as normal as they would like without surgical intervention. I’m getting surgery on both sides June 3rd because it just keeps getting worse.