Does anybody else have a choking/tightness feeling on one side along with difficulty swallowing and chronic cough? I always feel like something is swollen or blocking my throat on the right side and lately while I'm eating it feels like it's hard to swallow and I feel like I can't keep eating after a few minutes. Like maybe swallowing during a meal is somehow making things worse and causing inflammation/swelling? I also seem to have a chronic cough but it is more like a cough that I am forcing myself to do because it feels like I need to since something is always blocking my throat vs. the usual kind of "tickle" cough like you have when you are sick. I also have occasionally ear pain on the right side when I turn my head certain ways. No other pain though. No constant pain or pain in the neck, etc.
I seem to always feel like my throat is sore / hoarse on the right side as well even though the doctors never see anything.
I just had a bronchoscopy last week since these symptoms make me feel like I am short of breath but that came back totally fine along with completely clear chest and neck CT scans.
I've been told by one ENT that he can see where the right side styloid ligament is calcified some but he said he would only put surgery at a 50/50 change of fixing the issue so I am still debating if that's worth going through without being sure it's the problem. My styloid processes seem to both be regular/short so if anything it is the ligament itself.
Any thoughts? Do these symptoms without pain seem like they could be caused by the calcified ligament? It's to the point where I'm barely able to function because I constantly feel like I'm choking even when not eating so I may pull the trigger and have the surgery, but I'm just concerned that the surgery won't fix anything and I may end up with even more problems from scar tissue or other complications.