One of my first symptoms before I was diagnosed wit ES was numbness of the soft palate (I could drink and eat). It was almost the initial.
This happened to me after I was sleeping at an afternoon for an hour or two on my back.
I was to the ER they told me it is from snoring or it is a allergy. It is gone away after two/three hours completely. Six months later it happened again but slightly and after that I had difficulty in swallowing which the ENT always said it is just a slight soreness.
Has anyone of you had this or something like that?
Yes!!! I haven't seen anyone else on this forum have this problem. Mine is less soft palate & more an issue of my upper gums & the roof of my mouth randomly swelling & feeling tender. The tender feeling is like after you drink or eat something that's too hot. It lasts for a few minutes to a few hours then goes away. The first time it happened I thought it was a fluke, but now it's happened a bunch of times, & ES is the only thing I can attribute it to. I also have days where I have a hard time swallowing but this is not a constant problem & doesn't seem to coincide w/ the gum swelling. I'm sure it's ES related though since I can feel my styloid in my throat & in the back of my mouth w/ my finger. It's pressing on my tongue & impairing my speech & making it hard to eat (but that hasn't stopped me from eating ;). I'm getting my second styloid removed on 5/11 & hope these symptoms leave w/ the styloid!
Take heart, you're in good company! We do get the strangest side effects from those elongated styloids!
sometimes I have the feeling like numbness of soft palate. But constantly I have a pressure & pain localized on soft palate and upper teeth (jaw). It's feeling like drawing and stretching. Especially when bend my head (it's like sinus pain). Have You these similar symptoms?
When I saw the inquiry about the soft palate, I thought I would share my son's case, although different from these posts. The middle or maxillary branch of the trigeminal nerve effects the palate, sinuses, jaw, upper teeth, upper lip, etc. This nerve (to the best of my understanding) is not in the neck near the styloid process. However, there is a connection between the glossopharyngeal nerve and the Vagus nerve (some how they "connect the same brain stem nuclei" quote from the Reeves and Swenson textbook). The Vagus nerve is in the neck and does run near the styloid process. In my son's case, his soft palate actually pulsed up and down which pulled on the eustachian tubes causing an audible clicking sound in his ears (called palatal myoclonus). My son had ES and had his styloids removed. After the surgery, this tremor of the soft palate did subside and at times is quiet. I can not make the connection to the styloid process from my limited medical research (I am only a mom), but I can say that it has made a difference for my son. I should note that he also had a mass in his sphenoid which had to be removed and that was indeed pressing on the trigeminal nerve. If you have sensations that could be related to that nerve, perhaps an MRI of the brain is prudent if you already haven't had one. And get the results and read them for yourself as some of my son's findings were never communicated to us until years later. You have a right to view your own records. Be your own advocate.
I thought it’s important for differential-diagnoses.
Isaiah 40:31:
I consider it because it causes swallowing problems too. The Stylohyoid-ligament calcification is the most problem which is easier too feel.
I experienced that sometimes swallowing is worse than other times. It is difficult for me to differentiate it exactly.
Thank you… I am thankful for this group/community
It helps me a lot, since no one believes us.
I will tell my ENT about BensFriends and this group.
Ear Mom:
I had a closer look at the nerves and the arteries(blood supply) which can also be responsible for the numbness. It’s too complicated for us non-medicals. I could not really find out which nerve or arteries, which were near Stylohyoid or Stylohyoid-ligament and could cause this problem. The sources (open) are limited in www but I will try it again or I will ask the docs.
But you are right with your research it must be something related to the glossopharyngeal nerve and the Vagus nerve.
Or blood circulation(vascular ES).
I had a brain/Neck MRI and had a look but can not see/locate the nerves and arteries/veins.
Agnes:
Yes I have a lot of other symptoms. I have no more this numbness but I can not exactly realize it because I had a tonsillectomy and all things changed in my throat.
My soft palate is all the time tight perhaps of the tight scar tissue or even the ES!
Pressure on left ear, soft palate, to the temple and left eye which I think is the reason why I have always sever dizziness. And I have swallowing difficulties.
