Clicking in the throat can be more serious than we think. In some cases, this can be a symptom of a neurological disorder that affects the tissue, such as Parkinson’s disease.
Apart from this, it can also be caused by the growth of the thyroid gland. In these cases, you will eventually stop hearing the clicking and the condition will go away on its own.
My thoughts on this, could it be something wrong with the thyroid gland ?
Some Norwegian studies is discussing the growing or enlargment off the thyroid gland, and it will cause symptoms, specially if it touches your oseophagus.
Thank you for that Jules! If I continue getting nowhere with the doctors here, then I will definitely look for an online second opinion. I’m slightly concerned about privacy issues, so any personal recommendations are greatly appreciated!
Thank you Henrik, that last study is interesting. I do have a 1.5cm benign nodule in my left side thyroid. My father had thyroid cancer, so that was the first suspect they ruled out! But whether that itself had caused an imbalance upstream or not, I am unsure. Dad had a thyroid cyst drained at about this age to help him with dysphagia but unfitness it didn’t make much difference for him.
I have not suffered any trauma to the throat that I can recall. Unless it was 40 years ago and I was a kid!
I am having a steroid injection tomorrow to see if that calms possibly inflamed ligaments or musculature. I’m really scared of the procedure, but I know that if it doesn’t work, then that’s another thing to rule out.
Maybe I’ll have to add Norway to my list of medical vacation destinations!
Hope that helps ! Give us an update off how it turns out.
I will add that thyroid gland can become calcified and also my father had hyperthyroidism in his 30-40’s wich then led to some enlargement off the thyroid gland, just a thought
When they did rule out the nodule, did you take some ultrasound ?
And also do you have had your tonsils removed ?
Fun fact: In Norway, enlargement off the thyroid gland is often refered as “Struma”. As kids we often were told by the elders that we could end up having this if we didn’t eat enough fish so we were terified and made sure we ate fish
There are very good doctors here, specially in the private sector! I would highly reccomend one in Aalesund, ENT specialist Dr. Oddvin Bjorge. I bet he would give you an online consultation
Bit of an update here. The steroid injection did nothing. Sigh… There was relief from the clicking while the muscle was paralysed by anaesthetic but i also couldn’t talk! So that’s not really an option! My GP had requested a dynamic swallowing CT in consultation with the head of ENT radiology in my state. Entirely experimental, and based off a publication from Japan last year. That i has sent to him. Unfortunately the swallowing CT had movement artefact so didn’t provide the information they had hoped. I’m yet to pop the scan into a 3D viewer but will aim to do that before my Friday appointment. At this point I’m about to say to them all, OK I’ve listened to you all for 6 months, now it’s your turn to listen to me!! Anyone else get frustrated to this point!?
I’m sorry the steroid injection didn’t help you, @F_t. We’ve read about the whoe gamut of results from those over the years - from great pain relief for months, to pain relief for a few days/weeks, to no pain relief, to making symptoms worse.
The swallowing CT makes some sense if there is a workable protocol for that. I see from your results that it is an inexact science still based on the issue of movement during the swallow not allowing for a clear image of what’s happening. I wonder how they managed to get fixed position swallowing images via CT in Japan?
I think it’s fair for you to tell them you’ve “jumped through their hoops”, now you’d appreciate it if they’d listen to your input & plan for how to proceed.
The Japanese professor told me it’s 15000 images that they take for a single swallow and takes the team months to analyse. That’s some serious work up!!
Sorry @Henrik I didn’t reply! I have not had my tonsils out, no, could they be causing the clicking!? Had my wisdom teeth out 20+ years ago, that’s it.
The thyroid nodules have been ruled out as causative. They were detected by ultrasound last year but apparently weren’t a worry.
I have a doctor on my list to contact in Germany, one on my list to contact in Amsterdam, and thank you for an additional one to contact in Norway! I can do a European tour of medical institutes! If only i could handle the 20 hour flight to get there.
So sorry that the steroid injection didn’t help you, and that there was an artefact on the CT so that’s not helped either
I think you’ve definitely earned the right to ask them to listen!
Slight update on this thread because i moved to another discussion thread for clicking larynx syndrome. Surgery is done, and all good except for a slight residual click at the front which may or may not diminish over time. May need a second surgery for slight adjustment, but the surgeon i have found in Perth, Australia is great and I’m sure he will listen to me and accommodate. Can i ask the mods, who do i contact to add my doctor’s name to the list? For anyone in Australia needing surgery or wanting to make the trek downunder on maybe like a medical holiday? I’m sure there are closer places for most of you!
@F_t - You can add the doctor’s name & contact information to any post you write w/ a note you’d like it added to our Doctors List & either @Jules or I will add it for you.
Thank you @Isaiah_40_31 and @Jules ! Contact details are Dr Richard Lewis, ENT, in Perth, Australia. He has done two superior thyroid cornu resections (one for clicking larynx, one for veinous compression), hyoid bone resections for various reasons, and has in the past done Eagle Syndrome. A lovely man as well.
Though as I’ve said, Perth, Western Australia is pretty far for most of you all!
I’m in Western Australia too.
I havn’t caught up with your latest thread but I hope this finds you well and in good spirits and recovery.
Can you please share with me the doctor/s that provided you steroid injections into hyoid bone?
I am need of injections into my stylomandibular ligument in my jaw and possibly the hyoid bone to remedy what I believe is Ernest Syndrome and or Hyoid Bone Syndrome.
I see you mentioned Dr Richard Lewis ENT. Did he provide you with injections or surgery.
I’m sure there are closer places for most of you!