I've been trying to find the cause of this recurring neck pain I've been having for almost 3 years now. I went to see an ENT just over a year ago, had a scope done and a biopsy for a small mass I had in my throat and at the same time I was having pain in the front right side of my neck and going all the way up to my jaw. At that point I had been in pain for almost a year just doing regular family doc visits while waiting on my appt.
I remember saying over and over again "It feels like something is pushing out from inside my neck" - and it almost seemed like the doc would just smile and brush it off like I was imagining it, and focusing more on the thing he could see which was in my throat. I was also experiencing numbness in one side of my face when the pain was severe. The mass came back negative, but the doc still tells me he doesn't feel imaging is necessary. I also suffer from severe anxiety so questioning what a doctor says isn't normal for me, I just like to assume they know best at the time. However I do my own looking around quite often to get 2nd and 3rd opinions, I just don't like to create a confontation. Long story short, he tells me "he doesn't know" what the problem is, and sends me on my way saying I can come back if the pain persists.
Almost another year goes by, the pain getting almost unbearable at times because it is constant and nothing seems to give me relief. Not only that but the wonder of why I am in this pain and why does it affect so many different areas of my face and neck. Several days ago I finally get a 2nd ENT appointment after about a 3 month wait. Without thinking I just said I would take the same ENT as he had seen me before, hoping it would speed the process along. Same process I get a scope done, everything looks normal he says. He finally decides to see if he can feel my styloid (I'm assuming) I don't really know much about ES at this point.
Long story short, his final conclusion was he is "almost positive" I have ES, but he really doesn't know what it is by his own account. He tells me to go look it up on the internet.. something in the back of my mind is screaming "unethical" but I really can't be sure. Tells me it is when a nerve and muscle connect to each other (which I found out very quickly is not true) and proceeds to tell me to go home and take tylenol , that imaging again isn't necessary, and that the only solution is surgery and he doesn't recommend it. Then he says come back in 3 months if I'm still in pain. Funny, because he knows I've been in pain for over 2 years. I just feel stupid at this point, I'm planning to go to my family doc and ask to see a neck surgeon and hopefully get some imaging done while I wait.
It just feels like I could have diagnosed it myself if I kept on long enough - would anyone here file a complaint for that alone? Doesn't a doctor normally try to have the information on a diagnosis when they diagnose you?
(I'm living in Canada by the way if anyone can give me some tips/advice on how to proceed it would be very helpful, I feel so lost right now. Also, I can't decide if other pains or numbness I've been having in my right arm and other issues on the right side of my body to do with pain and numbness are also part of it)
Thanks for reading! ;)