Does anyone had this kind of symptoms? I had a neck fusion on C5-C6, and have kyphosis instead of lordosic in my cervical spien. Also litlle herniated disc on C4-C5 level but after the surgery everything is fine, at least that is what my neurosurgeon said. There is theoretically nothing in my spine that can cause this kind of symptoms. I had plenty of mri's (head and neck) and of course have pretty destroyed cervical spine but somehow I feel that everything, everyone of my symptoms is from my elongated styloid which is diagnosed by my radiologist - CT scan.
Tomorrow I have an apointment with otolarygologist who might do the surgery and want to be prepared. :)
This numbnes and streght loss i strange, I got it in my right arm and right leg, it's different than that I had in my left arm ( because of c5-c6 herniated disc ), it's more like streght loss, it's somehow like TIA ( at least similar, as I've read about it ), but I don't have drop attakck, and hemiparesis, and it's not a sudden feeling ( not only when I'm turning my head to right side ), it's more permanent.
My other symptoms:
1.headaches
2.one sided headaches
3.headache with aura
4.pain in the eye
5.pain behind my eye
6.cliking sound on my right side of the neck ( my neurosurgeon said that he never heard about eagle syndrome, and there is nothing more to do with my neck right now, but my it's possible that elongated styloid might touch part of my spine at C1-C2 level and also some nerves and blood vessels )
7. sometimes hyper sensitivity for sound in my right ear (hyperacusis)
8. neck pain ( marked on photo )
and more
wierd tingling on my forehead to the corner of my eye ( sometimes I got lazy eye )
Your symptoms definitely sound like they could be caused by Eagle's. You have a pretty long styloid on that side. Out of all of your symptoms you have, I have the headaches and the pain in the neck where you do. I have a dropped shoulder on the affected side and some weakness in that arm (no numbness). Depending on the exact size and shape of the styloid, symptoms will vary according to what structures they are impinging on. This can also be affected by things such as posture and sleeping positions. You should definitely consider finding a specialist with some Eagle's experience to discuss surgical options.
My son had clicking noise on the right side of his neck too. He would describe it as a scraping or sometimes a loud cracking sound. since his styloidectomy, that is gone. He had many other symptoms, but since you said they are skeptical of that one symptom, I thought I would share that my son had that too (and after surgery, it is gone.) And I have read of others with pain behind their eyes.
Hi again. I had so many appointments and still don't know, they are not sure, because I had neck fusion and couple more things. I'm so confused and tired, because I'm not the one who supose to know what to do, doctors should know, and I really can't find any doctor here who will be sure and make me sure that everything will be all right, and that he or she did this kind of procedure sucsessfully. :/
My symptoms sound similar to what you report. Have you ever seen an opthalmologist regarding your eye pain? I have had disc swelling called papilodema. Its caused by raised pressure in the skull which is caused by insufficiency in blood flow go my brain caused by obstruction of the Styliod bones. Hope you can find someone to help you. I first went to the doctor 7years ago and a week ago I had the styliodectomy. Its been a long journey!
If I may ask, how are you now? Are you symptom free now? Does surgery helped for this eye problem? How they get to the point that you have raised pressure in the skull? Did measure it somehow? Did you had also raised pressure in your eye? Mine is normal, that's why they don't know ( I mean doctors ).
I had eye symptoms, pain on movement, stabbing pains, I saw an opthalmologist who looked in the back of my eye and saw swollen disks which is an indicator of raised pressure within my skull. They organised a lumber puncture and measured raised pressure then and diagnosed me with IIH or idiopathic intracranial hypertension. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension, basically means raised pressure in the skull without a know cause, and it has taken 7years and being brave and turning my back on my old doctors in pursuit of new doctors to find the cause of my IIH, which they did when they found my styliods were impinging
on the bloodflow from my brain.
As for symptoms now, I would say its too early to comment because you replace one lot of symptoms with some new ones created by the operation and all the nerves that are affected. However I am hopeful, Already I have notice less dizziness and vertigo, less eye pain and less headache, less pulsatile tinnitus too, but it really is to soon post operatively to decide on the success.
However I have had a repeats ctv with contrast that proves blood flow has improved following the removal, but whether that makes enough of a difference symptoms wise I am not sure as I still have virtually no flow on the otherwise where I haven't had my styliod removed. Hope this helps.
Brain surger, Did the IIH come and go or was it always high? I am going to see if the neuro can do a spinal tap on my and check for this as I have so many symptoms of it. I have all the eagles symptoms also. I have been to an eagles surgeon who will do surgery and did an MRA and said the styloid is close to my carotid artery but I have no damage to the artery. She did not check the veins and I did not know to ask. Did you need to have your vein reinflated? I am concerned if I have the eagles surgery without identifying if there is a vein problem and I do have one, they will just have to go back in to reinflate the vein.
I have told the surgeon I want to put off the surgery until I also see a neuro because I also have many symptoms of occipital neuralgia and I am certain I have this. I recently found out it can also cause dizziness like I am having. It is a different type of dizziness than I have had in the past. I am hoping to not have multiple surgeries so want to hone in on what is going on and if it may be multiple problems. I am going to ask the neuro to refer me for trigger point injections to see what is coming from the occipital neuralgia and what is coming from something else. I am also going to ask him to do a spinal tap to check for IIH. At this point, as long as the vein does not need reinflation doing surgery I am thinking to maybe just have the eagles syndrome and see if it works. I just don't want to have two seperate surgeries for this. any suggestions?
BTW I hope you are feeling better and your hearing has returned. I am completely deaf in my same side ear from sudden deafness 15 years ago. That is usually autoimmune but mine was not. I had a baha implant done years ago and had numbness that took about a year and a half to recover. My surgeon said sometimes a peripheral nerve gets tweeked when you do surgery on the head but they typically recover it just takes a long time
In the uk they are two separate procedures anyway from a safety point of view. 12 weeks after the styliodectomy they will go back and look at the bloodflow and see if the plan is a. Leaving it b. Venoplasty, which is the balloon to open the narrowing or c. Stent which is a small spring like structure to hold open the vein.
personally I would like the other styliod removed first and see if that gives me enough flow without stenting, but may ultimately not get relief until I had stents as the veins have been crushed for so long and are floppy apparently, so they may not stay open.
If you have raised intracranial pressure it will measure high all the time but there is still fluctuation, for example everybodies icp is highest in the morning after being laid down all night, if you do have raised icp you may have swelling at the back of your eye that needs a specialist opinion.
Exact same symptoms as you…began about a month after c5c6 ACDF …except mine is left sided. Left styloid measures 5cm. Medially deviated. Right styloid 2.5 cm. which is normal length. Constant feeling of “about to stroke out” only on side with elongated styloid. It has taken over 3 years from my neck surgery to find my elongated styloid. Found at Cleveland clinic ENT. Dr refused to to do surgery wanted to put me on an antidepressant for symptoms…that was after he explained to me surgery is not always a success and low dose of anti depressant would help with the pain. I asked point blank you are going to explain the whole surgery to correct the problem to me then offer me a drug instead? I walked out threw his script in the trash on the way out of his office came home frustrated and made an appointment with another ENT who “seems to get” my frustration. She is currently checking a few other things out. MRI TO rule out GPN. if MRI is all good plans are to schedule the stlyloidectomy next week. KEEP PRAYING SHE WILL NOT BACK OUT ON ME. WHY ARE SURGEONS SO RELUCTANT TO DO THIS SURGERY…?
