Welcome to our forum @GeorgiaKay! You sure have a lot going on in your cervical spine & below! I’m really glad you’ve been referred to Drs. Hui/Hepworth. They are an excellent team for more complex cases which yours definitely is. I’m so sorry for your terrible symptoms & that you’ve been dismissed by a doctor who should have been much more interested in your case & could have learned something from it.
The mobile calcification on your dens is very interesting. Did Dr. Middleton comment whether he thinks it could be removed? Your C2 vertebra is also quite unique, & I can see why it could be causing problems. We haven’t seen either of those situations on this forum previously.
As far as your imaging goes, it looks like Dr. Middleton gave you a very thorough analysis. One thing he didn’t comment on is the section of calcified stylohyoid ligament on your left side. Even though your left styloid isn’t very elongated, it is pretty thick & the separate section of calcified ligament is pretty long which means it can also be contributing to your symptoms. Your right styloid due to angle of growth & how pointed it is makes it very prone to contributing to your symptoms.
It appears you’ve lost your natural cervical lordotic curve & it may even be slightly reversed which can happen as the body compensates for the other things going on in your cervical spine but is commonly the result of poor posture &/or spending a lot of time looking down at a computer, cell phone, book when reading, etc. This can also occur naturally from all the things we do in front of us like washing dishes, doing laundry & other housework. It’s a correctible situation w/ gentle exercises, but it takes a lot of time. Having a straight cervical spine brings the styloids & greater horns of the hyoid into closer proximity w/ vascular tissues & nerves in the neck though another speculation is that losing the curve can be the body’s way of trying to make more room for compressed jugular veins to reopen.
Our member @TML has also suggested that CCI/AAI can be caused by muscle compensations in the neck which occur due to styloid elongation i.e. the small muscles which support the cervical spine become weak which causes other muscles to need to take over, but they can’t do their natural job & provide normal neck support w/ full success. We have several members w/ CCI who are beginning to work on re-strengthening the weaker supportive neck muscles to see if that helps alleviate cervical spine instability over time.
You may find the information in the following post interesting, however, I think it’s best for you not to try to change anything w/ your cervical spine until you’ve had a consult w/ Drs. Hui/Hepworth.
Annotated left styloid/calcified stylohyoid ligament
Possible slightly reversed lordotic curve
