I thought I might share some of the supplements I take which seem to help with my symptoms, and see what everyone else has tried…
NOTE: not medical advice - talk to your doctor
Coconut Water - by far my most important discovery! Actually, my PCP suggested it as I’m frequently low on potassium and magnesium. I drink Harmless Harvest brand, each brand tastes a little different. This helps with muscle spasms and vertigo. I used to drink Gatorade but coconut water has no additives or preservatives and I think they changed the Gatorade formula- it was less helpful.
Lavender Oil - I have a diffuser and load it up every night. It helps me relax and sleep.
Ashwagandha - this has been shown to help manage stress hormones. I take a few Goli gummies a day, I think it helps.
Red Wine - just a glass or two. I don’t know the exact mechanism, but it will alleviate vertigo for me. More than a glass or two and I’ll feel worse.
Iron - I’m frequently anemic. I take “Mega Food Blood Builder”, it doesn’t upset my stomach.
I use coconut water also, I add a little juice to it. I also use body armor instead of Gatorade. It tastes so much better and the first ingredient is coconut water.
I like lavender oil to help with sleep. I have an eye pillow filled w/ dried lavender flowers. When it loses its scent, I pour out the flowers & mix them w/ some lavender oil to rejuvenate them. Even just having that scent on my nightstand is helpful.
I take a multivitamin (Phytomulti) that includes iron. Even though I’m not anemic, I find the iron in the vitamin gives me a little extra energy that I lack w/o it.
There is an aromatherapy oil that DoTerra sells called “tension Blend” that, for whatever reason, really helped my jugular compression headaches when I put it on my neck and temples. It comes in a roller ball and has an herbal smell but I didn’t mind it. High strength cbd cream on my shoulder and neck has helped me as well.
My doctor has me taking vitamin d, fish oil, vitamin c and zinc and something called NAC — he said this can improve vascular elasticity and general vascular health. He suggested it for my small aneurysm though, not for ES. Talk to your doctor obviously before just starting any of these things.
My theory of why I developed eagle syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and how they are related:
I lived and worked in an office (as a graphic designer) on an industrial mono-crop farm where the air quality was poor because of the constant spraying of chemicals and burning of toxic rubbish. This together with high-stress work, poor posture of the body at the desk and poor diet and lifestyle caused a high toxin burden on my body’s detox system. The endocrine system would then be disrupted and poor metabolism would set in. If my neck posture was poor and my muscles were stiff there and I had a magnesium deficiency(which is needed for muscle relaxation) it seems the ideal conditions for soft tissue in the neck to start calcifying.
Before learning about ES last year I didn’t know why I suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome. I knew something was not right in my neck but didn’t think much about how my lack of energy was related to that. Now I suspect I know. This elongated styloid which should not be there has been a source of constant inflammation, like a bullet/thorn in the body. This in turn caused an extra burden on my liver’s antioxidant function. This in turn caused me to lack energy for bodily exercise and sleep. If I did do exercise like strength training or Heaven forbid aerobic exercise, I would suffer days of chronic tiredness and disrupted sleep. It would take a long to recover from this and my neck would feel much worse. This could be explained by the fact that exercise releases compounds/molecules in the body like free radicals that the liver’s antioxidant function would need to neutralise. If the liver was already overburdened by the ES, then the only way to respond would be to take the energy away from you so that the liver can replenish its nutrients.
I believe many can find relief from symptoms as I did by taking a NAC supplement and paying attention to their diet, endocrine disruptor-free environment which includes one’s circadian rhythm.
Perhaps this is too early to tell but in the last 48 hours, I’ve taken 4x NOW Foods NAC 600mg tablets and experienced much more tolerance to exercise and better sleep. I was very productive yesterday. WOW. It is also very economical. I don’t know how often I’ll use this but will try it when my energy is low.
Don’t understand this post as me saying NAC fixed my “eagles syndrome”. I was never officially diagnosed with it but know it from feeling the elongated styloid process in my neck and experiencing symptoms associated with it.
An elongated styloid process or calcified neck ligaments seems only a problem when it causes you to have symptoms. There are many people with the elongated styloid process with no problem and who lead productive lives. When it is established that it does cause a problem like interfering with nerves or blood flow or muscles then it is named “eagle syndrome” and many do find relief through surgery. Surgery is not always the solution and can make things worse because of the very complex area being operated on.
Glad you’ve found something to help you! We do caution people that there are risks to surgery, as you mention, but it is usually the only ‘cure’- members have found temporary improvements with some treatments, but often the symptoms get to the point where quality of life is affected so badly that it’s worth taking that risk…
@tdvstr - Thank you for sharing your self-analysis & diagnosis (when we have ES, we are often better diagnosticians for ourselves than the doctors we see). Like you, I like to try to figure out what causes certain problems in my body. It’s clear you’ve really thought your situation through & what you say makes sense. We have found the potential causes of ES to vary from person to person i.e. for some it comes from a head/neck injury, & for others, hormone imbalance, genetic predisposition, scar tissue from surgery in the throat/neck area & someone recently suggested orthodontia & the forces it puts on teeth to move them thus changing jaw alignment which can in turn cause skull base stress leading to styloid elongation/s-h ligament calcification. Thus, your speculation the poor posture/stress could have caused yours to onset makes a lot of sense.
Surgery gave me my life back. I’m one of those who was willing to risk all to feel better & it was a good “gamble” for me. I had bilateral ES & two surgeries (1 for each side).
I hope the NAC keeps helping you. Ultimately, a CT scan of your neck from skull base to hyoid bone should give you the information you need as to whether or not you have ES (though you said you could feel your elongated styloid, which isn’t uncommon).
