Shalom melisyte, Welcome to this blog. I suffered with ES for 17 years. Never had a diagnosis until I moved from Houston, TX. to Oklahoma City, OK. After much prayer, I went to a university based physician at OU Physicians. University of Oklahoma, Dr. Greg Krempl was the one who finally diagnosed me back in 2004 after going to so many doctors in Houston.
Dr. Krempl is on the list of physicians who know about ES on this Blog’s list of doctors. He referred me to Dr. J Runkle in Norman, OK and it is he who did my surgery. Now that you have been properly diagnosed, you need to hunker down and have the surgery to cut out all of the calcified ligaments. That is the only way I had closure with the pain.
Was it a hard surgery??? You bet, it was! I thought I had made a mistake but, after sleeping upright for about 4 months, my salivary glands going crazy, I survived it. For me it was a long recovery because I am a diabetic and we heal much slower than most. I will tell you, I was so scared of having more pain but, once I got through it, it was the best decision I made. I was literally dying with poking, scrapping in my throat.
Once I had the surgery, I was able to eat, swallow, and just have a better quality of life. In January, I will go to see Dr. Krempl for the first time since 2004. The reason for the visit is because, I want to thank him for saving my life and also to have him check to make sure it never calcifies again. My insurance finally put OU into being covered. Unfortunately, sweet Dr. Runkle passed back in 2012.
I believe that physicians attached to a teaching University are the best physicians to diagnose you because they do research, there is much money invested in new research. I had been a devoted hospital system in Houston and when I first got to OKC and they would not refer me to physicians outside of their systems. I finally cried out to my gynecologist’s wife and she spoke to my hero, Dr. Dean Carpenter of Mercy Hospital in OKC, and HE is the one who referred me to OU Medical. I went to the OU Otorhinolaryngology Clinic. A gynecologist!!! So, OU took the referral and it is there that I finally got diagnosed, had the surgery, and my life was saved.
I hope you do the surgery. There is a huge risk but, living in this pain is not life at all.