Hi Newuserhere,
You sent the image below earlier in this text thread. I marked w/ arrows where I thought your segmented styloid is, but I could be wrong. This is a good one to show your PCP. It does sound like your PCP doesn’t know about ES, & maybe she hasn’t responded to you because she’s doing some research to learn about it. We have links to published research articles. There is a tab for some of them under the General heading on the home page. You could print one or more to give to your PCP when you have your physical.
As far as your tight muscles go, when you have nerve irritation, your muscles can tense up as a response but the reverse is also true, if you have tense muscles, your nerves can become trapped & cause pain so it’s a “which came first, the chicken or the egg” question. You could ask your PCP for a referral for physical therapy to help w/ your neck & shoulder muscles. I suspect getting those muscles to relax will help at least some of your pain to go away or minimize. Getting a diagnostic CT scan for ES would also be helpful, but perhaps the PT would help enough that you don’t need to worry about ES for the time being.
I’m glad you’re waiting on the MRI. You can ask your PCP about the dye used & what she knows about short & long-term side effects. You can also ask her what she knows about Carbamazepine & how long it might take to help you. Some of those medications have to build up in your body before working & that can take a week to a month depending on the dose you’re taking.
Your tooth may be sore for a few days after getting your crown. Please do let us know how you feel once it’s been on for several days.
Here’s a link to a list of articles that may be helpful for you to share w/ your doctor: