Hello Everyone, I’m excited to be here and thank you for letting me be apart of your group. It has been an utterly long & exhausting journey.
Here’s my story—after a car accident I was experiencing:
Vision Problems (having trouble focusing/seemed like my peripheral vision was off), balance issues, brain fog (thought it was due to stress/eye related and worked with an optometrist.) Right arm weakness/hand tremors when trying to do tasks that required a steady hand.
About 5 months later, intense tension headaches on the right—neck pain that started on the right then affected the left.
For about 7 month after that, I was dealing with facial pain, ear pain, sinus pain, some hearing changes & more neck pain. It started gradually and then intensified. I was also experiencing facial asymmetry.
Then came the Urgent Care/ER visit (2023), I left a TMJ specialist (I did a bunch of chomping with my jaw to test for the disorder). After I left, it felt like I went into shock…everything seemed brighter and disorienting. I had muscle weakness that radiated down my throat/numbness in my mouth. I was unable to close my jaw without using hand and thought it may have come out of socket. I couldn’t talk without holding my jaw up. I had increased chronic pain, muscle tremors in jaw with pain going down my neck. ------Urgent Care dismissed me and told me to go to the ER if I happens again—went to the ER later that day, they prescribed me flexeril and sent me on my way. The next day, I went to the dentist—I got a panoramic X-Ray. But he dismissed me and told me to go back to the TMJ specialist.
3 months after this, I went back to the dentist for a follow up. We finally went over the X-ray, he told me that everything was fine. But he neglected to tell me about an impacted upper right wisdom tooth until I pointed it out.
Then comes more neck, right shoulder, jaw, facial pain. I was feeling more pressure and irritation along my right temporalis.
3 months later, I went to an Oral and maxillofacial surgeon to get the wisdom tooth removed. I felt amazing after the removal..but that didn’t last long. About 1 month after, I was experiencing nerve pain in my eyebrows and along my scalp. My eyebrows and head felt twisted/compressed with chronic headaches as well as bilateral shoulder pain. 
It gets more complicated with hypermobility syndrome (which was undiagnosed at that time) and some other things that can mask/overlap with ES. But I’m going to leave those out because it just makes things more complicated.
In 2025, I had 2 incidents that lead me to the ER. I was doing a self adjustment with my head/jaw to relieve my constant head pressure. The feeling I felt this day was the same feeling I had in 2023. But without my jaw falling off and muscle tremors. It was more of a decompression feeling. Along with postnasal drip and the feeling of a lump in my throat when I swallowed.------At the first ER, I received a head and brain CT scan. They said everything looked fine. My partner and I went to a restaurant for a quick bite to eat. As I was eating, I started feeling like I was in shock, disoriented, everything seemed brighter, when he was talking to me his voice sounded like it was coming from across the room but he was in front of me. So we headed to another ER, they admitted me. I received a CTA HEAD WWO CONTRAST and CTA NECK WWO IV CONTRAST. I stayed over night and the doctor recommended me to see a neurologist for possible post concussion.
The next month, I went to an oral surgeon. To check if there was a residual cyst from the wisdom tooth removal— Panoramic X-Ray didn’t show one
About 3 months after deep diving into what could’ve cause this I came across Eagle syndrome. I went to see an ENT, asked him to check the CTA (from the ER) for Eagle syndrome specifically the stylohyoid ligament because my symptoms seemed vascular. The interpretation showed—IMPRESSION: Bilateral calcified stylohyoid ligaments, measuring up to 3.3 cm in length on the right and 3.0 cm in length on the left, resulting in mild effacement of the proximal right internal jugular vein and moderate effacement of the proximal left internal jugular vein. No arterial compression is seen. The overall constellation of findings is nonspecific, but could be seen in the clinical setting of Eagle syndrome.
I made another appointment with the ENT, he did tests. My symptoms were a numb and dull pain at the time. He dismissed me and said it wasn’t ES because my pain wasn’t sharp and shooting.
Saw a neurologist, he diagnosed functional neurological disorder.
Fast forward to 2026, I went to see Dr. Schindler at OHSU. He interpreted the CTA: The right styloid process is 30.2 mm long and the left is 24.1 mm long. while some overlap with Eagle’s Syndrome-- in total are not consistent with elongated styloid processes. The foramen ovale is partially visualized. The temporomandibular joints appear to have thin cartilage.
His assessment: She does have laxity of the temporomandibular joints bilaterally with ability to sublux these with minimal. She is concerned that she could have calcification along the stylohyoid ligaments causing compression. I don’t see this on the prior CT angiogram, but this could be repeated. I do not believe that she has Eagle’s Syndrome or a vascular compression syndrome. I believe that her symptoms are more consistent with trigeminal neuralgia. She has some laryngeal hyperfunction and muscle tension dysphonia, but I think that these are secondary to her symptoms rather than creating them.
I have another appointment with him in October for a dedicated CT scan of the neck.
The reason I’m adamant about ES, is because comparing 2023 symptoms and 2025 ER visits, it adds up. The only images I have are panoramic X-rays to compare and they both (at least to me) look like possible ES. With noticeable crowding of the teeth before and after the wisdom tooth removal. I also dug up an old X-ray from before the accident to use as a baseline—there’s less teeth crowding and no sign of possible ES on that one also I had no symptoms then.
Also, I’m popping something behind my back molars on both sides and when I pop them it relieves the head/face pressure I’m experiencing. Dr. Schindler said it could be the Pterygoid hamulus. Regardless, I’m still popping them because that’s the only thing that’s helping. I’m also working with an acupuncturist that uses a long needle twisting and pulling technique that is helping relieve some of the tension as well.
Somethings I’m wondering :
Since I was experiencing facial asymmetry after the accident. Could the styloid process have angled that high?
Some research I found stated that removing the impacted upper right wisdom tooth —removes the direct irritant but not the already elongated styloid process or the adapted neural pathways.
Would length matter if it’s angled? Could the removal have caused the process to angle more and not show up on the CTA?
Is the dedicated CT scan of the neck in October going to be enough?
Shouldn’t the styloid process and stylohyoid ligament be calculated together? How does that even work?
Thank you for reading and I hope bolding the text on certain sections makes it easier (everything was blending together so I had to do it lol). I’d appreciate any advice or recommendations y’all might have. 
Thank you for explaining all of that! Your points are so valid. I couldn’t mentally do any more research, but I will definitely look into Dr. Osborne. It was disappointing that he didn’t agree, but at least he was nice.
the information Jules and Isaiah gave has put my mind at ease. I’ve been hesitant to see another provider but it’s amazing what words of encouragement can do.
