Newbie here. Kind of diagnosed

Hi newbie here from New Zealand. I have literally today had confirmation of eagles and a severely compressed jugular vein. From Turkey as no one in nz will see me or tell me it’s, all in my head. Symptoms are pain in throat, tongue, roof of mouth. Lump in throat, pressure on throat prodominenty left sided. Numbness side of face pain running up jaw to ear. Pressure in head front and posterior. Tight clenched jaw. Severe neck pain. I had acdf c5 c6 almost 2 yrs ago with no real relief. Also have a compressed ulnar nerve, frozen shoulder, burstitus and carpal tunnel. So I’m a real mixed bag! I’m interested in how everyone has navigated this diagnosis and has anyone not gone down the surgical route. Looks likely. New Zealand is not a great place to live with complex conditions! Thanks for having me here.

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Unfortunately I don’t think many places are! I’m UK & there’s only one surgeon that we know of who does IJV decompression, & our NHS has really long waits…there’s no-one in Canada doing this surgery, 2 in Oz, & European members are having to travel too :roll_eyes:

Ultimately, surgery is the only ‘cure’, but there are some things which can help; if you have a head forward posture or loss of cervical lordosis (straight neck, lost it’s natural curve) then correcting this can sometimes help, here’s a link to anatomy info & exercises:

List of my favourite resources on YouTube to learn anatomy - General - Living with Eagle

I don’t know if these would be possible with your fusion though.

Some members have been prescribed blood thinners/ anti-coagulants which can help with the vascular symptoms, like Brilinta, Plavix… And there are some supplements which have been tried too, like Creatine, Citicoline, there’s info in here:

ES Information- Treatment: Pain Relief, Medications and Alternative Therapies - Welcome / Newbies Guide to Eagle Syndrome - Living with Eagle

Have you any symptoms of hypermobility? Lots of members have been diagnosed with connective tissue disorders, and it does seem to contribute to ES. Just that you mention shoulder and arm issues…

I’m sorry that it doesn’t look like there’ll be any chance of the surgery in NZ, Dr Aghayev has done lots of surgeries for members, here’s a link to a video he’s done about IJV compression in case you haven’t seen it:

A Review Of IJV Compression by Dr Aghayev - General / Research Papers - Living with Eagle

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