Newly Diagnosis and Have a Lump

Symptoms and Treatments
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I was diagnosed with Eagle Syndrome today. Here’s how that went down . I live in South Korea, disclaimer.

I had a bad case of strep throat and tonsillitis over a month ago. 2 general ENTs gave me different antibiotics and it was a struggle to get over it. After 2 weeks, my left tonsil was fine, but my right tonsil and underneath in my neck were bugging me. Had a lump there. Still do. Multiple antibiotics and a steriod injection didn’t help the right side pain and swelling and lump.

Got a referral to a university hospital that is the equivalent of the Cleveland Clinic in my area to see an ENT there. Between the second general ENT and the hospital ENT, the pain in the right side of my neck got so bad it would wake me up every night and exhausted me. The pain would come and go and radiate into my jaw, ear, neck, shoulder, and or chest. It hurt so bad, almost as bad as the gall bladder problems I had a few years back. I thought it was an infected lump node or an oversized tonsil stone my body couldn’t pass.

The hospital ENT did a nasal endoscopy. No signs of infections or abscesses or anything like that. Knew of the lump and was worried about the pain. He said it was either an abcess that was outside of my tonsil, a quinsy, or eagle syndrome.

He ordered a blood test and CT scan. Blood test showed no infection and the right side had a longer than natural styloid prcess. He put me on neurontin for the nerve pain and I see him in two weeks to discuss surgery. He thinks the last bout of tonsillitis triggered this, but like possibly it could have been there under the surface and asymptomatic like my whole life.

I am confused why the lump is there though. Is that normal? Could in be a swollen lymph node left over from the tonsillitis? What questions should I ask the hospital ENT when I see him? The surgery sounds scary with all the nerves in that area. I want to meet with next time not in a panicked about to cry state like I was today, but rather a patient that should be convinced it is worth my while to remove one of my tonsils, a legiment, and a piece of bone from my neck.

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Ask

  • how close he plans to cut the styloid to - in general cutting as close to your skull as possible reduces the need for another surgery.
  • do they plan to monitor nerves during surgery? This can help prevent further nerve problems but they will likely still be stretched a bit.
  • is the surgery going to be internal or external? There are people on this site that have had both. Each has benefits and risks, recovery is different as well.

That’s all I can think of but please keep in touch as you move forward! If you decide to move forward with surgery there are lots of great tips on this site.

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Quite a few members have had enlarged lymph nodes in the styloid area, ES does cause alot of inflammation, so it could be that.
I’d already sent you a private message with suggestions as to what to ask your surgeon, & anharris has given you good info too. If you want to know about recovery after surgery, if you use the search function to look for ‘what to expect after surgery’ it’ll come up with lots of dicussions which hopefully will help!
It is a daunting surgery, & there are risks, but with an experienced surgeon generally most of us are glad we did it!

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Hi, I’m new here, first day. Just wanted to say I also have a lump in my neck and it feels like something is stuck as well. My ENT said I had a case of thrush. I did take antibiotics and steroids for a month but the lump is still present. It helps if I gargle warm salt water and/or baking soda water. Hope you find relief soon!

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