I was very lucky in that I stumbled into one of the best Eagle syndrome surgeon’s offices not knowing what was wrong with me, but I went to him because my fiancé already had seen him for other issues. I was having throat problems - pain and a weird stuck in throat feeling. He connected it to the headaches I was having, dizziness and other things. But it took over a year, various testing and trying different treatments to rule things out. I was started on a blood thinner eventually and my symptoms went away within hours… that was a huge confirmation for me. The jugular or other veins/arteries being compressed can actually cause a lot of pain which I obviously didn’t even realize before my diagnosis. I think it’s different for people who go in with an idea or existing imaging but thankfully I found a brilliant doctor who never gave up on me, figured it out and fixed me.
Some people are diagnosed in much less time than a year. the doctor @blossom saw is very thorough in his investigating & leaves no stone unturned which is a good thing especially w/ vascular ES.
The ENT I first saw (before I found this forum) happened to know about ES & tentatively diagnosed me immediately upon hearing my symptoms & feeling my styloid under my jaw. He sent me off for a CT scan. We reviewed the scan together in a week, & I was diagnosed. I booked surgery w/ him then found this forum & the list of other doctors who knew about ES & decided a second opinion would be a good idea. I was so thankful for that second opinion because the ENT I saw for round 2 was much more experienced w/ ES surgery & had a much better surgical approach than my diagnosing doctor. I cancelled my surgery w/ ENT #1 & scheduled w/ ENT #2. I had my first ES surgery w/in 2 mos of being diagnosed w/ ES.
I’m almost positive I can feel the same bone under my jaw but I second guess what I feel sometimes as I’m clearly not a doctor! If you had to describe the exact location of it what would you say it was?
I only discovered it because I am constantly trying to find relief in my jaw area and also the underside of my chin but more back towards my ear. I thought it was extremely strange I could feel anything pointing out in that area!
Mine was in the soft tissue inside the bend in my jawbone. Mine felt like a hard lump (L side), & I thought it was a salivary gland or lymph node w/ a problem. When I poked it, it caused pain down the front of my neck (don’t worry if this isn’t the case for you…). After I was diagnosed, I could feel that it was “ribbed”, & sure enough, in my 3D CT images I could see that my styloids had a “ribbed” look to them. I never felt a point. I could also feel my right one if I pressed firmly on the soft tissue behind my right ear lobe. So interesting!
That is exactly where I feel mine on the left side! I can’t wait to have a scan and find out if this is all correct speculating for myself.
I can’t remember the post I saw from this forum but there was a woman who logged all of her symptoms and doctor visits prior to her diagnosis and she mentioned swelling in her submandibular region and I’ve also been experiencing that. I wish I could find the post again but it was a very detailed log of her visit dates, type of doctor she saw, symptoms she was experiencing etc. It was a great reference to look at!
Hey Tjmhawk01,
You speak of that thing known as ‘Common sense’. The problem is that common sense isn’t actually that common at all. What one person may see as common sense, another may have no clue of. I have also found that often medical arrogance out trumps common sense at every turn, that attitude of ‘Well, I’m the dr, so I know. You? you’re just the patient, you wouldn’t know…’ and this (again) only serves to make us question ourselves BUT you know ‘you’ better than anybody and if something is amiss or not right, you have to speak up.
Back in '13 I needed (another, No.4) neurosurgery, so they operated and a week later I was sent home. Things weren’t great but I figured it’d take a while to settle/recuperate, so I waited. I saw my pcp and he just minimised it all as recovery symptoms, but I knew something was wrong. I was to have a neuro review 4weeks post surgery and my pcp recommended I wait until then. So I did.
When I saw the neuro he was furious, there was an issue, a serious issue and I should have been referred directly back to him as a priority. But to see him I needed a referral from my pcp. He told me directly ‘Get a new pcp’, which I’ve since done. It turned out that I did need further neurosurgery to correct the problem and the outcome… …let’s just say the outcome has been less than positive. Now I question myself again “Could the outcome have been better if I’d yelled and screamed a bit more???” It’s a question I’ll never get an answer for, but here we are 9yrs on and at times I do still wonder, what if?
You owe it to yourself, speak up.
Merl from the Modsupport Team
I’m wondering if anyone has had the feeling of wanting to gag due to the feeling of something stuck in tonsil area? These symptoms change but also remain the same? I don’t know. All I know is this is the weirdest I’ve ever felt and I just can’t wait to figure it out.
Yes, @Greenway22,
Gagging, hyper-salivation or dry mouth, excess mucous in the throat, post nasal drip, etc. are all possible ES symptoms. You can search posts about gagging using the magnifying glass icon in the upper right of this page.
I was able to get a picture of one of my X-rays prior to pregnancy at my chiropractors. I know that I need a CT to confirm ES. I don’t know the first thing about examining X-rays but am curious if that is my styloid I can see in this X-ray? Any input is appreciated!
Thank you for the confirmation 
That is what I assumed was it. Any ideas on if you can tell if it could be calcified, elongated etc?
Impossible to tell anything more from this, but it looks around 3.5-4 cm if I had to guess. My personal recommendation is to steer clear of any chiropractors, prolotherapy, or other alternative treatments until you can get a proper workup by a specialist familiar with Eagles - too much risk of making things worse and no hard evidence that those treatments help.
Do you believe that starting care with a chiropractor could have actually triggered my symptoms? I’m realizing now that my full blown symptoms didn’t start until October… which is when I got pregnant but I had started chiropractic care for the first time in my life starting July… just curious if anyone believes that could be a contributing factor?
If it makes any difference the chiropractor I go to uses the Webster technique and does not manipulate the neck by cracking it or anything.
It’s not impossible, any adjustments etc could shift things a little in your neck & bring the styloids into contact with nerves…I guess you’ll never know, & I think I mentioned before that it could be the ligaments relaxing because of pregnancy which altered things in your neck enough…How are you doing? 
Yes! You did. I’m doing ok. I have a lot of jaw and ear pain along with the feeling that something is constantly stuck in the left side of my tonsil. I am 34 weeks pregnant and at the tail end of this so I’m crossing my fingers the pain gets better. If not I can at least go get that CT scan to confirm what is going on so I can take action. I think the feeling of something stuck in my throat is honestly the worst thing to deal with. It’s driving me up a wall.
WOO HOO! Six weeks to go @Greenway22!! Not long to wait!
Yes, I was lucky & never had that, must be so annoying. Take care 
Curious to know if you can feel your styloid poking out below your jaw by your ear and also in your tonsil area?
Yes to both. I felt mine under my jaw on the left but could feel the right one in the soft area behind my earlobe. My ENT could feel both of mine in my throat. I didn’t want to stick my finger down as far as he did to see if I could feel them. 
I can feel mine on my left side in my jaw. It pretty
Much lines up straight down from where the start of my ear is. If that makes sense. I have issues on both sides but my left I can actually feel poking through my skin.