Hola community .I hope you are able to provide some guidance. its still unclear to me how dr hep addresses this and i understand that every case is different, but would be really helpful if someone that had a succesful story could wouldnt mind sharing what was done ,. does the calcified ligaments stay or get removed? do you go in w/ a very specific plan before surgery and did it radically changed? did you had a c1 shave that wasnt planned ? i somewhat understand the concept of “we’ll have to cut you open to see whats going on”, but at the same time would like to know stories of treatment ,ideally succesful but open to all . im quite confused as" moving nerves from the jugular" or even if hyoid resection involvement .Assuming most of the people that had success, dont stay in these forums, but I hope someone might want to kindly share theirs. its very hard to get ahold of anyone.Also, l if someone that especially had a lot of gi issues(extreme acidic salivation ) and crunching/cracking if those stopped or if those were more of a cervical issue and also if someone had numbness on their upper palate almost like glossopharyngeal/trigeminal symptoms .ive read a few stories that synptoms ovelap and patients got the wrong surgery ( mvd vs stylodevctomy or viceversa and thats scary) Blessings to everyone and hoping your day is pain free.
I can’t comment on Dr Hepworth’s techniques, but hopefully someone will help you out who has seen him. I would just say that if your ligaments are calcified as well as elongated styloid processes, you need to have these removed as they could still cause problems, so I would clarify this with whichever doctor you consult with.
I hope you get some answers to reassure you, have you got an appointment to see Dr Hepworth?
I had upper palate numbness that would come & last an hour or two then leave. It happened randomly & was sometimes in response to aerobic exercise. It went away after I had my right styloid removed. The glossopharyngeal & vagus nerves do innervate the palate as you noted, but I also read that the trigeminal nerve has a branch that contributes to palate innervation. By now you know that all three of these nerves can be hugely affected by elongated styloids &/or calcified stylohyoid ligaments. As previously mentioned, the vagus nerve also has a major effect on the gastrointestinal system & the glossopharyngeal nerve innervates the salivary glands. I would think that having your styloids shortened would go far toward stopping the irritation of these nerves in your body @Eli, but you’re correct to be cautious about jumping into surgery. The fact that Dr. Hepworth offered to do your ES surgery also indicates you have some sort of vascular compression since that’s the surgery he specializes in.