Does it look like my left side has vascular compression? Pic of each side for comparison. I do randomely get dizzy or rocking on a boat feeling when im standing and usually if I stand up too fast. Sometimes mild headaches in temple area but not bad and not often. My worst symptoms which are very uncomfortable but not necessarily painful is left side throat pressure and back and under tongue tightness or numb feeling but not actually numb. I can feel my styloid under my jaw as well but not in tonsil area I dont think (i still have my tonsils) My styloids are curving inward toward my throat
We’re not doctors on here, just people who’ve been through this ourselves, but it certainly looks like there could be compression there…Is the ENT you’re going to see familiar with ES? Unfortunately many aren’t, so it might be worth getting in touch before you go to see?
Yes im only looking for opinions. 
i did call my ent and am still waiting for a call to confirm knowledge but the receptionist did mention that she knows they see a couple patients for ES.
That’s good then, promising! 
Juat every angle i look at it the left side look squoshed compared to the right. The tongue tightness is really freaking me out as well but every since i discovered i can feel my styloid under my jaw i can stop touching it. Almost in a reassurance way that this is in fact the culprit and not something worse.
Chill,
I’ve been there & done that. Crazy that we both could feel our styloid under our jaws & had similar tongue symptoms. I don’t know of many people that could feel their styloid(s) externally.
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Im assuming its my styloid based on their angle and that if i push it it makes a cracking sound by my ear and its pointy. Lol and below my c1. What were your symtoms with your tongue if yiu dont mind me asking?
Pressure at the base where it attaches near the throat & numbness on the left side. It felt like my left styloid was pressing directly against the back of my tongue. I didn’t have any cracking sounds but did have lots of pain in my neck, ears, collar bones, & at the back of my skull among other things. It is the angle, length & thickness especially that determine how elongated styloids affect us.
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Yep that sounds almost identical to mine. Was your tongue stuff more constant rather than intermittent? Or other way around? Did you Know your lengths? Get better?
My tongue stuff was intermittent to begin with but as time passed it got more persistent & annoying. I was fortunate to be diagnosed soon after my neck pain started & had my first surgery w/in 4 months of that. My second surgery, however, was 9 months later & it was my more painful side that had to take a backseat & await removal till then. The symptoms caused by the remaining styloid definitely ramped up over the 9 months between surgeries.
Yes, I got better. I have some residual nerve pain/damage in my face by my right jaw joint because my glossopharyngeal nerve was wrapped around my right styloid & had to be unwrapped for the styloid to be removed, but it only hurts if I press on it so I don’t do that. I am able to do all the things I loved before I had ES symptoms & I’m so thankful!
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Im so happy for you that it got better after surgery! Do you have any idea what set off your symtoms or what your lengths were? My right isnt far behind my left in legth but i dont have any symptoms so far on the right. I do have pain under my ear mostly if i tilt my head to that side. My tongue was intermittent as well before amd the past month its been more constant but still only left side. Not quite burning feeling but a tight numbing feeling. I do have some swelling in my scm muscle near the top and some lymph nodes in my neck i can feel as well but I cant see them which I guess is a good sign. I just dont fit into Neuralgia categories so unsure where thr tingue stuff is coming from unless nerve stuff can be constant and dull too.
Right under the corner of my jaw below my ear I have a hard bump that I complained about along with my other symptoms and was told my 2 doctors and a dentist that it was a swollen lymph node. Then the ENT who diagnosed me said it was the calcified ligament!! I’m just appalled that so many professionals couldn’t even tell that it wasn’t a lymph node, I mean we even discussed a biopsy!
So its thr ligament sticking out or thr styloid? Can you attatch a pic?
He told me it was the calcified ligament. It’s hard but not round and a little moveable but not much. You can’t see it from the outside but can feel it under the jaw and the other side I feel nothing in that spot. Right where the tip of my finger is is the spot where I can feel it if I push on it. On that same side I have pain in my throat which feels like something is poking the base of my tongue. It’s constant and the back wall of my throat sticks out on that side. I’m really not clear on the anatomy of these things.
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I can feel my styloid under my jae but i also can feel a tight chord or ligament or muscle under my jae too. But according to my ct 9 months ago i dont have calciligaments that i can see. Do you also have long styloids as well or just thr ligaments?
Yeah so sounds like we have the same ligament issue maybe? I have elongated styloids as well. As of 13 months ago my right side was 3.75. I don’t know about the left but I was told it was above average as well.
The longest measurement i could get is 3.5 on my left but thry curve inti my throat so its hard to get a good measurment except from a back view. I cant tell the difference bwtween digastric muscle or the stylo hyoid ligament though
I cant feel a poke through my mouth though even though my styloid is poking towards my tonsil area. I can feel it under my jaw but not through my mouth. The left side of my tongue just feels like a numb feeling but not actually numb…or like really tight but i have full function. Its freaking me out.
Yeah I totally get it. It’s very scary but I guess it’s nice to have a name for it. I was going nuts when they were telling me I was fine and I knew I wasn’t. I wonder how fast they grow? I’m curious how long mine are now a year later because the symptoms have progressed. It started with an intermittent feeling of maybe like a popcorn kernel stick back there and now it’s 24/7 poking/choking.
Exactly. All my symtoms were intermittent except the tight feeling in tonsil area. Had a bit of tongue tingling and even face in the beginning. Now the tongue is constant, throat tightnesd feels like pressure, pain under my ear. Lymph nodes i can feel but not see. Doctors assured me that in 9 months if it was sinister i would be way way worse now and sinister things dont have symptoms that come and go they just get worse. Im holding on to that until my ent appt to confirm my findings on the 27th. They werent looking for ES when my dcan was taken. I only lesrned about it a couple months ago