I’m new to this forum and relieved to have found you all. A year ago, while sitting on an airplane, I suddenly couldn’t swallow. One minute I was eating fine and the next I couldn’t. My throat felt really sore and my tongue felt strange. I thought it was originally due to wildfire smoke (it has been bad in Seattle, where I’d been visiting), but that was just the start of what has been a yearlong struggle. Doctors initially treated me for GI symptoms, but my endoscopy didn’t show reflux.
Due to significant muscle tension in my jaw, throat, and neck, doctors told me I had muscle tension dysphagia and irritable larynx syndrome. I worked with a speech therapist, which helped a bit, but didn’t solve it. (In 2019, I was in a car accident and suffered from bad whiplash. Since then, I have noticed some more coughing whenever I’m sick and the larynx diagnosis fits. It does feel more sensitive.)
However, my symptoms came on rapidly and very intensely last year. I’ve had severe throat pain, difficulty swallowing solids, tongue pain/tension, neck tension, head pressure, voice issues, ear fullness, and facial and jaw pain—especially under my ears and at the corner of my jaw. My right side feels worse at the corner of my jaw and my right side of base of tongue sometimes feels like it’s being pulled down. It sometimes feels like my lower jaw is “loose.” My muscles feel uncoordinated. Doctors have said my jaw joint is fine and told me to just “relax” more but it doesn’t feel like something I can control with my mind (although stress seems to make the pain worse). I definitely wasn’t stressed or anxious before this all started. Recently, a TMJ doctor looked at my x-rays and said my right styloid process is elongated. To me, it also looks like my left one is thick though. I’m hoping to get a CT scan with contrast soon, but I’d love to hear others’ thoughts. This x-ray is from last year.
Thank you, and I’m so grateful for this community.
Joanna
Welcome to our forum! I completely agree w/ your assessment re: your styloids - right is long, left also looks a bit long to me but definitely thicker though it’s really hard to tell from an x-ray/cbct scan, exactly what the styloids are like.
Your symptoms do align with those seen w/ ES so that is also possible confirmation that you’re on the right track.
Since you noted you have head pressure & ear fullness, you may have some IJV compression being caused by your styloids so a CT w/ contrast is the way to go. If you can get it ordered to be a dynamic CT w/ contrast that would be fantastic (many doctors won’t order the dynamic part). Dynamic means your scan includes images w/ your head turned L/R & looking up/down at the very least. If there’s a head position that you’ve noticed makes your symptoms feel worse, you can request for that head position to be included. Normally CTs are taken w/ the head in neutral i.e. facing the ceiling. I believe I ended up w/ ES because of a whiplash injury though it took a number of years afterward for my symptoms to show up.
Hi & welcome! I agree with @Isaiah_40_31 that it’s certainly worth looking into ES from your symptoms & being able to see the styloids on your x-ray, so getting a CT is the most logical next step. You need on to show the base of the skull down to the hyoid bone, & ideally with contrast as @Isaiah_40_31 says, it sounds as if you could have some internal jugular vein compression. Ask for copies of the images too, then you can look at them yourself, and have them if you want to be referred to a doctor knowledgeable with ES…
Good luck!
Thank you so much! I showed my dental x-ray to my ENT today (before doing another superior laryngeal nerve block injection), and she said, “wow, this explains a few things.” She agreed that my right styloid process is elongated (possibly both) and agreed that a CT scan with contrast would be a good next step. I have another doctor’s appointment on Monday to set that up. She also noted that my right jaw joint has space that shouldn’t be there, like it’s being pulled down (my chiropractor commented on that a couple days ago too and said it looks like a ligament issue). The ENT said seeing the x-rays definitely helps to explain why I’ve been having these crazy symptoms, and she said that the styloid process issue could put additional stress on my hyoid bone and therefore my larynx. I feel very validated. I had a physical therapist early on just tell me I needed to “relax more.” Thanks again for your help!
We have had members who had jaw misalignment that cleared up after having a styloid resected. You may find the jaw joint space that shouldn’t be there self-corrects once your styloid on that side is shortened.
Please let us know once you have your CT scan. You should request a copy of your imaging before you leave the radiology clinic. You can also ask ahead if they can include some 3D images as those will make it easier for you to see what’s going on in your neck.
but it doesn’t feel like something I can control with my mind (although stress seems to make the pain worse). I definitely wasn’t stressed or anxious before this all started. Recently, a TMJ doctor looked at my x-rays and said my right styloid process is elongated. To me, it also looks like my left one is thick though. I’m hoping to get a CT scan with contrast soon, but I’d love to hear others’ thoughts. This x-ray is from last year.