Something in my neck is popping out of place

I can’t believe I finally found this thread! This started happening to my 15 yo son a few months ago. It was so frightening for him and so frustrating for us both. We have figured out that it is “triggered” by him yawning and stretching at the same time or yawing in an exaggerated way. (It can also happen randomly.)
It used to only pop outwards towards the left side of his throat and he was able to push it back in place or chug water to get it to go back. Twice now it has popped inwards and he gets very upset because he cannot find a way to pop it back in place right away. It is very painful for him to swallow and breathe but he says he doesn’t feel like his airway is restricted. He can usually fix it within a few minutes.
I took him to ENT after it occurred a few times and they were able to palpate a small “nodule” so they did a scope which was normal and then did a CT without contrast which showed the results that I will post in a pic. The ENT specialist said “he should grow out of it” and “nothing we can do”. It is beyond frustrating. It is interesting that Ehlers Danlos was brought up in other comments. He is incredibly flexible. Definitely going to look more into EDS.
I’m planning on calling ENT again next week since the popping is going in the other direction now too.
I can’t explain how hard it is to find any helpful information anywhere that so perfectly describes what you all have said here. It makes me feel better that he isn’t the only one dealing with this!

Edit to add some other symptoms and conditions he has.
- ADHD, Anxiety, and Sensory processing disorder (mainly sounds and food textures)
- Speech delay that was resolved when he had his tonsils and adenoids removed at 2.5 years old after chronic strep throat. (We fought it for 2 years. He hadn’t spoken a word until then. He would verbalize but very much delayed)
- Migraines
- Super flexible and double jointed
- Pain in knees and legs that aren’t growing pains.
- His knees grew so fast that he actually has stretch marks around his knee caps!
- “Melting” (this is what he calls it) when he stands up fast or sometimes a sudden movement. He never passes out however he sinks to the floor and lays there saying he “only sees black”. He doesn’t freak out, but it takes a minute and he gets right back up. He says that if he isn’t allowed to “melt” he is afraid he is going to faint.

I’ve had this throat issue since I was a teen and like your son went through what you call melting which eventually stopped happening. Also have stretch marks on my back from growing fast. The way I pop it back into place is tiling my head way up and then down, I’m sure it’s not the same for everyone. I have many indicators of having some form of marfans symdrome, you can’t tell by looking at me but some of the things have always made me wonder if I have it. Symptoms include protruding sternum, stretch marks, mitral valve prolapse, doubled jointed.

Can the people who experienced this explain how they "pushed it back into place"? I'm experiencing it right now (happens roughly once a year) but I don't know what direction out of place it is. Where do I apply pressure?

I can't believe I finally found people to whom this also happens!! I've had it happen a few times a year for the past 3ish years. I'm currently 38 and I just had my longest episode and was terrified. For me, swallowing, talking, and moving my head is excruciatingly painful. With this longer episode, I could feel how the back of my tongue also hurt. Crying does too! Normally I can recreate the trigger position to "undo" it (laying on my right side, turning my head left, and swallowing). But this time lasted almost an hour!

From all of your information and frantic hyperfocused searches, I found that it's likely a hyoid dislocation. I was able to push my thumb up into the soft spot under my chin and slowly pull toward the painful side. Relief came fast!! I still have residual pain when swallowing, but I think it's just from how long it lasted.

I just had this issue a few minutes ago, and this has been going on for the past few years. I thought this was because I play the Trombone, but I guess it is not because people have it randomly.

I have been to an Emergency Room and went to different 2 ENT doctors but they said everything was normal. I even took scans, wore neck braces, and did some massages, but did not work whatsoever.

I'm currently very stressed as I am about to go to college soon. farther away from my family, so if this happens, it would be hard for me to get help either from roommates or other people around me.

This has been making me cry myself to sleep constantly to the depressed thought that this would go on for the rest of my life as I have many many more years to live.

I speak on behalf of everybody on this thread that we beg any specialists to look through this in-depth, as I am sure there are even hundreds, thousands, and millions of people who are also in the same depressive state as us but have not come up to voice their concerns.

We want to be heard. I don't want to feel scared to yawn or move my neck anymore.

Edit: I looked at other posts here, and the most common overlying symptom I saw was chronic fatigue/exhaustion. Not surprisingly, I have that too. Any quality and amount of sleep never seem to make me feel awake.

Maybe it's a thyroid issue?

Adding to the “me too” thread! I’ve had the same thing happen for 20+ years (43yo now). I actually had a thyroid sonogram today
(2-5-24) and the sonographer said my thyroid looked perfect. I’ve periodically looked online for what could be causing this and until now, I’ve never found anything so thank you OP! I can easily pop mine back in and it may happen a few times a week or once in 6 months. I don’t have any pain when it’s popped out, but I can’t swallow and talking is a little more difficult. I hope someone in this thread will be able to get some answers! I’m following up with my dr in a few days and seeing what our next step is.