Something in my neck is popping out of place

Posted by devonmwhite @devonmwhite, Sep 13, 2022

Hello all,

Over the past, i’d say 4 years i’ve had a very odd thing happen in my neck and it happens when I swallow or move my neck (no specific way). It doesn’t happen often, it could be 3 times a week or once in 3 months. Basically there is something that feels like a tube popping out of place and i have to use my hand to push it back in place. It’s like something is bending. It sounds really odd but it’s really really painful and when it happens a panic feels my body and i have to push it back in right away. It happens just under my left jaw and a bit over from my adam’s apple, sort of where you would check your pulse. I can’t find anything on the internet about this and haven’t decided to go to the doctor because it’s something that happens randomly.

If anyone knows anything on this, that would be great!!

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@elindile76

I tried this with no relief 😮‍💨 mine feels a bit better when I put my chin to my chest, it’s looking up that kills me.

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Just wanted to add that yes I totally get that. One it pops out. Looking down helps with the pain I can't look up and swallow at the same time while it's out!

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@welly27

Just wanted to add that yes I totally get that. One it pops out. Looking down helps with the pain I can't look up and swallow at the same time while it's out!

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Same and mine still won’t pop back in! I don’t understand why doctors look at us like “wow I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this” when it’s apparent that many people have this issue. I can’t get any help or relief and sometimes it’s scary. I don’t want to panic but it definitely gives me anxiety.

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@steelvengeancekarnan

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?

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Didnt realize til after i posted, that this reply shows up at the end of the whole thread instead of the specific poster that I thought i was "replying" to @steelvengeancekarnan. So hopefully @steelvengeancekarnan will see this buried amongst the replies.....

Don't know if you'll see this since you posted this a year ago, but figured I'd send a note just in case. I actually have this same throat issue too, but the reason I'm reaching out to you is because of your last statement: "any quality and amount of sleep never seem to make me feel awake"... Look up Idiopathic Hypersomnia and see if you feel like it fits what you experience. I went through 2 years of testing in my mid-20's for all sorts of various possibilities to explain what was happening to me, before they finally figured it out. Not all doctors even know about it or think to test for it. Most will default to "it's probably depression, here take these anti-depressants". It always annoyed me that they assumed I must have depression, despite having nothing to be depressed about (or at least I didn't in my mid-20's anyway). I always refused to take anti-depressants and demanded they actually do real tests to actually figure out what was the cause. The final test that finally figured it out was I had to go through a sleep study in a facility where they hooked me up with EKG's all over my body and watched me sleep overnight in their facility. Afterwards, they finally diagnosed me with Idiopathic Hypersomnia. I now take medication every morning to keep me functional like a normal person. Without it, I turn into a "drunk zombie" within 2 hours or less of waking up. It's still not a perfect system, there are still days on occasion where i'll still get uber-tired even with the meds. But they are few and far between by comparison. For sure, i wouldnt be able to carry a job or function in normal life without those meds. Anyway, figured i'd share since one of the main symptoms of Idiopathic Hypersomnia is "no amount of sleep is ever enough to feel awake".

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@welly27

Just wanted to add that yes I totally get that. One it pops out. Looking down helps with the pain I can't look up and swallow at the same time while it's out!

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I have the same thing happen to me. Comes on when I strain. Using a heating pad helps.

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@kleider13

I have the same thing. Sometimes when I'm sleeping if my neck is bent funny it pops out of place or if I cough really hard when I'm sick. But when they do imaging everything looks normal because it's not popped out at the time of imaging. I used to get it in place super easy and now it's getting harder and happens more often. Going on 8-10 years of this. It feels like I'm popping cartilage back into place that pops out. Also make swallowing unbearably painful

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THIS HAPPENS TO ME. I’ve never met anyone with this same issue and I’ve never met a doctor or other person that knows what this couldn’t be. I’ve never seen anything on the internet either. This is the most hopeful thing I’ve ever found…just knowing other people go through this makes me feel so less alone.

During the day if I bend my neck weird (haven’t figured out a specific position that makes this happen), it usually feels “shallow” enough and I have a specific hand pushing/sweeping motion I can do to get it back in place. It literally feels like it clicks back but doesn’t make an audible sound. When I wake up in the middle of the night (which is rare but just happened a few minutes ago), it usually feels SO deeply dislocated it makes me anxious and I don’t know what to do to get it back into place. I almost started to cry but the flaring of muscles that happen when you start to cry was SO uncomfortable that I stopped. Wildly enough when I did this, whatever it was went back into place! I was shocked. Not sure if this is a helpful trick or if it was bc I was praying for a miracle at 3am. But it worked!

For reference, this NEVER impairs my swallowing or breathing. Like it’s not inside my throat. But it is uncomfortable to swallow (which is how I know it’s out of proper place when it happens). Doesn’t seem to affect me besides this discomfort which isn’t necessarily “painful” but definitely not something I’d want to just leave alone and see if it goes back to place.

Best description of location I could give is it feels like it’s in the region of suprahyoid muscles. Something that should be superficial but when displaced goes deeper into the neck. Feels like pressure makes it worse and pulling at my neck (almost causing suction) can sometimes help get it back into place. Really hoping just to KNOW what this is, to understand it better.

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@elindile76

Same and mine still won’t pop back in! I don’t understand why doctors look at us like “wow I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this” when it’s apparent that many people have this issue. I can’t get any help or relief and sometimes it’s scary. I don’t want to panic but it definitely gives me anxiety.

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I so agree with this!!! I’m an RN and can’t figure out why all the doctors I had growing up never wanted to look further into this!!! Especially since it’s in the neck. Airway is #1 priority and although it never blocks mine it’s something that’s always baffled me! See my reply about almost crying/involuntarily flexing whatever those muscles are…that helped get mine in place whenever it felt super deep/out of place. I’m praying for you friend

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@bradyjones2

It’s refreshing to see that I’m not the only one suffering from this. Just a quick note to anyone who has it out of place or “dislocated” for longer than a few minutes and you can’t pop it back in. I have had this for over 10 years, happens about once or twice per year. Usually, I tilt my head back and force a swallow real hard. It’s painful as heck, but would pop it back into place. This time when it happened, it wasn’t popping back in, I panicked and went to the ER. They of course, scratched their heads and sent me to get a neck x-ray. But after two hours and keeping my head down towards my chest, it just sort of healed on its own after two hours of excruciating pain. I don’t know if this will help anyone, but I just want to explain my scenario as I thought it would never pop back in and I was getting scared. I don’t know if this is related in any way, but I’m a Christian and I prayed to the Holy Spirit (so did my wife). Looks like it worked. 😊

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Yes!!! Me too, I have a hug of olive oil I’ve prayed over and just put some on my neck bc it felt SO DEEP I couldn’t manually manipulate it back into place. And I started to try to cry but the flexion of muscles hurt so bad when I did that so I stopped. Then it was completed back into place even though I didn’t feel the usual “click”. God is SO GOOD < 3

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Peeps, how is your thyroid gland? I have autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's) and hypothyroidism. If any of you are in the same pickle, is it possible that this happens during a flare-up, for example, if the thyroid swells up to the point where it is pushing the neck muscles/veins/cartilage/whatever?

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