My post from another forum in Aug 2020:

DO NOT GIVE UP
DO NOT STOP SEARCHING
As of last month, I struggled with a sore throat (on the left side only) for the past two years and I’ve been reading the stories here for about a year now. Everytime I spoke or ate the left side of my throat would just rage with pain. The pain would get progressively worse throughout the day such that, by the end of the day, it would be too painful to speak after a full day of work. Eventually I started to get pain behind my left ear. As I came to learn more about this area of my throat, I started to realize the pain felt like it was coming from what I know know to be the greater cornu of the hyoid bone.

Was not strep. Nothing on xray. Nothing on CT scan. Nothing on MRI. No visual abnormalities inside the throat. Not my voice box. Literally no indication of any abnormality besides the raging pain I experienced everytime I spoke or ate. I honestly thought I was crazy.

All this learned after after a few physicals, ENTs, anti biotics, steroid and anti inflammatory injections, etc over the course of 1.5 years…but still nothing. Until I went to Stanford Hospital here in CA and met Dr. Dewan. As a diagnosis by exclusion (all tests possible had been performed without exception), I was diagnosed with Hyoid Bone Syndrome - a condition affecting the greater cornu of the hyoid bone.

Surgery: I had a hyoid bone recission (remove greater horns) and thyroid cartilage reduction at the end of August 2019 (just had my 30 day post op yay) under Dr. Dewan’s care. After surgery while still at the hospital, Dr. Dewan told me that the ends of my hyoid bone curved inward at 90 degrees, making the surgery a bit more involved, but gave some assurance we might be on he right track, though she had not seen this before.
She also told me that once she had me out, she was able to click my throat...an indicator of hyoid bone syndrome (see reading materials below).

Thank the man above, my wife (by my side the whole way), my family and my surgeon…a month after surgery and I feel amazing. I can talk without pain in my throat or behind my ears. It’s AMAZING. Surgery was intense, but if this trajectory continues wow. I will give a more detailed account in due course, but I wanted to put this out there in case anyone is struggling: a) don’t stop searching and hang in there b) read these stories, they helped me know I’m not alone and to learn about my body and these conditions c) please reach out to me with any questions.

READING MATERIALS:
Here is my collection of what I was able to dig up when I was trying to figure this out; so many google searches and long nights on the internet spinning due to lack of material. I found these resources to be invaluable in learning about the condition and in helping me to realize surgery was the course of action I personally needed to take to solve my issue (and that I wasn’t loco or making the pain up):
1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41449944_Anterior_Throat_Pain_Syndromes_Causes_for_Undiagnosed_Craniofacial_Pain - this was my favorite of the bunch. It goes through a bunch of conditions that cause throat pain, Hyoid Bone Syndrome being one of them. Funny enough, the best piece of medical reading I found on the topic for me was this and it’s by a dentist, not an MD

2. This paper https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/pain/maxillofacial/hyoid-bone-syndrome#:~:text=A%20condition%20characterized%20by%20both,photomicroscopic%20evidence%20of%20insertion%20tendinosis. , by an MD, talks about Hyoid Bone Syndrome from a degenerative muscle condition perspective. While my Hyoid Bone/muscles did not exhibit degeneration (we tested it after they cut out the bone), it’s still super informative and instructive.

3. This paper https://www.uclahealth.org/head-neck-surgery/workfiles/Laryngeal%20Voice%20Research/Articles/2001%20Smith%20Clicking%20in%20the%20throat.pdf refers to Hyoid Bone Syndrome as “click throat” or “click larynx” because it’s a symptom that some folks exhibit. It talks through the symptoms and also evidences several surgical outcomes (via rescission of hyoid bone), all of which eliminated the pain. For me, the positive outcomes kept me optimistic when I was scared pre-surgery and needed a dose of optimism.

4. As opposed to surgery, this paper https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0145561318823373 talks about injections as a solve for throat pain at the hyoid bone. For what it is worth, I tried injections pre-surgery with no luck. That said, my doctor, and this article, state there are solid outcomes with this approach.

My hope is that anyone trying to solve for mysterious throat pain can read these articles and try to piece things together enough to get in front of the right doctors to solve your pain.

Please reach out to me with any questions and don’t give up, you got this!!!