Chronic sore throat, neck/ear pain
I have been dealing with a sore throat for 3 weeks. This has happened a handful of times in the last few years where I get a sore throat for a month and then it goes away. This time it has been mostly on the left side and I have had some neck pain and jaw pain and pain to push right under my left ear. I have started to have the sensation of something in my throat when I swallow. I have been to Urgent Care where they simply did a strep test (negative) and I have been to primary care and my CBC was normal besides slightly low iron. I have an ENT appointment Friday. I am definitely worried about oral/pharyngeal/base of tongue cancer but I am relatively low risk (do drink alcohol moderately but no smoking or HPV).
I know a little about Eagle Syndrome but know that is rare but I can stick my fingers down my throat past my tonsils and epiglottis and feel a sharp pointy bone on both side (but mostly my left where that pain has been) and wonder if that is my styloid process and could be Eagles?
Anyway that's my story. Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Support Group.
Have you checked for “tonsil stones?”
Yes I don’t see any visually and have tried poking around on my tonsils with a cotton tip and nothing
@hjh444, There is an active discussion about Eagle's Syndrome here if you're interested:
- Eagle's Syndrome https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/eagles-syndrome/
I'll be interested to hear what you learn from the ENT tomorrow. Please do come back and let us know.
@hjh444 Very interested in hearing what the ENT had to say! Hoping you didn't get the.... take some pepcid/antacid line😣 That seems to be the go to for the majority until they actually do a CT scan!
So I went to the ENT last Friday (5 days ago). She did a scope and said everything looked normal. They took a bunch of blood for a bunch of different things (mostly autoimmune) and all came back negative. Her guess was that it was either silent reflux and/or hidden tonsil stones. She sent me for a neck CT and it only revealed an enlarged left tonsil. By the time the CT came back Monday my throat and neck had been hurting for almost a month and for at least a week it was also my tongue, soft palate, and floor of the mouth all on left side. She prescribed me Augmentin I suppose just to try something. I began it Monday night and after two doses the pain was gone and had not come back. I’ve been pain free for 36 hours! It’s crazy since the strep was negative and they say even if it is strep it should clear itself within 10 days if you don’t treat. I wonder if there’s another bacteria this could be. It’s bizarre.
Would love to know if you found relief. I have a lot of the same symptoms. I had eagle syndrome surgery in June and was hoping symptoms would resolve but they have not
i have an appointment with a neurologist on Tuesday
Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, @deepbluejaye.
You may wish to join this discussion about Eagle's Syndrome https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/eagles-syndrome/
Hello I'm new here ' my wife has eagles syndrome and we are just now learning about it. She's yet to see any doctors who can help her with answers. She's trying to get appointments. We live in California. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you