Head trauma causing Eagles? Interesting thought. I had significant blow to base of my skull and surrounding area which inflammed a nerve and artery, then abated. shortly threafter, symptoms slowly but progressively came about the past 3 years to the point where I'll do anything to stop the pain which does not respond to meds, the swallowing problems, the frog in the throat, the hitting the floor...for the last 18 months they diagnosed vagoglossopharyngeal neuralgia. It wasn't until last month neuro sent me to ENT to check for Eagles...and voila! Got it bilateral. Since only one side is ruining my life, he's leaving the other side alone. He also doesn't think its the cause, but an aggravating factor. We'll have to see what he sees once he's inside tomorrow morning. I am SO glad to have found this site .... I now think its a dice toss on whether or not the operation is the miracle I need or if it will just help a little like he says. Good to know (or is it bad to know) that many of us have doctors thinking we are loony when they simply don't research or know enough (radiologists included).
I've researched extensively and think it is only an aggravating condition as my pain is centered on the V and IV nerve. Anyone know of a mixed bag of vagoglosso and eagles together?

r/Elisa

Just a short update. Its been over a month and my pain is gone!!!! I had some jaw movement issues once the nerves started to regain feeling and tightened up but with a little gum chewing and some exercises I am back to normal. I wish I had done this 5 years ago when they first found my problem.

My husband had surgery for eagle syndrom 2 months ago and we feel the Dr. did not take off the bone and it is still causing pain. We had CTSkand and it says that the bone is still there. The Dr. seems to not want to continue with him. Does anyone know of a Dr. in Dallas that will help us with this. or anywhere. He is in such pain.

I had surgery 3 days ago on my diagnosed eagles syndrome, i to was in pain for about 8 mos of poor diagnoses and seeing a tmj specialist after many trips to the gp, i finally got to see a good ENT doc, he diagnosed it right away, im wondering about how long surgery takes to recover though. im in hella pain, 22 years old btw, and no idea how i got eagles, possibly from concussion when i was 13 or so, anyway how long will i be in pain for i only have enough pills to last me two more days...=-(

My doctor snipped out a little of the styloid bone itself and only seperated the calcified ligament and bone so the ligament is still free floating in my jaw area as its a muscle that was holding together so now it is retracted. He seemed to think this was the right course of action. I had my surgery done in Georgia.

Few of you mentioned ENT diagnosing this condition. How do they diagnose it, do they take x-ray pictures, MRI or CT?

Greenville,

How are you now? Do you know of a doctor on the east coast who will perform the surgery? I am having trouble finding someone (in the medical field) who will even discuss eagles syndrome.

do any of you that have been diagnosed with Eagle's have their CT/MRI scan data/results on the CD. I would like to know and see how it looks as sometimes you have to prove your own case as radiologist in some instances just ignore it.

I have eagle syndrome and I have similar symptoms of bad pain on the right side and a feeling of something always caught on the right side like a foreign body sensation, i was wondering if anyone was having trouble swallowing some solid foods, like it feels like some foods get caught? Also was your throat real red?

Hi Greenville
I have too been diagnosed with Eagles and am heading off for surgery (oral) for complete removal of the styloid process (it is broken off at the stump) Apparently in a cycling accident 4 years ago (don't start me on the resulting doctor/s, physio, chiro, acupuncture, DENTIST, Neurologist saga.... ) I am a bit scared - surgeon has fessed up to the uniqueness of the precedure - code for "I haven't done one of these before". Well - we will find out!
I just wanted to alert everyone that after many CTs on the Cervical area - it was not until one was ordered stating "Eagle's Syndrome?" that the Radiologist took one and as I was at the counter paying, called me back to say he wanted to do another - he thought he had found something...apparently he had to go higher than he thought (probably had the book or the web out!) and bingo! There it was.

Was your Styloid Process completely removed?

It was not completely removed only shortened. Its now 4 months after and no pain at all. Dr. Brown at Greenville ENT did my operation but like I said in my first post Dr. Yuco found it 5 years before I was willing to allow the surgery. I switched doctors because Dr Yuco does not do surgery at the hospital where my wife works and I wanted to have it done there. Sorry I have not replied before now but I did not receive a notice from this site that anyone had posted. Hope this helps.

Thanks for that Greenville - there have been some developments. My ENT Surgeon has decided it is outside his area of expertise (and I am very thankful for his appraoch) - he has referred me on to a Head and Neck Trauma Surgeon and also a Pain Management specialist. So I have gone back a few steps. Very frustrating.

Did your research every explain what happens to the 2 ligaments and 3 muscles that connect to this bone. I gather that by having it "shortened" they are still accomodated at the top of the bone? I can't find anything about what would happen if they loose their "anchor" when the styloid process is completely removed. Anyone?

This is also considering that in this instance they are "displaced" / floating already, because the bone is detached from the temporal bone.
Maybe someone out there reading this has some advice?

I want to ask if symptoms included a feeling of fullness in the ear on the affected side? I also want to know if anyone experienced hearing their own voice when the ear seems to suddenly close after working out hard or standing too long... It is soo frustrating! I have gone from one doctor to another like all of u... I did an MRI and it showed a shadow behind the left ear drum (side that hurts most) Left side of my jaw and neck hurts a lot too... I sometimes also get numbness in my pinky on the left hand... hope it is all related... waiting for a reply...

I was diagnosed also with Eagle's Syndrome 22 years ago by a TMJ specialist. I had TMJ surgery but never had surgery for the eagle's. The calcifications have spread to my sinus/eye socket/ears/brain. I ran accross something that has helped me. My naturopathic dr. put me on a liver complex from Premier Research Labs. It felt like a bunch of stuff was melting out of my throat area. I don't know how or why. But I take it about twice a week now for maintenance. I also had trauma to my throat area when I was about 12.