Left side of throat hurts

this same thing just happened to me yesterday. i was sitting on couch and everything was ok. out of nowhere, i felt a pop in my left side of throat. a pain shot through my head, i couldnt swallow for a few seconds and now its sore to the touch on the outside and it hurts to swallow. crazy!

you all likely have allergies really bad allergies that are irritated by your sinuses. you should always see a doctor if able. gargle with salt water and take allergy medication.

:-( I can't believe this I am having the same problem. I specifically registered so I could respond, has anyone found out what this is?

It's acid reflux. Google GERD!!!!

My pain has gone away for a couple of weeks and has come back with less severity, but it's still there. I took two types of antibiotics and some other remedies, but just kind of got used to it. It bugs the heck out of me, but what can I do? I got better things to do than camping out at the hospital. I'm on a "wait and see" mode to see if I need further check up. I think I might be going for quite a few months now.

Not sure if it matter for some, but that was me as a Guest, right before this Post. I just forgot to sign in. So, yes. It's still lingering. We'll see.

Well, That was me as a guest back in september complaining of throat pain and trouble swallowing. It only occurs occasionally so just when I think of going to he doctor, it goes away etc. etc.....anyway I finally went to doc and he said it was most likely acid reflux that has caused some damage to my esophogus. I know what some of you are thinking.... that you don't have heartburn or indigestion so how could that be? That is what I said...he said sometimes that area can be A symptomatic. So you would not know of the problem. Oddly as soon as he said this, I did start to realize that I do have some discomfort in the evenings. Anyway I have an appointment at the end of April for a scope. So I will know for sure soon. For now I am taking Prilosec.

I too have the same problem as the original poster. I've had it for years and could not figure out what it was. It's on the left inside of the throat, right when the tonsil is. It affects my hearing on my left side (for instance, if I hold my nose and blow, the eustachian tube on the left won't clear completely). If anything comes close to touching that area of my throat, it shoots pain up into my ear. What I've come to discover is that it is from a tension in the muscles there that go up from the tongue and hyoid bone to the styloid process. There are several muscles in that area, including the suprahyoid muscles and the superior pharyngeal constrictor. I realized this because I took my finger and slowly ran it along the underside of my tongue. Everything felt fine until I got to that very back part of the tongue where these muscles lie -- that's when all hell broke loose. I've found some relief from this using myofascial release technique in addition to trying to simply sit, breath, and notice when the muscle would begin to relax. When I feel this muscle(s) relaxing, I notice that my hearing on the left starts to open up in addition to it not feeling so tense to swallow on my left side. Not only that, but my voice also ends up functioning more efficiently. I'm currently looking for a more permanent, stronger way to get these muscles to relax. Perhaps it will take time or maybe I need to try something different. For the rest of you out there experiencing this, perhaps if we all think together, we can come up with a great solution.

~~Dante~~

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This make a heck of a lot of sense. Back on Jan 19th. I mentioned that my Dr. mentioned something like muscle spasms, but was skeptical about putting me on a muscle relaxant.

You might want to talk with an ENT and/or speech pathologist that specializes in the needs of singers. They would know more about how to treat the muscles in these areas. Find one specifically that knows how to cater to this because I went to an ENT for singers before and he wasn't able to offer much help. I found part of my issue with the tension (including tension on the left side of my neck) was from a slight scoliosis of the spine. As I've been correcting that, the tension has been subsiding in addition to my voice feeling WAY easier to use.

There is a speech pathologist by the name of Dr. Morton Cooper that specializes in relaxing these muscles in speech usage by speech therapy. I believe he is getting ready to retire, but he has a book out with some information in it.

Along the speech pathologist route, if you look up circumlaryngeal massage (also know as Aronson Technique), that specifically targets many of the muscles in the laryngeal area, including the suprahyoids. Although it's intended primarily for singers and those with voice disorders, I believe it can be beneficial for all of you. The myofascial massage for the suprahyoids, including the digastric muscle, is a great complement to this.

Just know that you guys are not alone out there and you are not crazy. Doctors and specialists can only address what they are able to perceive and understand. It just takes a different way of thinking to solve our problems. With some creativity, inspiration, and a little bit of faith, you can solve anything.

~~Dante~~

I have some anatomy links for those of you still experiencing this issue that might explain the patterns you are feeling. Since we can't post links on here, I will just refer to Wikipedia pages that have the pictures to which I am referring.

The styloid process is incredibly complex, in terms of its muscular attachments. It has attachments to the ear, the tongue, the hyoid bone, the back of the thyroid cartilage, the pharyngeal constrictors, and probably a few other things which I am not aware of. It is easy for an imbalance here to cause a myriad of problems.

1. On Wikipedia, type in "Temporal Styloid Process". The second picture off to the right should have the caption "External and middle ear, opened from the front. Right side. (Label for styloid process is bottom center.)" Blow up that picture and you can clearly see how the styloid process connects into the ear, so anything pulling on the styloid process will cause ear issues too, possibly a feeling of fullness in the ear, or in the case with me, that the eustachian tube won't completely clear.

2. On the same "Temporal Styloid Process" page, under additional images, click on the third image with the caption "Articulation of the mandible. Medial aspect." Here you can see how the stylo-mandibular ligament attaches the styloid process and the jaw, so this can also cause problems with the jaw too.

3. On the same page, under additional images, click on the fifth picture with the caption "Extrinsic muscles of the tongue. Left side." In this picture you can see several of the muscles which attach to the styloid process, including the stylohyoid, stylopharyngeus, and the styloglossus. The stylohyoid connects the styloid process to the hyoid bone. Typically the hyoid bone comes up when we swallow, partially by use of this muscle; however, if it is chronically tense, this is where swallowing problems come from. The styloglossus connects down into the back portion of the tongue, so if you go to stick out your tongue or off to the side and get irritation, this is probably the source of it. The stylopharyngeus connect into the back side of the larynx (specifically the thyroid cartilage). If this muscle overcontracts, it can cause voice problems and symptoms that might manifest themselves as a vocal fatigue or an inability to speak up without straining.

4. On Wikipedia, type in "Middle Pharyngeal Constrictor Muscle". Click on the main picture off to the right with the caption "Muscles of the pharynx and cheek. (Constrictor pharyngis medius labeled at center left.)" Although it is not totally clear from this picture, some fibers of the middle pharyngeal constrictor go into the stylohyoid ligament. This once again can cause problems when swallowing, especially with tightness in the very back portions/back wall of the throat (since this muscle is used to propel the bolus of food down the throat) and with the connections to the hyoid bone which raises when we swallow.

I hope this becomes clear to anyone that is confused why this pattern of pain or irritation can at first appear seemingly bizarre. Now, exactly how one ends up with irritation or overcontraction of the muscles to the styloid process just on one side, I don't know. Mine personally is from a slight scoliosis of spine, which causes everything to be slightly off center and some muscles to pull more than others. I am using Rolfing to address this issue. Like another person in this thread, I also had general neck tension on the same side as the discomfort in my throat. This was a big clue to me that there was a structural imbalance (which actually goes all the way down to my pelvis and legs). If you also feel general tension only on one side of the body, especially the neck area, you definitely want to look into structural imbalances as the source. As for the rest of you out there, you will have to do some more research into your personal situation, but I hope this points you in the right direction.

Keep the faith.

~~Dante~~

There is one more thing I forgot to mention. For those of you experiencing tension or pain in the back of the throat going up into the ear when yawning, it could come from the stylopharyngeus muscle since that is connected to the thyroid cartilage. The larynx lowers when we yawn. Yawning normally causes these muscles to relax, but if they are overcontracted for some reason, it can cause a competition and thus the irritation. Also, if you feel tension in the area right below the corner of the jaw when you yawn, you might feel some of the stylohyoid coming in since that is a suprahyoid muscle, and we use the infrahyoid when we yawn to lower the larynx. Both the suprahyoids and infrahyoids are all connected to the hyoid bone, just on different sides and have different actions. In general, the suprahyoid raise the hyoid bone and/or larynx, while the infrahyoid lower the hyoid bone and/or larynx. Yawning normally causes anything that raises the larynx to relax (including the constrictor muscles), but if they if some set of muscles is overly tense, you might get this competition going on.

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to look me up by name or via my web site. Just do a Google for Vocal Liberation and it should come up.

~~Marnell Dante Sample~~

Thank you Dante. It's like seeing the light (not the one at the end of the tunnel ;-) ) I hold a Facilitator(just because I can't officially call myself a teacher)job where I speak to a crowd and without microphone plays a big part, plus I just remember how during choir class in school, the teacher would make us "warm up" by "vocalizing"

Yea, I found the solution guys.  SO, if you guys feel that weird sharp pain in the left of your throat, and when you swallow, you can kind of feel it in your ear canal, take an ANTI INFLAMMATORY pill and it will make it all better.  (well actually I took a pain reliever and it didn't work, so then I took an anti inflammatory, I wouldn't advise that though.  It's not good for you.)

You guys may have Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, Look it up. Reply if this diagnosis helped.