Neck /throat tightness and pressure

zipperhead wrote:

For the last 2 years off and on I've had a strange pressure type feeling in my neck on the right side. No sore throat, no lumps, and not really a pain but more of a pressure. From my shoulder up to my ear. Sometimes I feel this pressure in my ear, and behind my eye too, not always though. The tightness radiates part way down my back too. If I bend my head forward, I can feel it pulling part way down my back. I went to the doctor about a year ago regarding it, and he thought it may just be some tight muscles. He looked down my throat, and felt around and thought it was nothing to worry about. I have a knot in the back of my neck that's hard to massage out too. I also have my desk set up at work with my monitor to my right and for the last 9 years, I've had my head turned to the right to view it. I notice that when I wake up in the morning there is generally no pressure, but as the day goes on it becomes increasingly more prevalent. It's also not there 100% of the time either. I may go an hour or more without any pressure and then I may feel it for 2 hours. No rhyme or reason to it. I've noticed that in the summer it's much less noticeabl I know that sounds silly but it's true. Obviously cancer comes to mind for one thing and I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar symptoms....

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Have you heard anything else about this? I cant stand the feeling. If I look down I see stars, I have anxiety and take ativan when It happens . The lump in my neck seems like its getting worse Its noticeable all day now, not looking at it but the feeling. when I turn my head it moves . I dont know just seeing if you found out what it was for you . Thanks a lot.

I have identical symptoms and have been diagnosed. ***Please look into IH (Intracranial Hypertension) a.k.a. Pseudotumor Cerebri. If left untreated, the consequent swelling of your optic nerve could cause peripheral vision loss or in extreme cases, blindness.

what is the treatment if diagnosed with thyroid disease?

EAGLE'S SYNDROME

Eagle's Syndrome is characterized by pain in the throat with referral of pain often being felt in the ear. The patient may have a feeling of a foreign body in the throat and difficulty and/or pain with swallowing. In addition pain in throat with turning of the head may occur.

The disorder is caused by an elongation of the styloid process. The styloid process is a small projection of bone that originates from the base of the skull and is the attachment of several muscles and ligaments that run into to the throat and tongue. In addition the Stylohyoid ligament may become calcified producing the same problem. This ligament runs between the process and the hyoid bone which is a bone in the front of the throat and is the attachment of a number of throat muscles.

When present this condition produces pain in the throat with pressure on the side of the throat or the side of the neck just below the lower jaw. It can typically be visualized with a standard dental panoramic radiograph. Treatment is normally surgical in nature and is usually not complicated.

hi, i have had pain in the front of my neck since late march that comes and goes.  i have voice problems that come and go.  some days i have to clear my throat a lot.  i have had problems ever since i had a cpap titration study and the room where I was sleep had a mold smell.   I have had an MRI of my head, neck and lower spine.  I have had CT's from my head to pelvis.  i've seen internist, ENT, Neuro and will soon see a speech pathologist for a speech eval.  the tightness is in my anterior neck this morning.  all of my bloodwork that looks at the thyroid looks fine.  i have used powell's magic mouthwash in case its thrush it helps because it is numbing and has a steroid in it...but I gag on it.  i had stress in my life before but as i explain to my drs i have even more stress now.  this feeling in my neck drives me crazy.  i can't go back to school and work because i've become so stressed out.  some days i can barely speak.  All docs say i have an anxiety component.  i do stretches.  i drank an herbal tea last night and i think my throat is very sensitive and allergic to some things.  I am struggling and praying for peace regarding this.  its ruined my life...

I have had similar problems that are debilitating to my everyday life. My doctor suggested chronic fatigue. However, you should consider visiting this website regarding myalgic ecephalamyetlitis called the Hummingbird Foundation.

Guest wrote:

Acid Reflux.....take some tums or pepto and see if the symptoms decrease. If it does, it is acid reflux that has been there for many years and is not getting worse.

I had the tightness in my throat for 5 months before doctors found out I had hashimoto desease and thyroid cancer. They removed my thryoids and I still have the tightness on my throat which doctors cant explain why its happening. Ive been through many test and all come out ok.

I'm sorry you're experiencing this, I am too, exactly.  Mine is one of many symptoms of Morgellons, and right now

with AFIP (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology that the USA's CDC (center for disease control) is studying, there

aren't many doctors out there that know more than we do at this time.  A warm heating pad helps it go away, but it

comes and goes anytime without reason.

Hi there. I also had thyroid blood work. Came back normal. I'm perimenopausal. Low estrogen and low progesterone. A lot of stress, anxiety rightness and fullness on my neck/throat. The back of my neck is stiff too. I think high levels can cause this. I am doing relaxation meditation and it helps a lot with stress.

I wont write all my symptoms that I have, as everyone has described it very well. I have had it for about 2 months. I may have found something that works for me anyway. The throat "discomfort" the "ears feeling full" sense, the hand that is wrapping around the throat, feeling as though your blood pressure is off the charts etc.. All that I have and continue to have, but I believe mine is slowing going away. Here is what I did.

1. Drank more water everyday

2. Started taking Gaviscon antacid pills, just the over the counter ones, at about 4 per day

3. Stopped eating spicy food totally.

4. My friend slid me some Valium

What I found was a noticeable improvement in about 10 days. The first 3 things were to get rid of the "invisible heartburn" and the valium was to lessen my stress (Im currently in the middle of separating after 15 years of marriage, 3 kids, mortgage all that stuff)

I now believe that the trigger for my symptoms was the separation, but always had the "heartburn" just didnt realize it at the time. Hindsight is 20/20. At times I would get that huge pain in the back when going to be and needed to sleep sitting up, didnt know that was heartburn. I noticed a couple weeks ago that my symptoms got worse when I ate spicy food and drank beer. Usually after our hockey game we would go to the bar for wings and beer. I noticed it got worse later that night. Exercise helps as I rarely feel the pressure when playing hockey, but I believe its because Im not thinking of the stress stuff as mentioned above. I also noticed it was really bad if I over indulged myself in eating. Found that smaller portions of food didnt make the pressure so bad as compared to a big meal.

Im no Dr, nor is my friend, but the Valium relaxes me and it takes the pressure away. Im taking 10mg per day, but my friend has been on it for most of the past 20 years so she knows what the affects are etc... but obviously talk to your Dr about this. Personally I havent talked to my Dr yet about what Im doing, but going through all that bloodwork, tests, cardiograms, ekg's, stress tests etc.. figure I couldnt mess it up too much.

So for me I think the 2 main things are: Stress and Heartburn. I will post back 1 week from today to let you all know how Im doing and if my symptoms are getting better. This had been the worse "sickness" I have ever had, I feel for us all and I hope I can help some one out if what I fould works for any of you.

Take care all out there, were not alone   XD

I TOOO HAVE THIS PROBLEM AND AM BEING TESTED FOR DIFFERENT THINGS MINE HAS TO DO WITH INJURIES TO HEAD AND NECK FROM A SEVERAL CAR WRECKS MY MRI SHOWED BULDGING DISC AS TO STENNANOSIS BUT IT DOESENT APPLY TO THE FRONT OF NECK AND THROAT IM TRYING TO FIND OUT TOO MY DOCTOR THINKS IM CRAZY OR EXAGERATING BUT I KNOW WHAT I KNOW IT HURTS GOOD LUCK IN FINDING THE CAUSE

I just wanted to throw out some... more likely scenarios other than malignant causes of your tightness. In general you have to localize the side of your neck tightness. if its anterior its going to be your sternocleidomastoid/platysma/scalenes. If its posterior its then there are various longitudinal muscles that could be the cause. I recommend seeing a non-sugical orhopedic specialist. Usually with a D.O. degree rather than an M.D. degree is preferred because of their use of OMT which is a technique they use to diagnose. There are varying degrees of D.O.s with capable sets make sure you've researched their qualifications. 

To all of you that have been to doctor after doctor with no answers please have a nasal culture for staph.  I had a bad cold and started with the  same complaints after the cold was gone.  I kept getting sicker and sicker very slowly over time.  My ears became involved and I was so sick that I thought I was going to die.  Took seven years for a good diagnosis and by then a lot of damage had occurred.  I ended up having 7 surgeries (yes, I said 7, 2 sinus, tonsils, adenoids, septal and 2 ear surgeries.  Staph is very quiet and in the right areas will promote pressure but no pain.  By the time it was confirmed it had turned into chondritis/osteomyelitis giving me neurological symptoms.  We all carry staph on our skin.  Lots of people carry it behind the nose.  Normally, it is fine unless it colonizes.  Being that I had a bad upper respiratory infection (viral) my eustachian tube became partially blocked giving nasal staph time to colonize and quietly start taking me down..  Until I started having the pressure you have all described I had no clue.  My ears did not bother me in the beginning but as time went on man was I sick.  7 Years ago when this first started I went to an ENT complaining about the pressure in my throat.  Had no clue that the ear was involved nor did he.  It is a very strange area back there due to referred pain/pressure.  Lots of nerves run through that area.  Please go in for a simple culture and tell them you want to be checked for staph A, Pseudomonas A., and MRSA.  This stuff can take you down slowly and it can get into your heart (endocarditis) and brain.
My neighbor runs a culture lab at a major hospital.  When I told her what was going on she said OMG, I get cultured weekly for it due to my job.  Folks that work in ICU units and cancer units get screened weekly as well because their patients are immunocomprimized and would die if they caught this.  My neighbor said if she starts feeling run down or pressure she gets a culture because she knows all too well the ramifications.  If this colonizes you have two choices surgery or IV antibiotics.  My last surgery was 2/28/12.  Tomorrow marks the one month mark.  I still have a ton of gel packing in my ear that does not get removed for another 2 weeks.  Hopefully after that I will be given a clean bill of health.  Amen.