I haven't seen my doc about this because I'm [logically] pretty sure it's nothing, but it's really annoying.
I have dyspepsia and get some fairly unpleasant belching fits on occasion. I had it worse a few weeks back when I was under significant stress. That's when this started.
The pain is usually on the right side, near the median of my throat, where my Adam's Apple would be were I male. However, sometimes, it's on the other side, a little lower, a little higher, or shoots up into my jaw along the length of the muscle. It feels like a muscle ache. It's on the outside only - no sore throat or hoarseness.
If it already aches and I move suddenly, it becomes a sharp pain.
It may not show up for days, then come on suddenly. I never wake with it, but some days it shows up earlier in the day than others (today, it started around 1PM, but yesterday I didn't have any discomfort until about 8PM). It seems to get set off by anything that upsets my neck muscles (today I was carrying my 18 month old in the baby wrap).
I've pretty much made up my mind that this is a muscle issue, but I'm pretty stressed and succumbing to fairly severe hypochondria right now, so hopefully someone else has experienced this and can offer some insight on how to treat it.
Edited to add: I saw the dentist for a check-up just a few days before this started. No lumps or bumps, no tenderness, no inflammation then, and still none now.
I saw a doctor today and walked away feeling like I'd wasted my time. Last night I developed pretty severe tenderness behind my left ear and this morning that left but an ear ache came for a short while. Enough was enough, so I went to the walk-in clinic.
She said the pain in the front of my neck was due to swollen glands, ear pain was from otitis media and that she also sees from pharyngitis. All in all, upper respiratory infection gone wild. After 90 seconds in the room with me, she said she would prescribe zithromax and told me to alternate Tylenol and Motrin for pain and swelling. Great.
The nurse came in to give me the home care instructions, and I asked her if it was normal for a URI for last for several weeks - this all started around November 6th/7th. She said they'd been seeing tons (her emphasis) of people with URIs that linger for weeks, even months, before resolving. Ultimately, according to her, antibiotics did nothing to treat them, so they're all viral.
Being a difficult person, I then ask why I'm being given zithromax. I just finished a 7 day course of penicillin (root canal), and my stomach just got back to normal. If this is all viral, why the antibiotic? The nurse said that there was no antibiotic, but went to talk to the doctor. A few seconds later she came back, said the doctor "forgot" to write it down in the instructions and she was going to call it in.
This didn't answer my question: If the current bug going around is viral, what good is an antibiotic going to do me?! Assuming it is bacterial, the penicillin should have knocked it out. She agreed, but said it wouldn't hurt to give the zithromax a shot. That's just illogical...
I don't know what to do now short of going to see my regular doctor, but it seems pointless to pay for another visit for something that's been a minor annoyance for several weeks and may just be viral to boot.
WOW!
This is the first time i have found anything online that relates to this issue.
The pain is excruciating when it gets a hold of you, the first time i experienced it, i was asleep and i awoke to the pain, as i sat up i felt "POP" on the right hand side of my neck, i thought nothing more of it and went back to sleep, the same thing happened a month or two later, the pain started randomly (if anything, i sneezed) and it gradually got worse after 20 minutes, i was sent to the hospital, i couldn't speak loud enough to be heard by the receptionist, i could not swallow or move without this pain almost bringing me to tears.
I sat there waiting for an HOUR to be seen and i just squeeze my neck as if i were strangling myself and "POP" the instant relief was amazing, i felt so much better.
From that experience i have spent so much time trying to find other cases.
I have had the same problem occur now, maybe 8 - 10 times, i have finally found a way to relive this and encourage this "POP" sensation.
Around the 5th episode i was lay on my bed with my feet hanging over the side of the bed, just trying to rest, i did a "Sit-up" motion with my legs lifted, hands by my side, and "POP".
Each time this has happened i have found a place to lay down where my legs were lower than my hips and did the same sit-up movement and it does relive the pain and "POP" takes place.
I hope this helps for anyone else experiencing this pain.
