Hi Snapple, did you have a foreign body sensation in the throat or ear pain or any of the other symptoms in specific?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3191668/
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When the patient presents to the otolaryngologist with symptoms of pain in the throat not consistent with tonsillitis, foreign body sensation, referred otalgia and headache, a differential diagnosis of Eagle’s syndrome should be considered.2,4 Diagnosis is usually made by palpating the tonsillar fossa for an unusually elongated styloid process, (Fig. 1).14-16 The diagnosis is confirmed by soft tissue lateral radiograph of the neck, skull Towne’s view or a computed tomography (CT) scan.14 Approximately 4% of the general population have an elongated styloid process and a calcified stylohyoid ligament, but only a small percent are symptomatic.14,15
In this is a case series, of the 15 cases with elongated styloid process with symptoms presenting to the ENT/OPD KVG Medical College, Sullia. KVG Hospital, Sullia is a 750 bedded medical college in South India. The daily ENT 0PD patient input is 60-70. The hospital has a catchment area of 6 towns with nearly one lakh population each. All presented with history of pain and foreign body sensation in the throat. Of these, nine were females and six were males. Examination of the oropharynx revealed a chronic tonsillitis in all the cases. As the pain did not coincide with the clinical symptoms of tonsillitis, palpation of the upper part of both the tonsillar fossa were performed using gloved fingers. A sharp prick or a blunt bony elevation was felt in most of the cases on palpation.
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The mean duration of symptoms was 7.53 months with main presenting symptom being pain in the throat, foreign body sensation, referred otalgia, headache, carotidynia, dizziness and dysphagia. Other clinical symptoms in literature such as pulsatile tinnitus, palpable neck mass and globus pharyngeus were not reported. In 12 patients, elongated styloid process was bilateral and in three patients, elongation was unilateral.
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Tinnitus = ear ringing.
Otalgia = ear pain.
Dysphagia = discomfort in swallowing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysphagia
Carotidynia is a syndrome characterized by unilateral (one-sided) tenderness of the carotid artery, near the bifurcation. It was first described in 1927 by Temple Fay.