Suggest treatment for pain around carotid artery, under jaw radiating to ear/shoulders
Patient: hi,  I have always had pain around my right side carotid artery, under my jaw, radiate to my ear, and my shoulders.  Sometime i feel it is on the side of my throat.  It is wearing me out, my memory is geting weaker and weaker, sometime i feel as if everything blocked as it affect my proper breathing and i dont feel i am relaxed...i am 49 by the way and i had this for few years now ... but it is geting worse and causing me to be rigid and stiff... can u tell me plz what i should do and what could be the diagnosis and what kind of doctors i should visit...   thx..   MK Doctor: Hello MK!I passed carefully through your question and would explain that your symptoms could be related to a temporo-mandibulary joint dysfunction or a bulging disc in the cervical vertebral column, causing radicular nerve pain in this region. For this reason, I would recommend performing a cervical spine MRI study. If this test results normal, I would recommend consulting with the ENT specialist for a physical exam of the temporo-mandibulary junction. Anxiety could also play an important role on all this clinical scenario, too. Hope you will find this answer helpful!Kind regards, Dr. Iliri