Carotidynia is a rare condition with one-sided neck pain as its main symptom. Healthcare providers can treat the neck pain and other symptoms. This harmless condition goes away in two weeks or less, but it can come back. Experts don’t know what causes it.
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Carotidynia is a rare condition that causes pain on one side of your neck. The pain happens due to inflammation in your carotid artery, typically where it splits into two branches. With this issue, the carotid artery walls thicken, but the inner cavity doesn’t. That means a normal amount of blood can still travel through. It doesn’t cause problems with blood flow.
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Adults of all ages can get carotidynia, as well as teens. This short-term condition tends to happen more often in females.
People also call this condition Fay syndrome and TIPIC (transient perivascular inflammation of the carotid artery) syndrome.
The main symptom of carotidynia is mild to severe pain and tenderness in your neck. Pain is usually on one side of your neck. But healthcare providers have seen cases of bilateral carotidynia, which affects both sides.
Other carotidynia symptoms may include:
Experts don’t know the exact cause of this condition. But it involves swelling or inflammation in your carotid artery, which an infection may initially trigger. A healthcare provider needs to rule out other vascular and nonvascular causes of pain.
A healthcare provider will do a physical exam and ask about your medical history.
They may also use an ultrasound of your neck to rule out other diseases that cause neck pain. If an ultrasound doesn’t provide enough information, you may need other imaging.
MRI or CT images may show thickening in your carotid artery wall. This happens at the wide part of the artery, where it splits. A PET scan is another option, in some cases.
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Blood tests, along with these imaging studies, can help rule out other causes of neck pain.
While you wait for this condition to pass, you can treat the symptoms. Carotidynia treatment is usually pain medicine like NSAIDs or aspirin. Corticosteroids may help if the pain isn’t going away.
You should also rest and manage your stress level. Moving your head as little as possible may keep the pain from getting worse.
Contact your provider when you have pain in your neck. Pain in this part of your body can come from many things. Some of the other conditions that cause neck pain are dangerous and need prompt care. This is why you should see a provider. They can order tests to check for a number of conditions.
Questions to ask your provider may include:
Carotidynia can last a week or two. Then, it goes away. This is a benign (not dangerous) condition. When people get imaging scans weeks later, the carotid artery looks normal again.
For many people, this condition comes back in one to six months.
It’s unnerving when you wonder if the pain in your neck could be something serious. Healthcare providers can perform tests to check for such conditions. But carotidynia isn’t cause for alarm. With medicine, you can feel better. And the pain goes away in two weeks or less.
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Cleveland Clinic's health articles are based on evidence-backed information and review by medical professionals to ensure accuracy, reliability, and up-to-date clinical standards.
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