What Causes Back Head Pain, Neck Pain And Difficulty Swallowing?

Posted on Tue, 23 Feb 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 23 Feb 2016 Answered on

Wed, 4 May 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : Hello, A couple of weeks ago I had a sore throat, headache and pain in the back of my neck. I also had some sinus congestion. I took otc meds for the pain and congestion. After about 10 days it seemed to be better. Then yesterday I woke up with the back of my head/ neck hurting and when I swallow it's really painful in the back/ inside of my head. My throat doesn't hurt any more but the pain in my head when I swallow is bad. I haven't had an appetite so I haven't been eating much. But it also hurts my head so much to swallow that I don't even want to eat. I took ibuprofen and it didn't help at all. I also tried a decongestant and that didn't help either. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you, XXXXXXX

Answered by Dr. V. N. S. Parinam (-5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Pharyngitis

Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX

Thank you for the query.

You seem to have unresolved acute pharyngitis like problem. Whether it is due to allergy or infection or any mass is not known yet.
at this time it is prudent to get pharyngeal examination under ENT. This rules out a lot of worrisome issues. Generally Ibuprofen should help and if does not help I wonder about a mass in there. It would be good if the ENT doctor or primary can rule that out in the pharynx or the back of the throat.
Similarly Claritin is a great antiallergic it should take care of the pain due to allergy.
Hence I call for testing and examination together.

Let me know if you have any further queries.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D