Tenderness over carotid artery on left side of nexk

[Deepseathree]

It’s been awhile since I’ve post, so hello again. This morning I started having a pain over the carotid artery on the left side. I thought it was muscle at first until further inspection.

It doesn’t actually hurt until I touch it. Movement doesn’t irritate it until my head is stretched at an angle as far as it can go. It’s mainly in one single spot that stretches maybe an 1 1/2 inch. When I tilt my head back, it feels tighter on the right side.

Just looking for some insight so I don’t go down a rabbit hole.

[bin tenn]

Sore muscle. I get this frequently, usually because I wake up with neck pain due to sleeping with my head in less than ideal positions.