Hi guys. I'm 5 weeks post op and it has been ROUGH! I didn't know what was going on. Everything went down hill. At my first week post op I told the doctor about the pain I was having in my eye, head, ear, &jaw. He said those areas had nothing to do with the surgery. I couldn't figure out what was going on. It felt like someone had a hammer pounding a nail through those areas. Especially when lying down. I've been to three different emergency rooms.
The first said it could be swelling pressing on nerves. I was given steroids&pain pills. The second said a tooth infection. I was given antibiotics for 10 days&pain pills. The third said it was my TMJ! I was told I should've had a mouth piece after the surgery since I had TMJ. Well, I never told the doctor I had TMJ. I forgot about it because I haven't had probelems in years. But, finally, I got the correct answer.
I went to the dentist and told him he could pull ALL my teeth out if need be. I just wanted relief. He laughed and said if it is TMJ pulling teeth wouldn't solve a thing and my teeth were perfectly fine. I was fitted for a mouth piece and when he put it in the horrible hammering a nail pain immediately went away. I cant believe I suffered for 5 weeks thinking it was all a part of the recovery. I'm feeling wonderful. Better&better each day!!! Thank God!
The bad part is my family said I was faking the pain. That really hurt. Its bringing tears to my eyes as I type. I normally don't talk to anyone but close family about anything that's bothering me. I've decided to keep it all to myself.
I too had pain from teeth grinding and crowns. My specialists assured me it was not the cause of the pain in the back of my throat from Eagle's Syndrome. Just an unfortunate coincidence.
I am truly sorry that your family thought you were faking it. Lots of people do. My husband knows that I am not, but sometimes I get aggravated with his 90+ year old parents who seem to never have any pain or issues. Good genes both of them. They seem to think that I should be well all the time. I was well until 2010. Then I had thyroid cancer and surgery for that, then found out about Eagles, and a spot on my liver(thank God not cancer) had Eagles surgery that seems to be only marginally successful and recently surgery to repair a torn hip muscle. While on the walker, I seem to have injured my shoulder and or neck, same side as Eagles and like you I have TMJ, so don't know what is going on, but pain in my shoulder, neck and jaw are haunting me. I can understand that people wonder if I am faking but I have been getting better after each thing. It just seems like I have a lot of things wrong and I do, but I still go everywhere and do whatever everyone wants.I just hurt a lot, Mother-in-law suggested that I should not have anymore surgeries. I told her that would be nice, but I don't want to end up an invalid with her son taking care of me.That kind of gave her food for thought. Had I not had the hip repair, I would have been in a wheelchair permanently. DUH:
I am so glad the mouth piece is helping you. Mine helps me most of the time. Sometimes, though it feels like it hurts. I am guessing the mouth piece is not my problem. Best of luck. We just need to keep on pushing forward and taking care of ourselves so we can take care of the rest of the family. If we don't get well, we won't be able to help the family.
emma..thanks. A massage always helps with the shoulder, neck and jaw pain also. And yes, we must take care of ourselves first..best of luck to you as well.