Sorry I failed to update at 4 and 6 weeks, but I’m at 8 weeks out now and doing pretty good. All of the surgery pain has been gone for a couple weeks. It’s too soon to say how much relief I’ll ultimately get since bilateral, but there are signs it has helped. I’ll bullet point the symptoms I still have so hopefully its a quicker read.
Pros
• No more surgery pain (probably since week 5-6)
• Very optimistic - have had headaches that were worse on left side than the right. I had jugular compression and I’m attributing it mainly to opening up that blood flow. Also nerve compression I’m sure is part of it too, it just feels vascular. I found this more noticeable first 2-3 weeks after surgery than the last 2 weeks.
• No more pain in throat or scratchy voice
Cons
• Not really a con, but earlobe is numb. There is a tiny spot right where ear attaches to head that is painful to touch, but the only thing this really affects is it makes putting in earrings difficult haha
• First bite of something, especially if it is a little hard/crunchy, creates pain and it feels hot. This may be TMJ, but is new since surgery. Not terribly bothersome since it doesn’t last more than a couple minutes.
• Randomly get very bad, sharp pain right where ES was taken out. Luckily it doesn’t last long either. Hoping this goes away when get other side taken out.
• Still dealing with facial nerve damage affecting eye. Vision is blurry and burns sometimes. Better than right after surgery, but still pretty annoying. And I don’t know how much of my headaches/pain on that side is due to eye strain. Just one more factor to add to the mix lol
• I find I have very low energy level. I have no idea if this is connected to surgery or not. May be more related to eye strain? Just thought I’d mention it.
Hope this info helps somebody who is looking into having surgery done!