So today marks day 4 since surgery....I have not been feeling well....Brain fog, kinda dizzy, anxiety, head kinda feels weird, disoriented, nauseous....maybe its from going under who knows...I don't have much pain in that area but its STILL numb.... I still have ear pain and base of the skull pain....kinda scared that I went though surgery for nothing if I still have these pains... my smile is crocked, and I'm starting to get some buzzing sensations in the numb area where he did the incision....hmmmmm..... I really don't know what to think at this point, maybe its still to early to judge....but NOW I'm getting pain in the other side as well (ear pain, humming in the ear, and under the chin hurts)....ugh....when will this all end....
It is still early- there's often swelling and nerves will be irritated... I know it's hard, and scary if you don't feel better straightaway, but sometimes it can take a while, so try to be patient, and take care of yourself. Hoping you feel better soon!
Kelx, did you get a chance to look at some of the others' reports of their post-surgery experiences? Maybe that would help ease your mind.
Yes many many times I have tried to look. Couldn’t find much. Ill try and relax its just hard when things still feel the same. Kinda get me depressed and sad
I hope you Will feel better soon
Hi Kelx,
Take heart! The first week after surgery is the worst as far as pain and swelling go. The second week is also hard. It was a month before I really started to feel better and 2 months before I felt kind of normal again. I had my second surgery last August and the side of my neck & jaw where I had that surgery are just now starting to get feeling back after being numb all these months. Nerves are slow to heal, but be paitent and they will. Your crooked smile will also return to normal. A crooked smile after surgery is not uncommon. I didn't have that but did have half of my tongue paralyzed after my first surgery. With time it has healed and is mostly back to normal, but it took about 9 months for it to start working right again. It's been said again and again: You have just had a really major surgery. It will take time and patience for your body to heal. Be easy on yourself, rest when you need to & don't push yourself at all for at least the first 2 weeks or longer. I know you have a toddler which will make the resting part harder but do the best you can to take it easy.
I will be praying for a quick recovery for you.
Hugs for you!
Thanks everyone! Feels comforting when ppl respond as well don't have many ppl on this site with this condition...I don't have any pain on that side, just soreness...Its day 7. It still looks swollen and it feels like a hard lump...Is that normal???!!!!
Im starting to get a VERY LOUD HUMMING NOISE in my opposite ear...and it hurts....as well as the chin area where the styloid is....I wonder if its the styloid causing this loud loud hum omg....its making me go INSANE
Hi Kelx, the soreness, swelling and hard lump are completely normal.
I don't know about the humming, but I do know that with me (and with a number of other people) - when I had surgery for Eagles on one side, for some reason, the other side seems to rev up. I have no idea why, but if you have bilateral Eagles, the not operated-on-yet side may seem to get worse after surgery on the other side.
This is not a diagnosis, but I ended up with Meniere's Disease between my two styloidectomies. I believe it was caused by a bicycle accident I had w/ a head injury just before I was due to have my second ES surgery. A symptom of Meniere's is a super loud humming in the ear that is accompanied by distorted hearing in that ear (i.e. incoming sounds are amplified and sound "tinny". High pitched sounds in particular are painful to hear.). After several days of the loud humming, I have found my thinking was affected & like you, I felt like I was "going crazy". I haven't heard that ES surgery can cause Meniere's Disease to onset, but if your symptoms are similar to mine, try to get into an ENT office to see the hearing specialist there to get your hearing and ear checked out.
Thanks everyone! Feels comforting when ppl respond as well don't have many ppl on this site with this condition...I don't have any pain on that side, just soreness...Its day 7. It still looks swollen and it feels like a hard lump...Is that normal???!!!!
Im starting to get a VERY LOUD HUMMING NOISE in my opposite ear...and it hurts....as well as the chin area where the styloid is....I wonder if its the styloid causing this loud loud hum omg....its making me go INSANE
I’ll defiantly be telling my ENT about it the end of April. But the humming was there on and off before my surgery. After my surgery it just never stopped and its louder than usual. Ahhh I hate it lol
Tinnitus is quite a common symptom of ES, I think, although not mentioned so much in the research papers, more from 'us'. It could be as Heidemt says that if you have bilateral ES it has made that side a bit worse. I had a lot of tinnitus which was worse on the side I've had operated on, that has improved with surgery. But that makes the side I'm waiting to have done more noticeable! Some people find listening to music with headphones can help, especially if it's annoying you trying to get to sleep.
Don’t be worried. You need time to recover. Give your body and brain time and be patient.
It’s my 6th day since surgery and already I feel it is so easier to deal with pain. This pain I feel now, it’s caused by surgery, I can feel that. I don’t have that thing in throat, I don’t have pain in mandibula, cheek and eye. It’s a miracle.
Be patient and strong and all will be good. You are not alone and all of us know how hard is when you wait that light on the end of tunnel.
Sending you hugs.
hey kelx how are you feeling now?
Well I’m still in pain, the same kind of pain I was before the surgery. So I don’t know why this would be! Ugh I don’t know what to do anymore 
Sorry to hear that Kelx,; just try to be patient, it can take a while.... sometimes you start to notice little improvements, then before you know it lots of symptoms have improved. If any of your symptoms have improved then focus on those positive outcomes from surgery. When do you have a post-op check up?
Thinking of you....
Well I’m going today because of he humming in my other ear, I still have this horrible pain behind my thyroid cartilage. No one seems too believe me that I have pain there since you can’t see it in the ct scan so it must not exist, they say
There's a lot of small lymph nodes in that area- maybe it's inflamed because of the ES and giving you pain. If it's quite deep it perhaps can't be seen on a scan or felt? Don't know- it must be tough going through the op and still having that, I hope your appt. goes okay today.
How are you feeling? Hoping you're doing better!!
Stephanie
Keep heart lady!
Just try and remember you went from a constant irritant to a big wound in your neck. Things are gonna be weird.
I found keeping a log of what I felt each day was helpful in keeping an objective outlook on recovery, and making note of what was similar, different, better or worse from day to day and from current vs pre-surgery.
It also creates a good object to angrily point to when discussing issues that haven't been resolved or have become worse since your surgery.
During my recovery my tinnitus came back Hardcore. I'm guessing it was in part due to swelling and because I was holding my neck and head awkwardly. Some of the supporting muscles were SO sore I felt like a floppy headed infant. At some point the ringing also turned into what sounded like a moth flapping in my ear, but it was related to how tight my neck muscles were. The awkward posture also made the other side of my neck and arm hurt Really bad.
My mouth and face were Definitely weird and lagging. It took about a month to begin to see some improvement.
The buzzing sensations may be a good sign tho. I got buzzing sensations, and the feelings like electrical zaps around my scar. I remembered from injuring my hand many years ago That was the exact feeling when my nerves started to heal in my fingers.
It's a little early to be jabbing at your incision, but some of my symptoms really lingered until I was able to begin stretching the muscles behind the scar. My PT showed me how to gently massage it to break up some of the adhesion and it massively improved the numbness and pain. She also gave me this gel (Or said I could use a blister bandaid) to put on top of it to keep the scar from growing uh.. outward? I guess? It helped the lumps forming in it to heal flat and give a break to my nerves.
I hope your ENT has some idea how to keep helping you and you're starting to feel a little better!
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I am having surgery in 8 days. Just wondering how you are feeling these years later?Thank you for any response. I am terrified.