Hi all! Quick question for those who had their surgery with Dr. Hackman: how long was it before your ears felt relatively normal after surgery? I am about 5 months post op and still having a lot of pain near the TMJ, and a feeling of incomplete healing in the tragus area in the tissue below the incisions near the ears.
Otherwise, my recovery is still moving along. Other than some numbness near one of my neck incisions, the jaw/ear issues are really all that’s left to deal with post-op.
Thanks!
I’m 5 weeks out from surgery with Dr Hackman and I still have a lot of pressure by the TMJ area. It’s slowly getting better but moving at a very slow rate. I’ll have a few good days and then a few bad ones. I’ve seen a few people mention how it took at least 6 weeks before they saw real improvement with the post op pain, but I feel like it’s going to take me months at the rate I’m going.
Hi @Dobbs,
Some people need nerve pain meds to help break the nerve pain cycle when healing. At five mos. post op if your pain is still significant, you may want to ask Dr. Hackman or your PCP for an Rx of Gabapentin, Amitriptyline, Carbamazepine, or the like, to try. Nerve pain meds can take a few weeks to begin helping so don’t get discouraged if you do try them & don’t get instant help. Just getting relief from chronic pain can sometimes allow the body to heal better & resolve the pain so meds can be stopped later.
@Isaiah_40_31 i thought about that! It really feels more like pain from the overall procedure and maybe console scar tissue in and around the joint as opposed to nerve pain (it’s more of an ache than anything). I’ll have to ask Dr. Hackman what the best suggestion is - if I hear back I will relay for the group!
Are you doing gentle massage using your finger tips w/ vitamin E or Bio oil on & around the incision area? That can help keep the scar tissue from getting too dense. I’m glad you’re not struggling w/ nerve pain, but any type of pain is miserable. 
I’m UK so not had surgery with Dr Hackman, but I do still get a sort of tension around the scars which are behind my ears, I still massage them regularly with Bio oil which helps. Hope that you can get some answers, good that your surgery has helped though 
Hey I plan on posting an update soon but wanted to say that my ears have healed almost all the way. Although occasionally I get this little bump by the back of my lobe on the bottom but those healed as well as I can imagine and my surgery 1 year anniversary will be this November!
He gave me clonazepam to help with the nerve pain / help me sleep and its been the only thing to ever help me sleep and not remember my nightmares lol
Is the scar by the ear where they trim the styloid process off at the base of the skull?
Really pleased for you @Asumhannah , & thanks for popping by, good to hear you’ve healed well!
@Bc2 yes to get the skull base
What do they do with the muscles, ligaments that are attached to the styloid process after they remove it?
This is a great question, @Bc2. The stylohyoid ligaments are often fully removed. They play a minor role in helping w/ swallowing & most people don’t even know they’re gone. Sometimes the stylomandibular ligament is also calcified & gets removed during ES surgery. Again, it’s a ligament w/ a minor role & is generally not missed once it’s gone.
As far as the muscles go, what happens to them depends somewhat on how the styloid has elongated &/or how extensive ligament calcification is. We have reports on here of small muscles being dissected to allow access to the styloid/s-h ligament & one would assume those muscles heal back together during surgical recovery. The muscles attached to an elongated styloid &/or calcified ligament are removed from the bone & left in place. That’s part of the reason there is a fair bit of swelling & healing isn’t super quick w/ this surgery. The wounds caused aren’t just at the surface. There is much internal healing that is going on as well w muscles, nerves, tendons & ligaments which have gotten moved around or cut (in the case of muscles) during surgery. A surgeon can’t tell you ahead of time what needs to be done to access your styloid/ligament prior to surgery. (S)he needs to do what is required, very carefully, as the surgery proceeds. Does this make sense?
Yes…I was wondering if any or the muscles, ligaments etcetera were stapled directly to the skull. It sounds mostly like they can be totally removed.
As far as I know, nothing attached to the skull will need to be reattached due to this surgery. If I’m wrong, I hope another more knowledgeable member will correct me.
@Dobbs how have you been, I hope there were positive changes?
@vdm I have pretty much plateaued from my recovery from the ES surgery, but I am still happy to have reductions in intracranial pressure, sleep disturbances, and severe anxiety (this has improved by 80-90%).
I also have confirmed CCI, and cerebellar tonsillar ectopia, all caused from ligament damage to my c-spine. I have quite the road in front of me for recovery. And I am further developing my own personal theory that many ES sufferers who have a lot of neurological symptoms may also have some level of CCI.
As far as surgical recovery goes, other than some TMJ pain & stiffness and one spot on my neck that is still numb, I have fully recovered (just over 6 months post op).
Hope this helps!
Great that you’re feeling improved following surgery @Dobbs! Sounds like a way to go still…we do seem to have quite a few members with CCI; do you feel like this is worse since surgery, that’s been discussed recently?
@Jules I definitely think the surgery (whether directly or indirectly) affected my CCI. I think it has more to do with bed rest pre & post op, and atrophy of muscles because of the rest period, than the surgery itself. But its hard to say if the calcified ligaments were holding some of the instability at bay. It’s always a guess when dealing with multiple, complex issues. The unfortunate truth that I’m finding out as I go through treatment for CCI, is that it may have been possible for me to avoid the styloidectomy procedure altogether, but that’s only a hypothesis, and mine were indeed oversized (4.4 and 4.9 cm), and also 1mm away from the transverse process of my c1.
My overall health I think has improved, but the main issue that I’m personally dealing with is atrophy of my hand muscles & weakness in my arms, wrists, and hands. I’m hoping and praying that they can get things figured out (I’m down to about 30% of my usual strength and the hand muscles are rapidly shrinking), so if anyone on the thread can shoot up a prayer, I would be most appreciative.
I have brachial plexus compression & a bulging disc at c5-c6, so no need for anyone else with only ES to worry about that complication, just another part of my unfortunate journey.
If anyone has any more questions, please lmk!
Dobbs
I am truly sorry to hear of these symptoms your experiencing. Definitely sending many prayers your way!