Glad you’ve worked out a comfortable system!
Yes, mine got really swollen and continued to swell until about the third week out and started to slowly go down. I did not have a drain in like you, so I think it was a bunch of fluid that is now being re-absorbed.
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Hey all. So tomorrow will be 5 weeks since my surgery. The swelling has went down a lot but I am still experiencing some pain daily.
I would say it is less than before surgery but still about a 4/10 on the pain scale. Some days it’s a constant pain below my TMJ near my mandible and other days it feels like a pinball jumping from mandible to TMJ, to my temple and also my temporalis muscle and behind my ear.
I get muscle spasms in my neck near incision also.
It feels like each day barely gets better. Today is a 4 but yesterday was like a 4.1, 4.2 if that makes sense.
I know everyone is different but should I expect this for 8-10 weeks before I start feeling good?
It is still early days, but I would hope that you’ll notice improvements soon, it might be a few better days, then gradually more…it does seem to vary alot for people, but there should be a general upward improvement. Have you got a post-op appt with your doctor? It might be worth discussing options for painkillers depending on what you’re taking now? If your incision’s healed okay then massage around the area should help with the spasms if you’re not already doing that? I’m sorry, I can’t remember if yours was bilateral surgery or the one side? If it was bilateral then that is a tougher surgery…thinking of you & hope that it improves soon 
I second all that Jules said & will say that it was a good 8 weeks after my first surgery before I started feeling somewhat normal again. Nerve pains came & went w/ some days being pretty uncomfy & others feeling pretty good. Gradually the good days won out over the bad days & some symptoms even disappeared w/o me noticing they were gone until they’d been absent for awhile. By 6 months post op, pretty much all my symptoms were really gone for good.
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I’m curious if anyone has used class iv laser therapy after surgery. It helps the body to heal but also reduces inflammation. My chiropractor uses LightForce and I find it’s helped on other issues.
Yes, MusicGeek was the first one to mention cold laser therapy for post-surgery, it worked well for her…
That’s great, I know if I get to the point of surgery, I’d want as many tools as possible to heal well and reduce the inflammation of a very important area!
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Thanks everyone. I was actually feeling pretty good until about a week and a half ago I went to my massage therapist and she worked on my jaw, neck and head area. Before surgery it would take me about 3 days to feel better after soreness from a massage. However, it’s been 10 days now since I got one and still hurting a bit. I think I’ll hold off for awhile on the next one. My therapist is the best one around where I live also I just think maybe it might’ve been too soon? Doctor Hackman said it was fine to get one.
That’s a shame, I hope that it soon improves, does sound as if it was a bit soon for you…
Perhaps next time ask for her to be more gentle or do less work in each area. I’m not sure what a massage therapist feels for as far as muscle release when doing a massage but it may be that whatever lumps & bumps exist after ES surgery need to be there for awhile & resolve on their own rather than being pushed to earlier resolution via massage. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m a hug fan of massage, but I do know that the neck area is pretty sensitive & it might be easy to overdo there w/o a lot of effort.