Has anyone become worst after surgery?

Hello again. Now a month after my intraoral surgery and I must say my symptoms of pain in front of the ear, neck and left arm have been a lot worst since then.

It seems that something happened during the surgery. All the left part of my face hurts like hell down to my left arm.

The only improvement I have felt is less sensation of foreign body.

Does anyone know what could be happening to me? I know for a fact that the surgeon cut 1.5 cm (which its too little) but why do I have more pain than ever? And even one month after surgery?

Is it too soon to sk for a CAT SCAN one month after surgery?

Tks on advance for your replies.

Vanessa

I want to preface my response by saying that almost everyone I know of improved significantly after surgery. My surgeries have each increased my quality of life a lot. I just wish the guy who did my first surgery got all the syloid out - if he had, I wouldn't be having my remaining problems.

But I do know of one person who seemed to get worse after surgery. She eventually found out that the surgeon missed her styloid completely. I believe she said that he must have taken out the hyoid bone instead of the styloid. She had a very hard time after her surgery. I think she eventually got another CT scan about 3 months after her surgery which showed the styloid was still there completely intact.

There is another person on here, Shaw, and I believe his doctor missed the styloid completely, even though he previously removed the styloid successfully on the other side. But I don't know if he felt worse after the surgery.

So maybe you do need another CT scan. Usually people are pretty well recovered after a month. I would guess though that any doctor is going to tell you to wait a couple more months.

I guess it's possible that the surgery could have hit some of the nerves and it may take a while until they "calm" down. I really don't know what to tell you - that really sucks. I wonder if you could have an infection? I think risk of infection is one of the reasons that some doctors don't want to do intraoral surgeries. What does your doctor say?

Hi and tks for your reply.

I am uploading a picture of what he said was my left styloid. He said is was elongated and not calcified. But he said it was hard for him to find the tip since it was straight as the other side. I hope it just inflamated nerves. What do you think of the pic?

My Doctor said no infection and he believes is a nerves problem that should go away.

On the other hand I did talked to Dr Samjis office (thanks for your help) and he wants to wait the 6 moths to operate on me. So I guess I would be doing that if I am alive by then :(

Hugs hugs




heidemt said:

I want to preface my response by saying that almost everyone I know of improved significantly after surgery. My surgeries have each increased my quality of life a lot. I just wish the guy who did my first surgery got all the syloid out - if he had, I wouldn't be having my remaining problems.

But I do know of one person who seemed to get worse after surgery. She eventually found out that the surgeon missed her styloid completely. I believe she said that he must have taken out the hyoid bone instead of the styloid. She had a very hard time after her surgery. I think she eventually got another CT scan about 3 months after her surgery which showed the styloid was still there completely intact.

There is another person on here, Shaw, and I believe his doctor missed the styloid completely, even though he previously removed the styloid successfully on the other side. But I don't know if he felt worse after the surgery.

So maybe you do need another CT scan. Usually people are pretty well recovered after a month. I would guess though that any doctor is going to tell you to wait a couple more months.

I guess it's possible that the surgery could have hit some of the nerves and it may take a while until they "calm" down. I really don't know what to tell you - that really sucks. I wonder if you could have an infection? I think risk of infection is one of the reasons that some doctors don't want to do intraoral surgeries. What does your doctor say?

228-photo.JPG (57.5 KB)

It definitely doesn't look like much was removed. I would get another CT and see what is going on. Perhaps yours was not all in one piece? Sometimes they are cracked so there are multiple pieces. A new CT scan couldn't hurt. Based on all my reading, if they don't take out enough of the bone then the remaining bone can still pull and irritate the nerves. You could be worse because the surgeon must move the nerves to get to the bone. I was told it can take up to 3 months for the nerves to settle down. Hang in there. I know this is a hideous disorder.

I will add one more thing. Intraoral surgery is tough on the neck and shoulder. They position your head to one side, clamp your tongue to the other side then cut pull and tug in your throat. I was in pain after surgery for over 3 months. I will also say that I came out of it with pain running straight down into my shoulder form my mid clavicle area. I still have it, but my doctor removed 2.8 centimeters of styloid. I am wondering if the intraoral surgery just has a negative affect on our neck and shoulders from the position. My surgery was over 18 months ago. I already have some degenerative disk disease so I really believe a nerve is pinched or a spur in my neck is now irritated. I have found that posture retraining and icy hot patches on the trigger point in my upper shoulder mid clavicle area relieve the pain. I can't take NSAIDS because of a previous stomach ulcer, but I have a script for NSAID patches. I cut them in half and use them occasionally. With constant attention to neck up and straight and shoulders back and down and some daily gentle rotator cuff therapy, I am feeling better. I have been working on this idea for 6 weeks. In a couple months, if I am not better from the therapy and posture work and patches, I will be able to convince my shoulder doc to do an injection or MRI. They don't want to do that until therapy does not work because most strains or small tears can heal themselves without treatment. I have learned the drill, it took a couple years to get to surgery for a torn hip muscle. And yes, when I have a patch on my shoulder, my ear pain goes away and if the foreign body in my throat comes back which it only rarely does. The patch on my shoulder alleviates it also. So thought we might try to investigate the shoulder strain or tear or weakness as a possible cause of symptoms after surgery. All my pain had gone away and being on a walker injured my shoulder again and the Eagles came back so it may not be the Eagles at this point, could be the shoulder strain. Patches keep me happy for now. In a couple months back to the orthopedist if I still need patches.

Our ENT's can't are not orthopedics and can't predict the possibility of shoulder or neck strain, I guess.

I am 1 week post styliodectomy but I had the external procedure where they went in behind my ear. Firstly 1.5cm seems very much to remove. Mine weren't particularly long but the surgeon said he removed the styliod completely. Secondly from how I understand the surgery. There are many nerves involved and there is risk of nerve damage resulting in nerve pain or numbness. Do you think its nerve pain? I have ended up with the later but the surgeon says it may improve. He says six weeks before we can make a decision on the success of the procedure. When are you due to be reviewed again?


Hello Emma

I think you are absolutely right. I am having more a neck problem. I also think I might have Ernst Syndrome. It is a facility pain that comes after a surgery with open mouth. Many people have develop facial pain and ear pain after a dental surgery for example. My pain is not better yet but I don't think it is related to Eagles. It's more of a consequence of the surgery.

Tks for your feedback. Cheers,

Vanessa


emma said:

I will add one more thing. Intraoral surgery is tough on the neck and shoulder. They position your head to one side, clamp your tongue to the other side then cut pull and tug in your throat. I was in pain after surgery for over 3 months. I will also say that I came out of it with pain running straight down into my shoulder form my mid clavicle area. I still have it, but my doctor removed 2.8 centimeters of styloid. I am wondering if the intraoral surgery just has a negative affect on our neck and shoulders from the position. My surgery was over 18 months ago. I already have some degenerative disk disease so I really believe a nerve is pinched or a spur in my neck is now irritated. I have found that posture retraining and icy hot patches on the trigger point in my upper shoulder mid clavicle area relieve the pain. I can't take NSAIDS because of a previous stomach ulcer, but I have a script for NSAID patches. I cut them in half and use them occasionally. With constant attention to neck up and straight and shoulders back and down and some daily gentle rotator cuff therapy, I am feeling better. I have been working on this idea for 6 weeks. In a couple months, if I am not better from the therapy and posture work and patches, I will be able to convince my shoulder doc to do an injection or MRI. They don't want to do that until therapy does not work because most strains or small tears can heal themselves without treatment. I have learned the drill, it took a couple years to get to surgery for a torn hip muscle. And yes, when I have a patch on my shoulder, my ear pain goes away and if the foreign body in my throat comes back which it only rarely does. The patch on my shoulder alleviates it also. So thought we might try to investigate the shoulder strain or tear or weakness as a possible cause of symptoms after surgery. All my pain had gone away and being on a walker injured my shoulder again and the Eagles came back so it may not be the Eagles at this point, could be the shoulder strain. Patches keep me happy for now. In a couple months back to the orthopedist if I still need patches.

Our ENT's can't are not orthopedics and can't predict the possibility of shoulder or neck strain, I guess.

I know crmfghtr only had a partial removal and he is struggling after the surgery. He is still in a lot of pain. He believes he needs a full removal, not partial. We are currently trying to find a doctor in MN to help us as that is what our insurance covers. We have only been able to find docs that do partial removals.