I’m hypothesizing that eagles caused jaw issues and trap issues and now it feels like my whole body is just off. Always in a constant state of tension. Post surgery it’s like my traps don’t know where to land? Has anyone else experienced this or think that eagles caused whole body misalignment for you?
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Yes to both jaw and trap. My left side C1 is rotated towards the former styloid. I have had years of left sided problems that became acute when ‘something’ changed last spring. What I ‘suspect’ is my accessory nerve has been impinged or irritated… I would like to have it tested, but worn out from Dr.s and such. Dr. Hackman said he didn’t think the accessory nerve was near the styloid… So hard to say, but my body says differently (?).
Since surgery, things are loosening up and I am now able to do my stretching and yoga which is helping. I will soon get back to lots of walking (was doing 2 and sometimes 4 hours a day on the treadmill (during winter) for overall strengthening as well as my attempt to get my left side neck and shoulder muscles to relax.
My jaw ligament and stylohyoid ligament were both very tight (per Dr. Hackman) and he said it all moved much better after released, so we’ll see how well the jaw settles after I finish healing.
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Goodness I’m banking on styloids and accessory nerve involvement. 
I never talked to Hackman after surgery. I wish I would have been able to.
Walking sounds glorious! So thankful you are able 
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@JSwing - It is a fact (& well known on this forum) that the spinal accessory nerve can definitely be affected by elongated styloids. I had terrible neck pain, shoulder pain & my collar bones ached. I don’t remember about my traps at this point but somewhere in my old posts, I listed all of my symptoms. I expect I had trap issues, too. I also had significant skull base pain which may have been related. Those symptoms did go away after my styloidectomies, but I didn’t document my recovery so don’t remember how long after surgery those symptoms lasted.
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I met with Dr. Hackman for the post surgery follow-up 4 weeks after surgery and that is when I asked him about accessory nerve involvement. After surgery, it was a quick ‘fly by’ the hospital room.
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Isaiah 40:31 what do you think about Hackmans thoughts? Is it a fact? I wonder what other surgeons would say.
I think every doctor who does ES surgery has a different opinion about which nerves are affected & which symptoms might go away & which might stay, however, there is general agreement about the trigeminal, facial, vagus, glossopharyngeal & hypoglossal nerves. I disagree w/ Dr. Hackman regarding the accessory nerve. As you can see in the image below, the spinal part of the accessory nerve (CN XI) runs right through the area where the styloid grows. I’m not sure why he holds the opinion that he does.
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@JSwing My left trap has tightened up considerably since my styloidectomy, and I had constant neck stiffness before surgery. I have tried upper cervical chiropractic treatments and would occasionally feel balanced, but it never lasted long. I wish I knew the cause and the cure.
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Hi, I agree nerves can of course affect our bodies.
But I think it can be more complicated than that as well.
For those of us that had CCI the body imbalance that creates can cause a lot of muscle imbalance & tension. Our heads are heavy & tilting it to one side is a problem.
If no CCI but just VES our brain/bodies generally can only compensate for a certain level of imbalance I find. In physics everything has an equal & opposite force & I think our bodies obey that rule too. This includes fluid imbalance in our skulls due to venous outflow obstruction & the excess lymph fluid it involves & this can cause tension in our bodies. I think tension at base of skull & at top of traps is a common symptom of VES.
It’s difficult to remedy that but it’s good to keep trying things out to find things that help. D
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Does this include whatever nerve is responsible for first bite syndrome? Over the last couple of months I’ve been having pain on my first one or two bites of food. I don’t quite know how to describe it; it’s like a weird but painful…radiating???..sensation on the bottom half of my jaw, I think toward the back if I had to be specific. I’ve been wondering if this is what so many people get after surgery, but possibly in a less painful version. And therefore wondering if whatever nerve that is might be now impacted on me as well?
I am so sorry that you’re worse after surgery… these are some of the things that I look forward to feeling better about after…
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Isaac has posted some useful info on nerves causing first bite syndrome I recall. D
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From what I’ve read, the great auricular nerve and the glossopharyngeal nerve innervate the parotid gland …
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@akc - What you’re experiencing does sound like FBS. We’ve had a few members who’ve had it as an ES symptom. It seems we each experience it slightly differently. Of the nerves @Jules named, I think the glossopharyngeal nerve is most at fault because it’s commonly irritated by elongated styloids. The GPN can cause various symptoms according to which part of the GPN is irritated (i.e. it can also cause mouth, tongue & throat symptoms, too).
I had very severe FBS after my first surgery (thankfully not after my second one!). My husband thought it was funny to see me grab half my face & dance around the kitchen when it hit (he really is a nice guy…I looked silly 
). It gave me an adrenaline surge, heart palpitations, head rush & intense pain in the lower right half of my face nearly every time I started eating. I opted not to take nerve pain meds but did learn, for me, the best defense was to stay very hydrated which kept my saliva more dilute which in turn reduced the intensity of the FBS symptoms. Taking a drink of water before starting to eat might also be helpful. Figure out your trigger foods & minimize how much/often you eat them for the time being. Some foods were worse than others for me. Your styloidectomy should relieve the pressure on your GPN which should help your FBS subside.
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Oh that must have been awful! I’m so sorry you had that so badly and very glad that it does not persists. Thanks for sharing and also for clarifying that it sounds like I am indeed getting a “taste” (see what I did there 
) of FSB.
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You made me @akc. Thx!! I hope yours goes away instead of getting worse once your styloid is out. My glossopharyngeal nerve was very annoyed by surgery so I suspect that’s why I got FBS so badly.
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Did it resolve eventually? How long?
@Kaycee - I still have FBS but rarely. When it does hit, it ranges from mild to very intense. When it’s intense, it’s always on a day when I haven’t been drinking enough so my saliva is more concentrated. The theory I put forth about staying really hydrated helping to reduce FBS symptoms has consistently held true for me. Most people recover from FBS post op w/in a few weeks to 2-3 mos. In my case, I count it a reminder of how far I’ve come since it first started, & I am grateful for where I am today. It’s a small price to pay for being rid of my ES symptoms.
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