Very interesting they would do a fundoplication. Im curious what symptoms they related to reflux? I almost had that done in July because I have reflux and a small hiatal hernia. I ended up canceling it when my PCP said I wouldn’t be able to vomit. I was originally going to do what is called a TIF procedure which was less invasive but they were seeing alot of failures. It seemed like it would be a narly recovery but I figured Id lose a few lbs.
Ive had neck problems since my early 20’s and I am now 65. I had two whiplash accidents at age 19 and 21 and was also a drafter and leaning over a desk alot which gave me severe headaches. I also had my tonsils out at age 17. There is alot of ES patients that have had tonsils out. I figured out early on that chiropractic and PT/massage helped. In my 30’s I had some rounds of proliferon as my orthopedics felt I had neck instability and I had been over-adjusted. They also told me I was hypermobile. At the time, I didnt know I had ehlers danlos-hypermobility. In my late 30’s, early 40’s I started having jaw pain (along w severe occipital pain) and went to 2 pain centers in Los Angeles. I was under alot of stress. Thats when I found out about cranial sacral therapy. It took about 6 months of weekly massage, OT and cranial sacral work to pull that pain under control. Ive since learned when things are getting out of control to get on it right away with all the therapies. In 2015 (age 60), I started having severe shooting pains starting in the middle of my throat up to my ear and what felt like an explosion in my ear and it felt like a bone in my throat. After a few doc visits and MRI’s, (no one could figure out what was wrong) I was given some oral steroids which helped at the time. A year later I had another flair but on the other side. I also sought out some TMJ specialists too. I later learned the CT scan they did back then had the elongated styloids and calcifications but they didnt consider it to be a problem. In 2018 & 19 I went to a new pain specialist and had some injections and dry needling. When it was helping very much I was referred to a neurologist for more in depth injections. It was then he mentioned Eagles. Thats when I started doing my research and found this blog. I happened to have a real bad pain flair and pressured my PCP to do the cat scan (he thought it was TMJ). Low and behold there was indications I had eagles. In short order, I sent the scan to Dr. Samji and had my answer within a couple weeks and I had surgery a couple months later.
I was warned that the surgery may kick up my TMJ. It did and it took a few months (april 2020) to calm down. Other than that, I recovered well. My 2nd surgery was in Dec 2020. I had some tongue issues but no tmj flair from that one. A couple months later I got my TMJ appliance to realign my jaw. I was actually doing quite well 6-7 months after surgery until I had to have an emergency tooth extraction (June) which caused my Trigeminal nerve to go crazy. I honestly just wanted to put into a coma until it all past. It was excrutiating. It took weeks to pass. I still have alot of numbness in my neck but I get regular massage and work on the scar tissue. Dr. Samji is really good at making his incision in a wrinkle in the neck so you cant even see a scar. Pretty good given I had about a 4" incision on both sides.
This blog saved me. Once I found out what it was and had the support of others here, it made all the difference in the world. No one can relate to it unless they have walked the same path. Since alot of docs out there dont know much about eagles or believe it causes all these problems, the support here helps you keep going to get the answers you need.