Thank you all of you for your reply’s. I went to doctor who believes it will eventually get better. I hope so.
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Me too for you 
Hi Tatiana - Nerves can be intolerably slow to heal. Recovery from ES surgery is a “game of patience”. I’m sure as time passes, you’ll notice bigger & better changes in how you feel. It’s just really hard in the in interim.
Jodi and Tatianac,
Very sorry to hear about your pain. I am following your journeys with interest as I’m concerned I might too need more work done after my intraoral surgery. Will be asking for post CT if things don’t calm down very soon (which is looking unlikely)…
Hi tatianac
I had my surgery last September. My symptoms before surgery were mostly constant ear pain and pressure. Took a long time to figure out it’s ES so the doctors sent me to a physiotherapist because apparently lots of my symptoms were common in patients with TMJ. The exercises she did were not really helping and later it turned out it was ES. Since i had the surgery done the ear pain and pressure is gone and only come back sometimes. I found out that those TMJ exercises now really do help. I can imagine that the symptoms were caused by the Styloid causing the muscles to tense up but because the styloid was present they were never able to relax and now after surgery, whenever it happens, i’m able to get relief with some of those TMJ exercises.
I don’t know if they are useful to you and also i don’t know if it causes problems with your scar because mine is on my neck but i attached a PDF with the exercises that are helping me whenever my ear starts acting up again. The first 2 exercises in the PDF are the ones i’m doing when i have ear problems
edit: Another exercise that’s not listed in the PDF i remember from physio and i use is this:
Place your finger as in the first picture in the pdf but instead of pointing insid have it pointing up. Move your yaw sideways in the opposite direction. you should feel your finger being squeezed between the muscle. Hold for a few seconds and repeat
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Things not improving? What symptoms are you still getting? Thinkibg of you…
I’m sorry to read your news, onelessstyloid! I do hope you’re able to determine the cause - whether styloid or scar tissue induced. Unfortunately, as you well know, some surgeons don’t remove enough of the styloid or don’t smooth the tip of the remainder off. I hope this isn’t your case, but a CT scan will help determine that.
Thank you for your great contributions to this forum. You know we’re here for you, too, should you need/want your own support.
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Hi Jules
It has being a roller coaster with ups and lots of downs.
I have pain behind and under my left ear and throat. When I wake up I don’t have pain but as soon as I swallow salive, pain starts. And it gets worse when lay down. Yesterday I slept with 2 pillows to keep my head up and it was much better. The irony of it is that I lused to love to lie down because the pressure of the ears (reason for opting for surgery) disappeared.
But when I take a heavy amount of metadona, pain gets under control. I
mean, I still have pain but it is more manageable. I am also taking cymbalta, nortriptiline and baclofen. All these meds give me several bad side effects. But I still have hope some day I will get rid of them. Once a week I have accupunture and physical therapy and I am still considering pulsed Radiofrequency.
Thanks for remembering me
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Surgeon said it is hard to know even with CT if the problem is the pointy styloid. Trying to decide if I should do pulsed Radiofrequency or not and then talk to dr Samji.
Thanks again
Thanks everyone for the messages. I seem to be having vascular symptoms still. Hopefully they will clear but I am not very optimistic. Am concerned that some of the styloid remains. What a journey we are all on!
That’s tough, if a little bit remains & is compressing a blood vessel that can be enough for some symptoms. I was lucky in that although my jugular veins were compressed right up to the skull base, the doctor was able to take the styloids off there.
An alternative is that perhaps the blood vessel affected hasn’t sprung back properly after the styloid’s been removed? I was told that that can happen, & if so stenting might be needed. A CT with contrast might be helpful to show what’s going on if you continue getting symptoms?
I only have pain. No other symptoms. The thing is that pain gets worse whenl ay down…
Thanks Jules for the ideas. I think I’m going to sit tight for a bit and see if things improve. Most likely a moot point as the hospitals will likely soon close for awhile to non-urgent cases.
tatianac -
Does lying down but w/ your head elevated help at all? Perhaps you still have a bit of inflammation even though your surgery was awhile ago & sleeping/lying down in a more upright position for a month might help that go away. Optionally, I think Jules mentioned, you could have scar tissue that has built up from your surgery that is compressing the nerve. Either way, try head elevation when sleeping. It does take some getting used to but at least it might help reduce your pain.
I’ve heard that hospitals, grocery stores & gas stations will stay open. It’s just that elective surgeries will not be an option for awhile.
I am sleeping with my head up. I wake up feeling better than when I was sleeping head down but as day goes by, pain starts. Really weird.
Thanks Wendy
Perhaps your daily activities irritate the nerve just enough to get it flared back up later in the day. Was it Jules who suggested you might have internal scar tissue that is pressing/rubbing on the nerve? You may also still have some post op swelling which will go away w/ time. I still believe you’ll continue to recover & eventually this pain will stop.
Thanks Wendy!
I believe I will fully recover too.
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It is so encouraging to be reminded that things will continue to improve with time in may cases. Your situation sounds exhausting. I can relate to so many things but on a far lesser scale. You are strong!
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This is my belated thank you for this note. I am unfortunately still having vascular symptoms after intraoral procedure. Am trying hard to focus on other things as there is little to do about getting new imaging at the moment.
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