I am still recovering from ES surgery. Wish it went faster but patience is the key I guess. My question is has anyone went through the surgery on their worst side and then got so much better they did not need surgery on their opposite side?
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I wish your recovery was swifter too for you 
Did you have many symptoms on the other side? Not everyone needs the surgery both sides; my symptoms did increase after the first side was done (or maybe the worst side was masking these a bit, being alot more painful?), they didn’t ever get as bad as the first side though. I’m UK so we have long waiting times, & it ended up being a year between surgeries; although the 2nd side wasn’t as bad, I still had IJV compression by the styloid & that worried me, and some nerve pain, but while I knew of a good surgeon & could get it done I decided to go for it. Which was lucky as he’s doing less surgeries now! The recovery for my second side was easier, I don’t know why but that often seems to be the case, although maybe not if you have intra-oral.
Sending you hugs & prayers for your recovery 
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We have members who did not need their second elongated styloid removed. My experience was the same as @Jules though - the symptoms my remaining styloid were causing ramped up after the first one was removed so surgery #2 was necessary, but that is obviously not everyone’s experience.
I am praying for your recovery to move along steadily, @Deb7, With intraoral surgeries, the first month can be the worst then the real benefits of surgery become more obvious after that.
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@Isaiah_40_31 and @Jules thank you both so much for responding. My left was always the worst side I thought. Not much ear pain on the right or side throat pain. Pain in the middle of my throat and a feeling of something being stuck there. Headaches on the left side, only silent migraines on the right side. (No pain, just a light show) Trigeminal Neuralgia on the left. Eye pain on both sides. Ringing in my ear on the right. TMJ both sides but more pain on the left.
Seems like no rhyme or reason. Hard to say if anything has improved yet because the pain is still making its voice known. I am still hopeful. Thanks again. 
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Keep patient if you can & try not to worry too much if things don’t feel like they’re progressing much…hard I know. I think doctors really do minimise the recovery with this surgery, & aren’t honest about how long it can be for improvements
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@Jules I so agree. Dr. Chang said 2 weeks good to go for pain gone. I do not think so. But he did say 4-5 weeks to see how it helped. Hope that is true.
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Hello all, so I went to my first appointment post surgery. My surgeon Dr. Chang said I was healing very nicely. I could start eating what I want as tolerated, also can resume the Valsalva Maneuver. ( so happy about this) He took 3 cm off my 4.4 styloid. He reached up as far as he could get to cut the styloid off. He said it would not be growing back. He said no PT, exercise of area or stretching, and no Chiropractor for at least the next few weeks. The plan now is to have a phone appointment in 8 weeks to see what symptom’s have disappeared after the healing. I so hope they all disappear. If I get good results then I will schedule the last surgery. We shall see. I recommend Dr. Chang if you live in the Twin Cities/Minneapolis/ St. Paul, MN. area. He knows his stuff and I felt calm having him do the surgery. He said he only will do surgery on those he thinks he can help. I am hopeful in the next 2 months of healing to see more symptoms disappear. I will trust in Jesus for total healing of the area. I am so glad that one is almost behind me.
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I’m glad that your doctor is happy with your healing so far, and it sounds like you had quite a decent chunk of styloid removed! I hope that more of your ES symptoms disappear with time
What hospital is Dr Chang at? I don’t think that he’s on the list?
@Jules He is at Health Partners Specialty Clinic, St. Paul, MN. He is the ENT there.
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Hello all, I made it through the night, but I had the worst neck pain I think I have ever had. It lasted all night long into the morning. I got no sleep whatsoever. It felt so tight in the back and front of my neck in the muscles and my head. My jaws hurt and the trigeminal nerve on the side of my face by my eye. It just came on for no reason that I know of. I was told no PT or stretching for 8 weeks but not sure I can go that long with no stretching of my neck. It gets so tight. Any thoughts? One day good the next day worst ever. The unending saga of Eagle’s Syndrome. This is hard to take. 
I’m so sorry that you’ve had a bad night, I wonder what caused that? Does heat help, or ibuprofen gel? That does help when my neck gets tight…otherwise some members have used topical lidocaine or lidocaine patches so that might be worth a try? I wouldn’t want to contradict your doctor’s advice; my neck was very tight after surgery so I did very, very gentle stretches to loosen it from a week after surgery (I didn’t have any advice not to about it afterwards), just laying down with my head on a pillow and did slow turns side to side.
Recovery from ES surgery is pretty up & down, but that sounds a bit extreme, sending you hugs and prayers
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Thank you @Jules for the advice. I am going to do the side turning. I have to do something. Will also try lidocaine patch. When I went to see him yesterday he said the surgery site muscles were VERY tight. He said as it heals it should get better. I think maybe last night I had spasms and it caused my TMJ to flare up too. (I have not been able to wear my appliance.) My husband said maybe today wear it forban hour or so on and off, so that is what I am going to try and do. I appreciate you responding. I really do not want a repeat tonight. 
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I added Dr. Chang to our Doctors List.
I’m very sorry for the bad night you had last night (2 nights ago for you now, @Deb7 ) & hope & that tonight is better. I’m glad @Jules had some suggestions as I never had a problem w/ tight neck muscles post op so didn’t have any great advice to offer.
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Thanks for adding him to the list @Isaiah_40_31 , I looked him up & then forgot 
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Thank you for adding Dr. Chang to the list. He is a great surgeon. We need more surgeons to do this surgery.
On another note, I am 23 days out from surgery and even though my pain is better it seems to change it’s stripes every day. Is it normal to still have pain this far out? I really thought by now that I could sleep flatter, sleep on my side without pain. I think it is harder for me because I still have my other issues. TMJ and Trigeminal neuralgia. And to make matters worse I picked up an eye infection this past week on my surgery side so now I deal with all of that including steroid/antibiotic eye drops several times a day, compresses etc. 
All I can do lately is take hold of God’s hand and move forward. I also think my complaining is unproductive for me as it is out of character. My whole body feels like it has been run through the mill. Thanks for listening though. On some level it helps.
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@Deb7 - I’m really sorry to hear about your eye infection. So annoying when you’re dealing with two uncomfy health challenges at once!
I didn’t start sleeping better until I was 6-8 weeks out from surgery. I had to sleep on my wedge pillow for at least 6 weeks because when I didn’t, my throat would feel like it was swelling closed which would wake me up repeatedly. Pain from your surgery can go on for a number of months post op but usually starts subsiding in greater earnest by 2 months out w/ some decrease or resolution in symptoms possibly happening sooner.
The fact that you’ve had significant TN for some time can mean those symptoms will take longer to recover as the nerve needs more time to heal. Nerve recovery is very slow in some cases & can take a year or more for full recovery with symptoms slipping away gradually.
You also were diagnosed w/ bilateral ES which means your remaining styloid could be continuing to irritate your TN & is contributing to your remaining symptoms so you may have trouble w/ TN until your other styloid is resected. I’m sorry this isn’t great news, but it’s something that many of us who had bilateral styloid elongations have experienced.
I’ll continue to pray for you & am glad you’re leaning on God for comfort & encouragement. He’s promised none of the experiences in our lives will be wasted so there is a purpose for what you’re going through. Listening to praise music can be helpful to take your mind off your pain & present situation.
I will continue to pray you feel His loving arms around you & that His peace will invade your soul especially on your harder days. 
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Thank you so much for this encouragement. I needed it and the post surgery advice. It is hard to have pain each day and then to wrap your mind around having another surgery, but day by day. I will be so happy when I see even a little change in how I feel after this first surgery. I appreciate you and your prayers greatly.
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I agree that it is still normal to have pain, it is only 3 weeks so still very early days- hard to hear I know
Before you got your eye infection, was your eye feeling gritty at all? I wonder if the nerves have been affected a little bit & your eye is drier? If so a lubricating eye drop might be needed once the infection has gone. Gentle hugs & prayers, keep holding His hand, it’s all we can do sometimes & He knows…
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Good Morning @Jules Yes, I went in to see my eye doctor and he said after looking into my eyes with his machine, the surface of my eye was extremely dry. He too said use the eye meds he gave me but also my dry eye drops in-between. Thank you for your thoughts. It is hard to hear some days on how healing may take a whole lot more time than I thought. I went for a small walk this morning with my husband and all the energy I had is gone. It is only 10:00 in the morning. I did not do much at all and yet I feel I did hard physical labor. Oh my…
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Your energy will come back @Deb7. Having low energy is one way our bodies force us to take extra down time after surgery so the energy goes into healing rather than into our physical activities. Movement like taking short walks is important to keep the blood circulating well, but resting w/o stressing about the lack of energy is also important. Give yourself permission to ease into wellness. I too wished recovery would happen by leaps & bounds vs baby steps.
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