so, about 14 weeks after surgery I started noticing that when I drink anything cold or even sometimes when I take a deep breath, I can feel the cold in my surgery ear. I don’t feel it at all on the other side, but I can feel a rush of temperature on the surgery side. does anyone else experience this? I wonder what causes it? I haven’t reached out to Dr Hackman about it because I can’t tell that it’s actually bothering anything, but it’s so insanely weird to feel the temperatures so intensely inside your ear.
I am about 20 weeks post surgery at this point, so it seems to just be a trait I have now.
I know people including myself have had the sensation of your ear being wet inside when it’s not, I presume that’s related, so maybe yours is a nerve thing too otherwise? Nerbes can throw up some quite weird sensations when they’re healing, although 20 weeks is a while after surgery some members have noticed they still heal & see improvements even after a year, so maybe it will go…must be really annoying!
my ear feels full all the time. The Dr said it was nerves that have not recovered and that I would see minor improvements for a year, but that it would likely always feel full to an extent. I have read about that on here so knew that happened to people.
Hi TP12. I had tubes and my ears and this happens to me sometimes. My ENT also let me know of this sensation prior to treatment. I was very young, but still remember that conversation.
I would venture to bet invasive surgery in that area could prompt this sensation. As long as it is a sensation and not pain I wouldn’t be too concerned.
Beyond that can you share how you’re feeling after the surgery? Do you believe it helped?
I had a car accident that the Dr believes shifted it and that lead to me figuring out what was wrong. Prior to the car accident, I had years of undiagnosed shoulder and ear pain that drs couldn’t explain. I lost a substantial amount of my hearing in the affected side when all of that started. they told me an untreated ear infection probably took my hearing, but the Drs would tell me I didn’t have an ear infection when I went for ear pain.
After the accident I started having occipital neuralgia feelings, just extreme pain and pressure in the back of my head that made it hard to function at all, my teeth and jaw chattered 24 hours per day with no ability to stop them for months on end and my pulse and blood pressure went up roughly 10 points on both.
post surgery all of that is gone.
i have comments on a thread out there that are detailing my generalized healing because I did have facial paralysis following the surgery and couldn’t find enough comforting convos on here about that. so I wanted to make sure other folks could find my experience. it took about three full months to have everything fully functioning on my face, but I lost muscle definition in my face during the time. The muscles in my face are still a little different and one of my eye brows is way higher than the other one post surgery. Certain facial movements will bring it back down to where it was before, so I’m hoping over time that will work itself out. I’m certain no one other than me really notices it though.
Your nerves are still healing & will be for up to a year after surgery. It’s my guess that the nerves causing the sensation in your ear are in a healing phase where they’re more sensitive. I wager that feeling will go away over the next few months. If, at some point, it’s painful or affecting your hearing or otherwise concerning, I would definitely call Dr. Hackman to have a chat.
Regarding your facial muscle changes, I would bet there is some type of PT you could do to help restore muscle tone. When a person has a stroke there are a number of therapies that are sometimes needed to help restore at least some function to the face & throat (for swallowing). I contacted a swallowing PT clinic after my ES surgery because I had trouble for a few months, however, they required a referral, & my PCP wouldn’t refer me. He said I didn’t need it. I was angry because he wasn’t around when I was choking every time I took a sip of water, but I got over it, & mostly recovered from that problem on my own.
Here’s a link to an article from WebMD for face exercises following Bell’s Palsy which causes stroke-like facial paralysis. Maybe some of the exercises described in the article would be helpful for you. Also, I there are likely some YouTube videos as well. Exercises for Bell’s Palsy: What You Should Know to Get Started
It sounds like things are good otherwise. I’m so glad you’re healing well!
