Hiya everyone, I’m a 28 year old female recently diagnosed with eagles syndrome. I didn’t get much information other than my right side is a lot worse than my left and is indenting my jugular vein. I am looking some insight to what people’s experience with recovery has been like as I am due to start a new job 2 weeks after my surgery date, I work in quite a physical role as an auto electrician so would love to know people’s experiences, thank you
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Hi & welcome to the site!
Surgery recovery does vary, but I don’t think you will be ready to start a physically demanding job 2 weeks after surgery I’m afraid…I found too much physical work- even housework was painful for a few weeks after surgery, and I found my neck was too stiff to drive for several weeks as well. I didn’t dare lift too much for about 4 weeks (I was a volunteer working with young children). We have had some members who have gone back to physical jobs early, or gone back to sport, but this does affect their recovery and sometimes they’ve not had good results from surgery. You really need to rest while your body heals, and to ice regularly. Often with this surgery people find they can’t open their mouths wide enough to eat very well & chewing can be painful, so it’s common to need smoothies or soft foods for a week or two as well…
So if you are able to postpone your start date for the new job for a couple more weeks then that might be better for you…
How is your surgery being done, external or intra-oral? Intra-oral can be a more painful recovery as well…
There’s info in the surgery section of the Newbies Guide if you want to read up:
ES Information- Treatment: Surgery - Welcome / Newbies Guide to Eagle Syndrome - Living with Eagle
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@julianne - Welcome to our forum. Do you mind saying who is doing your surgery? It’s important especially with IJV compression to get it done by a surgeon who is very experienced doing that procedure. Prof Elliott is someone in your country whom we know has a lot of experience with ES surgeries where IJV compression is also a problem.
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Surgery produces some pain (e.g. like your jaw or accessory nerve pain to shoulder) and swelling, so I would say that it takes a couple of weeks at a minimum to look normal and feel like neck isn’t so sensitive. You still can’t move your neck easily, so that would be a problem. If you take a steroid the day before surgery as some doctors prescribe, it can limit the swelling, but you would still have limitations and pain. I did something stupid only 2 weeks after surgery on my right side (left done already) like carrying a ladder, because my siding was blowing off the house due to too few nails to hold it on and high winds. I am fine, but probably not a good idea to do a physical job. Lifting 30 lbs is the only restriction that my doctor gave me for 12 days for the trans-cervical route, but you will be uncomfortable even if not lifting.
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Thanks for the information! I have no idea what to expect really as I didn’t get much information about post surgery or what that might look like, my surgery is external forgot to mention! I did ask about the likelihood of me being able to return to work this soon after surgery and was advised I would be able to after 10 days or so but then hearing from other people’s experiences it sounds very unlikely… and I wouldn’t want to commit to a start date and then be under pressure to be ready for work if I’m not back to full ability by then
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We have found that doctors often believe recovery is really easy and that people can be fit for work in a week, they don’t understand what it can be like really! If you’re able to put back your start date for another couple of weeks that would give you time to recover properly 
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No way, 2 weeks is not enough time. I had extreme vertigo if I did too much the first several weeks/month after surgery and easily tired. Im 3 months out and still dont feel im at same level of work energy(but that could also be my 3 kids too)
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You made a good point, @Silverstrand. Trying to recover while parenting 3 children could certainly slow the recovery process. Your energy will come back but I think having low energy for a while post op is part of the body’s way of helping us keep a slower pace so it can recover.
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