I am scheduled for surgery with Dr. Annino in Boston at the beginning of September (it could have been sooner but I have some stuff going on that I’d prefer to wait).
Dr. Annino says I’m definitely a candidate for the surgery due to having 4.5cm styloids, with one being slightly larger and thicker on my symptomatic side. I’m lucky that mine isn’t in a dangerous position so it’s not an emergency and more quality of life.
My symptoms for the last two years have been jaw and facial pain on the right side that causes shoulder, neck, and back pain and some facial pain that was once misdiagnosed as trigeminal neuralgia. I’m lucky in that I’d been going to PT for the jaw pain and my PT did a hands on assessment and noticed it was weirdly tight under my jaw. My PCP ordered a CT scan no questions asked and it was from there I got a diagnosis. I had never heard of this syndrome.
My questions for the group are: 1) How soon after surgery did it take you to get back to work? I started a new job back in January and would prefer not to take too much time off in the first year. 2) I have bad posture and I’m afraid that most of my pain is due to nighttime teeth grinding. I’ve been working on strengthening my upper body to fix my posture which admittedly has helped a bit, but definitely hasn’t been a fix. Have any of you had teeth grinding and bad posture but your pain still got better after surgery? I’m just afraid I’m doing this surgery for nothing.
We suggest taking at least two weeks off after surgery & then, if possible, starting back part time or requesting to work from home so you can take breaks as needed. You may be able to go back to work w/in the second week after your surgery if your pain level is manageable & your energy level allows, however, too much & too soon will slow recovery & can cause symptoms to flare up again even if they’ve subsided to some degree. Also, it’s not uncommon to be very low energy for a month or two post op so that can play into how ready you feel to head back to the office. If you have a job that requires heavy lifting, then waiting 3-4 weeks is better so your neck has more time to heal.
Recovery from ES surgery can be a bit of a roller coaster as nerves tend to recover in fits & spurts i.e. you’ll feel significant improvement then suddenly, pain comes back for a while, then it goes again. This can happen repeatedly over a number of months & in some cases up to a year or more as the nerves recover. Most people have significant improvement by 4-6 months after surgery.
You’re in great hands w/ Dr. Annino. I’m glad that’s who you’ve chosen to do your surgery. He’s helped a number of our members over the years.
I had nerve pain in my jaw and teeth mainly , but it was also worsening and causing tingling & numbness in my face before surgery… The tingling went away completely after surgery & the nerve pain improved as well, but I’m like you & have bad posture and tight neck muscles which I do think contribute a bit to the facial pain. I’ trying to fix mine with exercises too, & have had regular myofascial release massages which helped as well. But the surgery was definitely needed for me, as well as vascular symptoms being relieved, the ear pain I used to get has gone, and my neck pain & I have much better movement in my neck. So I’m sure the combination of surgery & improving your posture will be helpful. You still have a few months before your surgery , so if you keep up strengthening your neck & shoulders & improve posture you’d know if that is enough to make a difference- if you’re still getting the facial pain by September than I think it will be clear to you that surgery is needed & you’ll feel confident you’re making the right decision
