Hello everyone!
I’m having my surgery in three days with Dr. Hackman and I was wondering what I should be prepared for. I am getting a bilateral styloidectomy. My left one is driving me insane. I’m having severe nausea, brain pressure, brain fog, balance issues, and so forth. I’m in total misery. Does eagle syndrome affect the back of your head too? I also have CCI but I know this pain isn’t from that. It feels like something is being squeezed.
Welcome, @jentroutty100! I’m glad your surgery date is coming up soon! Your first week post op will be the worst as post op swelling is the worst on days 3-5/6 after surgery. Icing your neck your neck w/ a thin cloth between skin & ice pack for 15-20 min every couple of hours will help a lot. Also sticking closely to the recommended pain meds schedule for the first week is helpful. Sleeping with your head elevated to 30º will help reduce neck & throat swelling, too. A wedge pillow is good to help w/ that. You can also try a U or V shaped pillow placed under your chin to try to keep your head in a comfy position during sleep.
Your throat will be sore from the breathing tube used during surgery & your jaw may be sore for a couple of weeks thus having soft foods ready to eat for a week or so is a good idea - protein smoothies, soups, hot cereal, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, apple/fruit sauces, & whatever else you like. My husband kindly put regular meals in the blender (meat, veggies, & almond milk) & blended them. It looked awful but tasted great!
Recovery occurs by baby steps so you may not feel any real improvements initially. It’s very important to take it easy for the first couple of weeks post op then as you begin feeling better, gradually add activities back, always listening to your body & stopping if you feel pain or fatigue & resting when it asks you to.
Nerve recovery can be very slow as can recovery from vascular compression which it sounds like you have. Symptoms will come & go & come & go over the next many months, but ultimately they go away for good or at least reduce significantly. Healing is a process that requires patience. We’re here for you along your recovery journey. Please post concerns & questions as they arise.
I will put your surgery date on my calendar & will pray for you that day.
Good you have surgery soon, and many members have had successful surgery with Dr Hackman!
@Isaiah_40_31 has pretty much covered everything, but here’s a link to our info about surgery, there’s even a suggested shopping list:
ES Information- Treatment: Surgery - Welcome / Newbies Guide to Eagle Syndrome - Living with Eagle
A constipation remedy might be helpful to get beforehand as some of the pain meds can bung you up!
Also worth being prepared for is that sometimes with surgery the facial nerve can get irritated, & it can make the side of your face feel weak or sometimes slightly paralysed, but this does improve with time so don’t panic if it happens to you.
The pain in the back of your head is quite common; it could be from tense muscles (because you’re in pain) which can irritate the occipital nerve, or sometimes if the internal jugular veins get compressed there can be veins at the back of your head which take over, & some members have found as these swell they can be painful. It does sound as if you could have some vascular ES symptoms, so it’s possible your IJVs are being compressed; it’s worth double checking with Dr Hackman that he’ll remove the styloids as close to the base of the skull as is safe to do so to remove any compression.
Best wishes for your surgery, if you’re up to it let us know how you are afterwards and praying that it goes well for you
Thank you Jules! Two days until surgery. My CT scan showed that my Jugualr vein is compressed by 90%. He said that the styloid is so close to my spine that it’s squashing my jugular and vagus nerve. My goodness I have been so sick! I cannot even turn my head to the left. Anxiety is out the roof and I get these weird episodes of nausea and motion sickness. Is the motion sickness normal with this? Thank you for telling me about the back of the head pain. It’s definitely a squeezing sensation and I can’t seem to get rid of it. It’s giving me a headache. The left hemisphere of my head feels like it’s going to explode.
Thank you for giving me a heads up on what to expect with my upcoming surgery. Thank you for praying for me as well. I’m trying to keep the good faith. It’s so hard to be positive when you feel so sick from this.
Motion sickness can happen, yes- @TML has been experiencing this . I had a constant off-balance feeling with IJV compression, others have described the sensation as being like on a boat. Have you discussed the IJV compression with Dr Hackman, is he confident that he can remove the styloids high enough to get past this? 
@jentroutty100 - It is important to know what Dr. Hackman’s plans are for the side where you have so much IJV compression. Please find out if he thinks he can give your IJV enough room to reopen fully.
Thinking of you for your surgery & praying for a good outcome, let us know how you are when you can
Yes that’s how I feel. I had my surgery yesterday. And now I’m having swelling on the side of neck (like a ball). He didn’t cut my neck but just around the front of my ears. I say he didn’t cut a remarkable job. I’m just worried about the swollen ball on the side of neck causing me pain.
Be believes that the muscular veins will open. No I have a swollen ball on the side of my neck. He didn’t operate on my neck, just in front of my ears.
@jentroutty100 Thank you for the quick update. It’s actually a good sign when Dr. Hackman doesn’t need to do the incisions in front of the ears + a neck incision. That means that your surgery was more straight forward, & he was able to cut your styloids off & remove them just through the two incisions he made. Many of our members who’ve had him do their surgeries have ended up w/ 4 incisions i.e. 2 in front of the ears & two in the neck.
Sleeping w/ your head elevated (30º) & icing your neck for 15 min. every couple of hours w/ a thin towel between ice pack & skin will help reduce swelling. If it’s too uncomfortable or the “ball” persists for more than a few days, you can request an Rx for a dose pack of steroid such as dexamethasone or prednisone from Dr. Hackman. I was Rxed a steroid to start when I got home from surgery & it helped a lot in reducing the early post op swelling in my throat.
Hopefully the swelling will go down soon, it’s a big surgery having both sides done together…I think Dr Hackman used to get patients to wear a ‘neck bra’ for the swelling, does he not do that now? Some members have had issues with lymph causing swelling, there have been discussions about that, it’s too early to worry about it yet, but later on there are massage techniques which can help. Thinking of you, hugs and prayers
Thank you for the quick reply! He put me on steroids. The ball doesn’t seem as big today. Thank God! I have been sleeping with my head at 30 degrees like you’ve recommended. Boy what a difference it is to sleep without feeling like I have branches jabbing me inside my neck. So far that is the biggest improvement I see this far. Also the anxiety seems to have lowered some. I’m still off-balance, dizzy, and have head pressure but I assume that’ll hopefully go away in time. The one doctor (it wasn’t Hackman but another doc who works with him) said that the jugular vein should open up pretty quickly so it’s kind of confusing.
Yes. This time he didn’t give me a neck bra. Recovery seems to be going pretty smoothly. Just some swelling. The biggest improvement is being able to sleep without feeling like I have branches jabbing me in my neck. And anxiety seems to have lowered some. I still feel off-balance, and some head pressure. The doc that works with Hackman said the jugular should open up quickly. From what I’ve read from other people with ES, it takes time for the jugular vein to un-kink if it’s been compressed so long. I’m keeping the faith! Thank you for the prayers! I appreciate it immensely Jules!
Your styloids do look like mini branches, @jentroutty100 !! Unusual & pretty crazy! I’m so glad they’re gone & that at least you can sleep better now. That’s a good start to recovery for sure! I’m also glad to know you’re taking steroids & sleeping w/ head elevation. Those two things alone helped me the most (ice was a close second) in my first couple of weeks of post op recovery with all 3 of my ES surgeries.
I’ll also be praying for your IJV to reopen fully & for your recovery to progress noticeably.
Sometimes the IJVs re-open quickly, but then the swelling can close them again… It does seem to take more time for most though. Take care , good that some symptoms have improved 
Hi Jules so I have hardly had any pain since my surgery (which was Oct.1st). It’s now Oct. 22nd and I’m having extreme pain like I did before I had the surgery. It’s deep in my throat in the center and underneath my chin. Also my throat hurts too on the left side. I just woke up like this today. It feels like a nerve is being pulled. Is this normal? I have a virtual appointment with Hackman on Monday to discuss this.
Good that you can speak to Dr Hackman soon… ES surgery recovery is very much up & down, symptoms can come & go still for a while, unfortunately. I wonder if because you weren’t in much pain if you’ve overdone things a bit and inflamed the nerves and healing tissues? That seems to be the usual explanation when people get symptoms back, I would go back to icing, take any painkillers which have helped in the past (if any did), & make sure you take it easy… It’s easily done, sometimes after surgery we’ve put stuff off for so long because of being in pain that we rush to get back to doing lots, I know I overdid it after mine… Sending you a hug & hope Dr Hackman isn’t concerned about anything, and take care 
@jentroutty100 - I can also attest to what @Jules said about overdoing after surgery once my pain reduced - I had your experience of symptoms flaring & knocking me back down. It’s frustrating to feel pretty good soon after surgery & then backsliding into pain again, but usually, if you take a step back & follow the instructions, Jules gave you, you’ll begin feeling better again bit by bit. I will say a prayer for you that this happens in your case.
