Hope the smoothies are good!
Thinking of you & sending you a hug 
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Hope that things improve for you soon, itās a big surgeryā¦thinking of you
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Iām having a bad day today. I tried to go to just Tylenol and Advil yesterday and - ouch. Nope. Iāve had some pasta and a few āsoftā foods but enjoying the smoothies so much I may live in those forever. (I put some protein powder in them)
I picked up some more oxy this afternoon.
It feels like someone punched me in the jaw. My ear aches a little, and I canāt hear again. :(. Iām hoping when the swelling goes down, my hearing will come back. There is quite a lot of bruising.
I took Oxy for 6 weeks post op - two weeks full time then started very gradually spacing my doses further apart then eventually cutting the pills in half while spacing even further apart until I only took the stuff once a day then every other day, etc. Keep the ice coming, as well. Now is not the time to be heroic. Keep the pain at bay & your recovery will feel easier.
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Wishing you a speedy and swift healing!
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Poor you, itās toughā¦not sure if itās the same, but after my second surgery it felt like someone had poured concrete into my ear, it felt completely blocked & I couldnāt hear, it went after 2 weeks, so hang in there. Good idea to keep on the smoothies if your jaw is painful, I think after the first surgery I couldnāt eat properly for about 10 days. Praying for you & sending you a hug
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Thank you all!
Iāve still got some pain, but Iām managing it for now with Advil and ice.
Iāve also gone off Valium.
Iām a little depressed. I spent much of the last week in bed. It may have been a bad idea to buy that second tv right before surgery. 
I saw my GP today- good news!! A lot of the tests he did before surgery caused immediate vertigo, those same tests had almost normal results today! Iāve had some vertigo here and there but nothing like what I was dealing with previously. The strength in my left arm has increased.
I went to look at the new place Iāve rented, and after driving that much (itās about 30 miles through city traffic) I definitely had some issues by the time I came home, but they were different and specific.
My hearing in my left ear has been coming and going- after moving around I (this is somewhat gross) had a ton of wax just fall out. Guess what? Hearing is better. 
I may ask for more pain meds. I have to pack a 5 bedroom house and after just the moving Iāve done today, things hurt.
Oh - one more thing - my left earlobe went numb about day three. Now it vascilates between numbness and burning. But just my left earlobe.
And the numbness I had in my fingers has gone. So, lots of good things 2 weeks post-op.
I canāt stress enough how much some kind of support matters. Without this group, I donāt know what I would have done. Iām lucky enough to have a friend who could/would fly up when I needed her the most, and another friend who has stuck by me and chauffeured me to and from doctors appointments.
I always assumed that at this age I would have a partner- but for anyone trying to do this āaloneā, please know that you arenāt.
I see dr Omlie tomorrow. Iāll post, post appointment.
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WOW! Your improvement is significant! Iām so glad! Depression can go along w/ pain & tough times in life. Youāre in the midst of both. I hope as your pain goes away, & your life challenges smooth out, your mood will lift, & youāll find yourself in the sunshine again & the dark clouds will scoot away forever. I have struggled w/ depression in my life so totally understand how that feels. 
I look forward to hearing about your appt. w/ Dr. Omlie tomorrow.
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So pleased that youāve seen significant improvements already, especially with the vertigo, that mustāve been really hard. I agree getting more painkillers for the moving time might be an idea- lifting stuff about will more than likely cause pain & maybe set you back a bit, so be prepared for thatā¦Youāve had alot to cope with recently with your parents, dog & ill health, so not surprising your body is wanting to rest in bed & youāre feeling downā¦I hope that this lifts soon for you. Glad that the siteās been helpful for you, & sending you a hug
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This is a great doctors report. You an tell great care was taken. Thanks for posting it.
Intersting about the Benadryl with oxy. One of my surgeon gives something similar with OXY. I had forgot the reason why but now it makes sense. Oxy definitely disturbs the sleep.
The thought of getting my jaw subluxed just makes me cringe. Im not surprised you have some pain for that. You sound like you are doing pretty dang good considering. Sounds like you are set on the smog maker. I got one of those mini-nutribullets on sale at cotsco for under $50. Looks pretty much like what you got. Whatever does the job.
OMG you moved??? You are one trooper but not surprised you pay a price for overdoing it. ie: pain & swelling. Im glad some of your other symptoms improved. I canāt take NSAIDS or tylenol so its just OXY for me. I also got post op prednisone and that really made a huge difference in my pain. I was down to 1-2 oxy per day quickly. Take it slow token and try not to overdue it. Give yourself a chance to heal and recover. I found I tried to do my chores in am up until 1-2PM with no pain pills, then it was time for an OXY and rest for the afternoon. Kept it light duty the rest of the day. By week 6, i was doing ok but still had to try not to overdo it. Happy healingā¦
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My chat with Dr Omlie was interesting. Heās very happy my vertigo seems so much better. He didnāt think there was a logical reason for the rest of my symptoms to be better but I wasnāt surprised by that.
He is a lovely man.
I spoke to my PCP today and had decided I didnāt want any more pain meds - Iām afraid Iāll take them in order to get things done, possibly making things worseā¦ Iāll probably talk to him again tomorrow. Bit worried about the weekend.
Unfortunately I had a vertigo attack today. I donāt know how swollen my neck is, most of the bruising is gone but I still feel a bit like someone punched me in the jaw. Iām going to be starting PT next week - my PCP feels that after compensating for so many years for the compromised blood flow I will need some help teaching my body how to function normally. Also, he thinks there was some nerve compression which was throwing things off but may now have been relieved.
Iāll be talking again to Omlie in 3 months to follow up regarding my symptoms.
I spared you guys the pic I took last week of the bruising, but the medical folks said it wasnāt that bad.
Also - Iām in the process of moving. I have to be out of this house by the 31 of this month.
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I ended up getting a nutribullet. The small one had.a difficult time with larger fruit. LOL.
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I had my bilateral styloidectomy a week before you and my jaw is still extremely sore and aches. Sometimes the pain goes to the front of my face, like a squeezing, burning pain. But just today I was saying how it feels like I was punched in my jaw. Good description. I guess everyone heals differently. Some people are out and about the next week, others take months. Iām still waiting to see where I fall, Iām almost a month out.
For now Iām just giving it more time and Iāll see how I feel. I might have nerve irritation (got some burning on my scalp and forehead) and it could just be my TMJ is all swollen and just taking time.
I hope you see relief soon, I also recently moved and itās definitely a big toll. So take it easy and donāt stress your body too much over it.
Oh, and I also just started PT! So much in common, lol
Hereās where my pain is.
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WOW, @elijah! You could be the āposter childā for the Trigeminal nerve. What youāve marked partially encompasses the exact path that it runs. I totally expect the pain youāre having will resolve given time. A month is still early recovery. At two months you should notice even more positive changes & beyond that even more!
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Haha, I had a feeling but honestly wasnāt sure. I donāt have any shooting or stabbing pain, I thought thatās what trigeminal pain was? Itās more of a squeezing burning and maybe a little pressure kind of feeling. My TMJ is definitely still very sore as well and a lot of the time is feels like itās radiating from that area, so Iām sure that plays a role.
Also, I think I may have had some variant of this prior to surgery, which makes me wonder if I had irritation of my TN from my styloids. I only ever tried low dose amitriptyline for 2 months so never gave nerve meds a real shot to knowā¦
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There are 2 types of nerve pain- Type 1 is the āelectric shockā pain, Type2/ Atypical is more constant aching, burning, pressure sort of pain, so sounds like what you have. Mine is the Type 2 as well, it has eased since surgery, but never went away completely. The low dose amitriptyline does help for me, if yours gets too much it might be worth trying one of the other meds, Gabapentin maybe?
Pleased that you sound very relaxed about however long recovery takes, thatās a really good attitude 
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Would it also explain this pressure squeezing burning feeling I have on my scalp? Itās funny because before I knew about IIH I actually looked into atypical TN but decided it didnāt make sense. Iām starting to rethink that at least some of my old symptoms were nerve related and not all vascular.
Yes to your scalp pressure, etc. Thatās also most likely the TN. 
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Had a feeling. Can eagles cause atypical TN because like I said, some of the pains Iām having now are what I had prior to surgery, specifically the scalp burning pressure. I messaged Dr hackman to see if he has any thoughts and Iāll probably book an appointment with my PCP whoās a great pain management Dr.
Maybe Iāll have more luck with amitriptyline this time. I didnāt have any side effects on it other than dry mouth and slight dizziness in the very beginning, so Iād like to give it another shot before trying another nerve medication.
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My TMJ kicked up like a bear after 1st ES surgery but primarily only on one surgery and not the 2nd. Go figure? I also had some mild first bite on the first one but went away after a few days. I didnāt have so much across the cheek to lip but have before from dental extraction. I get the intense head pressure/pain in the temples (temporalis muscles) and of course jaw joint. It took a few months to all calm down after surgery. I went for steriod injection into jaw joint and botox for surrounding area after about 6 weeks post op. I don like taking oral meds myself either. It seemed to help.
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