Aww bless, your little one, how sweet!
Shame you can’t get on with the painkillers, turmeric is supposed to be good for inflammation, although never tried it. B vitamins are supposed to be helpful for nerve healing.
Great that the occipital pain is gone though, & you feel clearer! I’ll keep praying for you, gentle hugs for your owie! 
Hi SusieQ
I’m sorry to be so late in responding to your posts. 
I hope, hope, hope that you’re continuing to notice improvement. I expect that in a couple of months from now, you’ll be back to zumba whenever you want to go! So glad for the immediate improvements you felt post op.
Hello everyone!! Ok well I’m on day 8 for the second surgery. This one the swelling has been unreal. I’m here in the waiting room for post OP. I definitely feel better on many fronts but I am still having significant pain in stomach and then nerve pain in my neck when I lay down. I think this pain is what I would like to leave me most. Typically this pain happens when I go to lay down to sleep. I had this before the surgeries too but I am wondering if anyone else out there can relate to this pain: I go to lay down I think I’m asleep when suddenly it feels like fight or flight has set off inside my body and it is racing. Like I feel fluid in my arms stomach near heart. I’m not sure if this is a panic attack in my sleep? But it is very upsetting. It feels positional with my neck. I do have herniated discs in c4 c5 c6. I have noticed if I take a flexril I tend not to have these episodes. I never have these episodes except when I go to sleep and it it is not every night. Could this be vagus nerve any ideas out there?
I am grateful I have had both surgeries and pray for continual improvement.
The other issue is this stomach pulling center back pain and deep neck issue that has this bile taste. Like my body is cycling and rebooting. I do have a small hiatal hernia and with these surgeries back to back I think my body is wiped out.
The pain from this surgery was far less but the swelling far more. I’ll find out what Dr. MILLIGAN says here shortly.
Thanks everyone!!
BrooklynGirl has had similar issues with sleeping, put down to nerve issues. Hopefully she’ll see this & respond, if not you can message her. Time will help, but obviously really hard for you right now. Are yiu sleeping semi upright? If not it might help a little? Hope this improves soon, thinking of you & gentke hugs
Hi SusieQ -
I did have some similar problems post op & they did go away after awhile. Mine were more related to heart racing because I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air . I would wake up from a sound sleep feeling oxygen deprived & my heart would race for a few seconds then I’d be ok.
Your current symptoms do sound like they could definitely be related to vagus nerve irritation. It’s possible that the excess inflammation is putting pressure on it & stirring it to action. Perhaps the position you lie in to sleep puts additional pressure on it so you get worse symptoms during the night. The stomach pain, “fight or flight” sensation, racing heart, etc., are all things the vagus nerve can set off. I agree w/ Jules that if you aren’t sleeping w/ your head elevated, please try that. If you are then fiddle w/ the elevation both up & down to see if one direction or the other helps.
Pay attention to your head position when you awaken from the night time symptoms. Supporting your head so it can’t drop into a position that causes symptoms to flare might be an idea as well. Icing during the day & just before bed is always worth a try if you aren’t still using it.
Curious as to what Dr. Milligan said. Please share when you feel up to it.
Thank you so much for this information. The post op went well he said that the swelling O will likely take 6 to 8 weeks. On the 1st surgery he actually cut a nerve which is the way they normally do it I think it is the platysma I can’t remember which one he said. That is why I had some nerve damage with my mouth that is improving considerably. Based on the 1st surgery he then decided not to do it the same way and he basically moved all of those nerves and had to cut the bone twice to make sure it was at 1.5 cm. So he said that is why I have more swelling this time because instead of doing it the regular way he basically moved everything out of the way. I’m not sure if I’m making sense but that is what he said. The nerve damage with my face has improved considerably and I mentioned he gastro issues I’m having that feel like they are in the center occipital area when then I taste this bile taste with center back pain and stomach. This started happened day 3 of my first surgery. He did say it could definitely be the vagus nerve but wanted me to.get upper endoscopy done as well. Sooooo i think i will keep praying, change my diet again. Welcome back steel cut oatmeal and email you guys so I don’t take the crazy train southbound!
I am grateful though the devastating occipital pain is gone and no more vertigo. I’ll send a picture next so u can see the swelling. Thanks everyone!!!
Isaiah, that heart racing feeling is definitely part of what I feel. It is just strange it happens during sleep and normally within first hour or so and then doesn’t happen again.
Well now, there’s some impressive swelling! No wonder you’re getting some nervy post op symptoms. There’s a lot of pressure going on in your neck w/ all that extra fluid, SusieQ! Those symptoms should subside as you’re neck reduces in size.
I do think the upper GI is a good idea to see what else might be going on. The whole tasting bile thing sounds a bit nasty especially if it’s happening regularly. You don’t want to add a burned esophagus to your medical issues at this point, & excessive bile exposure can do that.
My heart-racing-not-getting-enough-O2-feeling usually happened as I was drifting off to sleep. It would happen several times in a night then stop. It didn’t happen every night, thankfully!
Ouchie, that is swollen! Hope that goes down soon…good that Dr Milligan was helpful & understanding.