Post-operative symptoms after bilateral Eagle syndrome surgery:
Day 1:
Severe drowsiness, throat pain when swallowing (around 6/10), dizziness, confusion, and blurry vision and numbness in my left side of the face.
Day 2:
Sensation of choking during sleep when lying on my back, likely due to swelling. Pain improved significantly after taking Ketonal.
What symptoms did you experience after your Eagle surgery?
WOW! Your styloids are impressively long, @Roeagle!
The symptoms you’re experiencing - drowsiness, dizziness, confusion & blurry vision can all be side effects of the medications used during surgery. A very sore throat is also normal for a few days to a week or so. It’s comes from having a breathing tube in your throat during surgery. Numbness on the left side of your face is most likely because your facial &/or trigeminal nerves got irritated during the surgery. The numbness should fade over several months after surgery.
I had the same problem with choking during sleep when lying on my back after surgery. It is because of the swelling. It will help you a lot if you can sleep with your head elevated to 30Âş. I used a wedge pillow with bed pillows stacked on it to make it more comfortable. Some people also like a U or V shaped pillow to help keep the head in a more neutral position when sleeping.
Ice your neck for 15-20 min every 2 hrs. Put a thin towel or cloth between your skin & ice pack so you don’t get ice burns on your neck. If your doctor didn’t prescribe a tapering course of an oral steroid medication, you should ask for that. Usually the course lasts for 10-14 days. You will start w/ about 50 mg & gradually wean down to 10 mg by the last day. Since you had bilateral surgery, the steroid will help reduce your swelling & help you be more comfortable. Also make sure to take your pain medication on schedule. If it is an opioid, you will also need to take a stool softener & laxative daily so you don’t get constipated from the pain medication.
I have forgotten if you mentioned the name of your surgeon. Do you mind telling me who did your surgery? Your body will be very happy to have those bones out of your neck!! I will pray for good healing so you can get back to living your life. 
Wow, those are very long styloids, great to have them out!
Having both sides removed at the same time is a harder recovery because of the swelling, so it’s really important to ice once you’re home & to sleep propped up as @Isaiah_40_31 says… The drains should hopefully help with swelling too. How long will you be in hospital for?
I had difficulty opening my mouth to eat or clean my teeth, that’s pretty common, have you been able to eat anything yet? I had numbness around my jaw and ear, that gradually wore off over a few weeks. I also had the sensation of a blocked ear after my second surgery, and hearing was reduced, but that went off too after a couple of weeks. First bite sensation is pretty common too, you might find that you have it when you start eating- it’s a rush of nerve pain in your cheek when you first eat or drink, caused by upset nerves.
Praying that the surgery is successful for you 
Thank you for sharing your doctor’s name; I’ve added him to our list.
Surprising to me to have a dental surgeon do the styloidectomy. Has he done other styloidectomy operations. Did Dr Catalin Dumitru also diagnose you and say what kind of Eagle Syndrome you had or did you consult other specialists.
@ESnerves2025 - We’ve learned on here that in other countries, the doctors who do surgeries such as styloidectomies aren’t always among the medical specialties we consider typical in the US, CA, & even in parts of Europe. We had one member from Israel whose dentist did her styloidectomy.
I hope your recovery goes quickly.
How did you post your pictures? Every time I try to add pictures to my post I get an error that I can’t embed media in a post.
It’s hopefully just because you’re a new member; now you’ve posted a few times you should be able to upload images…
