Get to the bottom of this pain! Trying to understand.

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hi there! I have had quite the week in the ER and an overnight visit in the hospital. This started several weeks ago with some strange sort of electrical pain in the right side of my face. Impart it felt like pain I had had before with the root canal or when I needed a root canal. But also, it felt different to me like this sort of lightning rod that people talk about with TN. It would come and go quickly wasn’t always sensitive to heat or cold or to the bite. My dentist did an x-ray several weeks ago and showed No sign that there was an infected tooth that he prescribed me antibiotics just to be safe. I took the antibiotics and the pain kind of went away. But then I was out walking my dog a few weeks ago and the pain came back just because of a cold breeze on my face. I’m mostly feeling it in one too maybe two. For a while it kind of came and went and then this past weekend Friday night into Saturday night. It lingered and was throbbing and so painful. It was managed with ibuprofen and Tylenol for a period of time, but was so excruciating. as the day went on on Saturday, I started to get a lot of facial swelling to the point where I ended up going to the ER on Sunday night because it was moving up toward Mayeye but started mostly in my sinus area. I had a CT scan and they told me I had facial cellulitis, but saw no abscess or infection of my tooth or my mouth during the CT scan. I had a emergency appointment with my dentist after I left the ER. He did another x-ray still could find no issues around my tooth. They told me to go back to the ER to get on IV anabiotic’s for the facial swelling. In the ER, I was consulted for an oral dental surgeon who said they needed to extract my tooth do a root canal or lacerate my gums to see if there anything would give me relief. I consulted with my own dentist and decided to do the laceration to see if it would give me any relief and that it would reduce some of the swelling. The procedure was excruciating. The Novocain needles were so intolerable I thought I was gonna pass out I was sweating, crying, shaking most excruciating pain of my life . And nothing came out. There was no pus or infection that drained from my mouth. The oral surgeon was ready to send me home but luckily, I advocated to go back to the ER and get on some IV anabiotic’s for the swelling that was happening in my face. The weird thing is is I have all the symptoms that sounds so familiar to TN. About a year ago. I also had some teeth extracted and some major work on my upper mouth from the dentist but I’ve had no pain since then and I healed really well from all of that work but when it comes on it comes on and it would last anywhere from a second to 2 minutes and then it would just completely disappear , I am on steroids and antibiotics now that I’m home and will make an appointment with an endodontist but just for a consult. Reading all of these forums makes me think I should not immediately jump to the conclusion that I need a root canal especially since there’s no signs of an abscess or infection on x-rays and CT scans. I am thinking I should also consult with a neurologist about this being a possible TN issue. My pain is managed right now which also makes me think maybe it isn’t TN that maybe it is a root canal that’s needed? But I’m also on a heavy dose of steroids and other pain medication which may be keeping it at bay, is that possible? and I’ve done research and looked online and I’m not seeing any connection between facial cellulitis which is why my face was so swollen and TN has anyone had any issues like this before? I’m at a loss for what could be causing this pain and what even caused the facial, swelling and cellulitis. There were no cuts. There were no stings no abrasions on my face to cause this in the ER and all the medical professionals I saw in the hospital could not give me a reason why this was happening. Hoping for some relief here. Thanks for any thoughts folks might have.

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  • Posted

    hi Kerrie

    i have only been diagnosed with suspected TN yesterday. quite a shock to the system as this is almost incurable disease with unbearable pain. i thought i was coping with a mixture of ibuprofen and anadin, but i wasnt. TN pain can only be managed by proper antiepileptic medication. the pain comes in waves just as you describe and when it comes nothing helps. first of all im under 40 so i asked my GP for a referral to have MRI scan as why would something be squishing my nerve for no reason. so i will wait to see what happens and report after

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