Trigeminal Neuralgia

Hi Joanne,  I will post more to you later today,  I just wanted to say hi!!!  I am going through such similar issues as you.  I’ll let you know all about it.  I’m in the midst of dental and TN issues too.  I’m getting to the bottom of it I think.  Java

Hi again Joanne.  I've been dealing with this for 5 weeks now and also was given a diagnosis of TN.  For me it started 5 weeks ago to the day with a sore achy jaw and face when I went to bed, the next day I felt fine in the AM but then it started up again, no shocks just painful all through my jaw and up the side of my face to my temple.  Took Ibuprofen & Tylenol and didn't get much relief.  The following day all the hell broke loose.  Painful shocks in my face came all through the day.  Cheeks, jaw, every single tooth on my left side were just screaming. The shock would last for about a minute. It would settle for a while and then hit me again.  The left side of my face felt numb, like when dental freezing starts wearing off.  My husband insisted we go to emergency.  The physician there felt it was a TN attack, I had heard of TN but didn't know much about it.  I googled the symptoms and wow, I was scared because it sounded exactly like what I was experiencing.  Went to my own doctor the next day, told her what was up & she put me on Lyrica, the next 2 days were horrible.  Opening my mouth would cause such pain, in my eye, my cheek and all my teeth, only on the left.  You could draw a line down the middle of my face and all pain was on the left.  Went to my dentist, she looked at my teeth & gums and it looked fine.  She referred to a dental specialist that treats nerve disorders & complex facial pain.  Things started to settle down with the lyrica but the achy sore jaw would not go away, some days better than others, Ibuprofen did take the edge off. My lips and gums & nose on my left have been varying degrees of numb this whole time.  Also my very back left molar has been driving me crazy this whole time too.  Not painful, just a weird feeling, like the tooth is rooted in sponge (if that makes sense).  Like when I bite down that molar touches first and my right side teeth don't make contact.  10 days later I finally get into the specialist and he does his exam, rules out TMD, checks for lumps, listens to my symptoms but does not do an X-ray.  He diagnosis TN.  I told him about the odd feeling in my molar but says its probably a symptom of the the TN.  I have a referral to a neurologist but won't get in for another month.  My face has been aching everyday and this damn tooth was driving me nuts.  So back to my dentist yesterday.  I told her about the molar and she was very excited that we could be onto something.  She did a bite adjustment (filed down the occlusion on the molar) so that my teeth would bite down together.  She also did an X-ray that gets way to the back of the teeth & jaw.  She spotted an abscess at the root of my back molar.  She also said that if the tooth has been slowly dying there may not be much nerve sensation in it anymore, also the Lyrica may be masking some of the pain.  The numbness is from nerves, so possible the abscess is large and pressing on a nerve in my jaw.  I'm going to a endodontist today to find out what were going to do.  So that in a nutshell has been my last month.  Sorry for the long post I just wanted you to know what I've experienced.  I have found a lot of support & wisdom reading this site & also Living with Facial Pain site.  It is amazing how confusing dental conditions & TN can be.  I am not going to have my tooth worked on unless this doctor today can show me with certainty there is infection on an X-ray.  I've never had any issues with my teeth out of the ordinary in my whole life so I don't have anything to compare this to.  I've also never experienced TN.  I never thought I'd be so happy about have a dental abscess though.  I'll let you know what the Endo say today.  I wish you the best and I'm crossing my fingers that you may have some odd dental thing going on, I have such sympathy for people experiencing this pain on a daily basis.  I'm hoping that I've found the root of my troubles too.  Time will tell.  Cheers Java

Hi Joanne- welcome and I’m sorry you have to be here at the same time.  You really need to make an appointment with a neurologist. They are usually the most informed and can perform an MRI and/or an MVD to rule out causes or see if you could have MS like I do which is the cause of my TN and atypical TN. Carbamazepine is the first rule of choice though pharmaceuticals so it is a good medication to see if you respond to and find relief from. In my experience, it took me approx 8 days and I had to get up to 900mg as well. I did just want to say since you have teeth issues. Please be careful having any dental procedures with the knowledge it might be TN, they might be unnecessary and they could worsen it. I ended up spending over $10,000 in unneeded dental care. But TN is so tricky, it feels so very much like your teeth sometimes.

I’m happy to answer any other questions and there are wonderful people in here with so many knowledge and experience.

Welcome,

Jennifer

Hi Joanne your symptoms sound similar to mine which started last year.  I was on a flight when I experienced the worst toothache I have ever had.  It was like electric shocks running all around the left hand side of my mouth.  It happened on the flight home which made me go to the dentist who thought it was due to periodontal pockets.  I had my teeth cleaned etc hoping this would be the end of my problem.  Nothing happened until another flight a few months later when the same thing happened.  Again I went to the dentist who said there was nothing obviously wrong with my teeth.  this continued on another flight months later and I put it down to the air pressure in the cabin.  However a short time later the pain started whilst sitting at home.  After that was visits to my dentist who started root canal treatment among other things but no relief was felt.  The pain came every day causing me great pain and stress and eventually my dentist said he thought it might be TN.  I have been attending an orifacial consultant for  around 6 months and have been on medication for that time also.  I've had a pain free time apart from some strong twinges, but no repeat pain.  I haven't been on a flight since last year although my consultant said that the meds should stop a repeat of my experiences.  I am still not convinced and terrified to try to fly.  i hope you get some sort of diagnosis but it has taken a long time for me to feel a little bit confident that the pain won't come each day.  It is awful to have this condition and I sympathise with everyone affected by it.  

Thank you so much guys for your replies and I feel for you all for the length of time you have been going through this.  I’ve tried to get my head round this and have decided I will get a referral to see a specialist and have a scan as yet no one has seen what is going on inside my face! Fingers crossed I will get that soon - thanks for all your help and advice and I wish you luck with your experiences too xxx

I am so sorry to hear about you pain! Usually Tn feels like electricity in your mouth, but not always. The carbamazapine didn't work for me until I asked the Dr. If I could up the dosage. I hated the side effects

& found out Turmeric 800 mg takes the pain away for 12-14 hours (This is all natural you can buy the pills anywhere. Just doesn't work at night. If over used it doesn't work either)

Them I take the carbamazapine at night sleeping through the side effects.

Acupuncture does help if you can afford it.

The say you get TN usually from mouth trauma, dental work or procedures. I hope this helps.

I'll be praying for your relief! 

Hope you have a pain free fay.