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Pain lasts for hours, not minutes? Is this TN?

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brettw777
brettw777

Hi everyone. This is my first post here and before yesterday, I had never heard of TN but I have all the symptoms. I got a CT scan and the doctor found nothing so he determined that it must be TN and upon further research of my pain location, it all makes sense. However there are some differences with my pain.

1. Everything I have read so far says the sharp knife-stabbing pain lasts for seconds or minutes. Mine just recently lasted all day! I am talking 12 straight hours of pain and much of it a level 9 or 10 on a 1-10 scale.  I am not making this up. It really was like that for the better part of 3 days which finally sent me to the ER to find out what is wrong. I am on some steroids and gabapentin for now and doing pretty good today. Anyone else had this much prolonged pain?

2. Also, I am reading that TN pain is triggered by light touch to the cheeks. That does not faze me. When I actually poked my finger into my lower cheekbone, that triggered a little pain but not the excruciating pain I had hours before when I did nothing. My face was even slightly swollen on the pain side.

Can anyone tell me if they think this is TN or possibly something else? Thank you.

Brett

3 likes, 18 replies

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  • gill32586
    gill32586 brettw777

    Posted

    Hello Brett,

     So sorry that you're having such prolonged extreme pain and, believe me, I totally understand. I've also had these prolonged attacks and they're completely off the scale. They render me helpless and I just dare not move a muscle. The pain is unimaginable. My poor husband can only sit and watch and wait. It's almost as bad for him and I'd prefer him to leave the room. I hate anyone, particularly those I love, seeing me in this state. My neurologist says that he could not help in this situation so II can only wait it out. However, this thing is so unpredictable. I'm now in the middle of a good remission with a few very short  (seconds long) attacks. so after many years of T.N I'm just taking the good when it comes along.

     Your symptom of being insensitive to touch mystifies ..My own T,N responds to touch adversely to this so I would think something is different in your case so. I'm certainly no medic and speak only from my own experience so don't take my personal case as typical,,I think it's quite unusual for this to last so long. I wonder why you're not on Tegretol which is generally accepted as the most effective drug for T.N..

     Please try not to despair. Insist on a full investigation if you haven't already done. As army183 tells you this really needs to be carefully looked into and may not be what you fear and may well be treatable if it is.

      Best of Luck to you and do let us know the outcome.

       Gill

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