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Old 06-12-2015, 11:31 PM
blizzard blizzard is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 2
8 yr Member
blizzard blizzard is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 2
8 yr Member
Default trigeminal nerve injury or muscle injury

Hello everyone,

I have been following this group for a while and I finally gathered the courage to post myself. I am a female, 26 years old, living in Montreal, Canada. During the past 4 and a half weeks my life has been hell. I am in constant pain and so scared. I apologize for the long post, but I don't know what to do. I really need some help I don't know what is wrong with me...Is it nerve damage, muscle damage, allergy or something else? Thank you so much! Here it goes. I tried to organize it as best as I could...

History (before the horrible pain):
Clenching and grinding teeth especially at night, limited jaw movement, difficulty chewing hard food; Very sensitive teeth. These symptoms mostly affected the right side of my face. I also recently found out that I am allergic to a topical dental anesthetic (i think it was benzocaine).

Beginning of symptoms:
On May 13th this year I had a root canal retreatment done on the right lower molar. There was no pain in the molar before, just some slight sensitivity. The dental injection was very painful, but there was no electric-shock type pain. The area was very sore and swollen after the procedure and I had a few hours of burning on my chin and lower lip. I was taking iboprufen, clindomycin, and atasol codeine and the pain began to improve gradually. One week after the root canal, I went to my general dentist to have a permanent filling done. The root canalled tooth was painful and the dentist refused to do a permanent filling but instead insisted that he does a filling on an upper molar on the same side (he kind of forced me so that the appointment is not lost). When he injected me with the anesthetic, I felt an electric shock that radiated from the injection site along the cheek bone up to my ear. The pain subsided in less than a second so I did not think much of it. When he finished the procedure, I noticed that my entire right upper jaw and face were extremely numb and my right face was in a weird contortion, like a scary grimace. When the anesthetic wore off, I had the most excruciating pain in my life. The upper right molar was throbbing as if I had pulpitis. The pain was jumping from tooth to tooth and going back to the upper right molar. My right cheek was also throbbing and in horrendous, piercing pain. The pain was so strong that at some point my upper cheek went into a painful spasm. I also felt debilitating pressure in the area under my eye. Codeine helped the pain but the severe pressure remained. I went to see the dentist and he said I had a hematoma and the pain should subside within a week. He was wrong...
• The throbbing in the upper molar subsided but occasionally returns
• There is a point in my cheek, right under the eye, under the bone (where the electric pain during the injection originated) that when pressed lightly leads to the return of the piercing pain and burning in the area that lasts hours.
• Muscles on the right side of the face feel very sore and painful all the time and my jaw is locked; When I move my face or try to chew or smile I get painful muscle spasms in the right side of the face (upper and lower jaw). My muscles on the neck, head, right shoulder and right arm are also painful.
• I have burning on the lower and upper lip that was initially intermittent, and then, became almost constant. When I talk, smile or touch the lower lip or the front lower teeth, the burning turns into a painful piercing pain in the lower lip and occasionally the burning spreads to the area under the nose and the cheek. My front lower teeth also begin to hurt a lot during such episodes.
Things that make pain better.
• Not talking or moving the face (almost no pain when I wake up); Right now I am afraid to talk...
• Cold and hot compresses or food
• Stretching, and massaging the neck, and shoulder, and area above and in front of the ear


Things that make the pain worse:
• Touching the lower lip
• Chewing, talking, pressing on the point under the eye, some neck movements

The pain fluctuates between less and more severe, usually no symptoms in the morning and severe pain at the end of the day or when I move my face... Over time, however, the pain increases and more regions get involved....

I am so scared that it will continue getting worse. The dentists and endodontists claim it is not tooth-related... I tried iboprufen and steroids (prednisone), reactine, benadryl, tylenol, atasol codeine, clindomycin, and penciline with limited improvement... Usually the medication that have muscle relaxing effects have the greatest benefit...One doctor prescribed me Trileptal for 6 months but I am too afraid to take it... I was just wondering if my symptoms sound to you like trigeminal neuralgia (maybe atypical) or something else. Should I take the medication or wait and hope that it will improve? Do you have an idea what it could be or what I should do next. Thank you so much!
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"Thanks for this!" says:
EnglishDave (06-13-2015)