Thank you Basset and BMW....

I'm better about it today.

So, it turns out, there were 2 origins of my pain:
1.A compressed trigeminal nerve. The MVD fixed that, and so the burning in my mouth, icepick in my eye, sensitivity to cold, have all gone away. The neurosurgeon feels that because it was over 4 years before they got in there and fixed the compression, there is some damage to the nerve at the brain stem end, a lot of numbness, etc.
2. 4+ years of dental/endodontic surgery caused damage to the end of the trigeminal nerve at the front of my face.

So the unfortunate problem is, although the original problem was fixed by the MVD, the damage to the nerve at the other end (ie: closest to my nose/front of my face) is permanent.

Pre-surgery, the neurosurgeon and neurologist both said the symptoms were so strange that they felt the pain could have been from 2 sources. They called it ATN+!

I'm on tegratol but that doesn't take away the constant numbing, tight-teeth feeling pain.

Some days are ok. I'm pretty good at staying very, very busy at work and the distraction is good.

thank you for checking in on me. I spent a couple of months whining, then decided I might as well suck it up and get over it....that's easier said than done, as everyone here knows!

CAT