Originally Posted by JemATN

Hi,

My name is Jesse and I am 15. Since I was 9, I've been suffering from debilitating migraines and head pain. I would only get those strong migraines a few times a year.

But a few months ago, it was on Thanksgiving day infact, I was having horrible striking/shooting/stabbing/electrical pain on the left side of my face. I thought it was a migraine, possibly triggered from not sleeping much the past 2-3 days prior. We went to the ER and my doctor was an absolute jerk (I smelled alcohol coming off of him, but it could as well of been hand sanitizer). He gave me benadryl and toradal (which I have a prescription for at home which I rarely use - I dislike the way it makes me feel).

Continuing to the next day, the striking and electric like pains continued. It continued to the next day also, which is when I went to the Urgent Care and they gave me stronger pain meds which killed the pain, and when it wore off 5 hours later I was still in pain.

Since then, I have been feeling the shooting pain off and on. I think it's triggered when I go outside/or cry. I complain all the time that I'm in pain, but it isn't the shooting pain, just an annoying ache/boring pain in the same location on my face where I have felt the electrical pain. So now I have both the electrical pain - and the aching/boring pain.

My pain/tender locations is my eyebrow, behind my eye, and from my cheekbone to my temple on the left side of my face. I have also felt the electric and boring pain on the back of my head, near my neck. (my neck gets absolutely tight with knots nearly everyday!). Lastly, my jaw has boring pain, but I haven't felt any shooting pains in my jaw. It's just a tender location.

So pretty much I feel the boring/aching pain in my face everyday, with the electrical strikes every now and then - at least a few episodes a week. The reason why I think I might have either Trigeminal Neuralgia or ATN is because my mom suffers from Trigeminal Neuralgia since she was 30. Also, in her late term pregnancy with me she had Chicken Pox, which is related to a Neuralgia.

My doctor suspects its TN and he is finding a neurologist currently. He has prescribed Tegretol - which was horrible! It made my leg/thigh swell up with exploding pain. Now I'm on Cymbalta - Which has helped with the frequency of the striking pain, and Oxycodone for when the attacks happen.

Now I want your opinion - Do you think it's TN or ATN, or both? My mom has TN, so I'm wondering if it could be hereditary. Thanks for reading and the responses!