Hi all, I have not been diagnosed with TN but after obsessively Googling my symptoms for several days now, ATN is the only thing I can find that really describes my symptoms. I feel like my doctors aren't taking me seriously and think that I'm exaggerating the severity of my pain because they can't see anything wrong.

I am 22 years old, in good health, and have been experiencing facial pain on the right side of my face that usually presents as a nearly constant aching/throbbing pain ranging from a mild ache to an unbearable throbbing/burning pain sensation. It is occasionally accompanied a sudden shocking/stabbing pain. The only triggers that I have found so far is eating/drinking something very cold (a bowl of ice cream can bring me to tears), touching my gums or lips, or accidentally tugging a strand of hair on the right side of my head. Often the "attacks" occur with no apparent trigger. I have been popping Advil like candy and I don't really think they're doing anything. In the past few weeks, I have taken multiple days off from work, given up running (I'm an avid runner), stopped going out and socializing, and stopped writing because of my pain. Essentially, this pain is keeping me from functioning and living my life.

It feels as though the pain is originating from one of my right front teeth and I originally thought it was a dental issue. My first stop was the dentist who could find nothing wrong and told me I was probably grinding my teeth at night and recommended a mouth guard. Unfortunately, the guard sits on my second right front tooth which seems to be a trigger point for me and so putting the mouth guard on does nothing but cause more pain. I tried to fight through it, hoping that it would help, but it has gotten to the point where I cannot even bear to put it on so I gave up.

After seeing my GP, who had no idea what was wrong with me, I went to an ENT who checked out my teeth, ears, sinuses and the whole shebang. Everything is completely normal. After hearing all of my symptoms, he agreed with my dentist that I am probably grinding my teeth and therefore having a musculoskeletal problem. He prescribed me cyclobenzaprine (a muscle relaxer) to prevent me from grinding and Naproxen (an anti-inflammatory). These medications are doing nothing for me - I spent all night last night lying awake in agony. My ENT isn't scheduled to follow up with me for another 3 weeks and I just don't know how I'm going to last that long with no defense against this pain.

I am not a doctor, but I really am starting to think this is a nerve issue and not musculoskeletal. The whole time I was talking to my ENT, I felt as though he wasn't taking me seriously and thought I was exaggerating my pain because there is nothing visibly wrong with me. Regardless, I am at my wits end with this pain and don't want to wait another 3 weeks to see him and get a referral to a neurologist. Where do I go from here? I've even been considering going to the Walk-In clinic to see if I can get the ball rolling on my treatment but I don't know if that's a good idea.

Sorry for the length of this post but I'm just so frustrated.