Hey e, I'm so glad to see you back and a bit more optimistic. I know you were REALLY Down and discouraged when you started this thread. I've been there I KNOW how it feels, believe me.

I want to tell you something about an experience I had about 20 years ago. I fell in a dark room and smashed my face into the side of a bathtub. I saw a flash of Light and I was sure I was dead. After a few minutes I got up off the floor and made my way back to bed. I did pass out then, in my bed. I woke up the following day almost into the evening. My whole left side of my face was numb and burning like it was on fire. I looked in the mirror and smiled. Needless to say that side of my face was dead. And MAN did it hurt eventhough it was numb. They call it parasthesia. I did go to the hospital ER had a head exray and it showed I had multiple fractures in my head but since I didn't have health insurance they sent me home with NO pain meds. I will tell you I suffered for 10 years with pain you can't imagine. I cried almost constantly and that and the wincing only made it worse.

Just by chance I happened to see something SOMEWHERE about Benedryl having some sort of effect on nerve pain which they couldn't explain. Well, with my measly income I bought some and tried it. It worked. Not 100% but it DID alleviate the pain better than Tylenol or even Excedrin. I am just telling you this because I know how desperate I was for some relief and it did afford me some. It has taken a long time for this to improve but I do have SOME feeling back on that side of my face AND the muscle function has returned completely. And yes, I do have a better income now. I Finally got SSI and SSDI because of my Epilepsy. And I do have Health Insurance. It took me 2 tries to get it { 4 years }. They don't make it easy to get. Just keep trying and you'll get it.