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Originally Posted by cloudsnapper
So I went to get a second opinion yesterday. Apparently this doctor also thinks it'll go away on its own. But not for good; it should come back at some point. And he said that only about 10% of people he sees with this problem have a cause, the rest just have it for seemingly no reason.
He looked at my MRI and said that if there was a tumor or blood vessel, he'd be able to see it slightly distorting the brain stem. And if he saw anything like that, he'd get me an MRA test. But he thought that it looked fine.
So I guess I'll stick with the first neurologist. Even though I like the second one a bit better because he explained things better, he also said that he wasn't taking cases like mine as much and that the first doctor I saw was more of an expert.
I'm pretty disappointed that there's nothing I can do to cure it. In any other case, it would be really weird to say, but now I'm thinking "Crap, a wish it was a tumor."
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Hmmm. Well, I am glad you got another opinion. I thought the percentage of people whose TN had a clear cause was a lot higher than 10% and my neurologist said that often an MRI would NOT show any compressions even when there are some. (I also thought that even the MRA doesn't always show compressions that are there but it is more likely to.) It all depends where they are.
Keep reading and educating yourself and if there is another doc with more experience, go to him or her. Yeah, it would be great if there was a cure and for some there is, but there is a lot they can do and new things get discovered. I have been pain free most of the 21 years I have had it, though sometimes I've had bad side effects from the meds and I doubt I will ever lose the fear of it coming back. One day at a time...