I woke up this morning and my left eye was hurtin' like heck! My mind immediately flew to ON; however, after being awake for a little while longer, it's more like my eyelid. Here's what's going on....

• My eye/eyelid hurts when I blink
• The left side of my face along the top of my cheek bone hurts from my ear up to and stopping at the bridge of my nose.
• When I touch the skin anywhere in that area, the pain increases greatly. (It's almost torture to feel the ear piece of my glasses rub over that skin when I put them on.)
• It hurts the skin when the muscles in that area move.
• The skin on that left side is also burning.

So, whadday'all think? Could this be TN? TIA!

ahhh, bummer, Jen!

TN stinks.

for me, it manifests as a very SHARP sudden ice-pick pain, deep in my ear.

mostly my right, and sometimes my left ear.

and a few times, it's hit my face, below the right cheekbone.

here's a good description:

Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN), also known as tic douloureux, is an acute, piercing, electric shock-like pain in the those regions of the face served by the Trigeminal (5th) Cranial Nerve (CN V). CN V serves three areas of the face the forehead and eye, the cheek and the jaw. TN can affect some or all of these areas usually on one side of the face although more rarely (in about 5% of cases) it is bilateral. Episodes of TN can last anything from a few seconds to a few minutes or very occasionally longer and can be triggered by a number of factors including laughing, chewing, brushing the teeth, talking, wind on the face or even touching the face.

http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/trigeminalneuralgia.html

yep, guess I'm a RARE bird? 'cause I get it on both sides...

but my eyes have never been affected by this, my LEAST favorite MS sx.

I had this in July and it really wasn't fun. Not only was it painful, I had visible spasms just below my cheekbone. I drank smoothies for days. I got quite creative with them. LOL.

I wish you luck and let us know how you do. Lesson learned - call neuro if it is still bothering you tomorrow.

CoyoKay,
Thanks for the description.

***Next question: if there is no shooting pain, could it even be TN?????

lol, Jen, I read that as CoCoKay!

well, guess that applies... I'm CooCoo for Cocoa Puffs?

the answer is YES... Atypical TN can have a slow steady ache...

Atypical TN is characterized by a unilateral, prominent constant and severe aching, boring or burning pain superimposed upon otherwise typical TN symptoms.

http://www.umanitoba.ca/cranial_nerv...ipt/types.html

believe it or not.. my sons sinus infections present like that. He has horrible pain, very sensitive to touch, movement. He cant bend over without pain. He said his head feels very heavy and painful. You cant touch anywhere from his mid cheek to forehead area... and this all from a sinus infection. His skin gets sensitive and hurts to be touched. Especially just under the eye and the inner side of the bridge of the nose. Just hoping maybe its that for you and not TM. Ive had TM.. that ice pick stabbing pain is horrendous. Its blinding to me.

Hey, Jenn, ouch! It's just no fun sometimes, huh?

Here's a link to NT's own TN forum, you should find some good folks living with it, and they'll be glad to help you in understanding more about TN:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum26.html

Donna's right, it could be a sinus infection.

my favorite thing is when I get BOTH a sinus infection, and TN at the same time.

YIKES !!

I bet it could. That location sounds very, very familiar to me (cheekbone and side of nose). I was never diagnosed with anything, but I've had a lot of electric shocks (sometimes painful, sometimes not) plus paresthesias of all sorts in various locations on my face--mostly on the left, but also on the right. So, I'm another "bilateral" person with that.

You see the boilerplate descriptions of "trigeminal neuralgia" and "atypical trigeminal neuralgia," but even if your symptoms don't exactly fit these standard descriptions, I DO NOT believe that means you don't have basically the same thing going on.

Look at the boilerplate definitions of Lhermitte's that you find on the Web. They do NOT anywhere near cover the experiences of people with Lhermitte's as seen on MS boards.

Nancy T.

Hello Jennifer,
I'm sorry you're in so much pain. I've never experienced the pain and anquish of TN, but have heard that it can be quite debilitating. Have you spoken with your PCP or Neurologist yet? I would give it 24 hours, and if it isn't much improved by then, I believe you should run it by a Dr., or be seen in an ER.

If it gets worse, or you are unable to control the pain, obviously you need to be seen even sooner. Feel better. I hope this is just something that will resolve itself on it's own accord.

All the best,
Chris