Hello

My name is Antony and I'm 30 years old, I live in England(Great Britain) in a city called Stoke on Trent of about 250,000 people.

I started getting pain in the right side of my head and mainly in my jawline on the 5th of August 2015 and after 2 weeks I went to see my doctor and after a talk and a quick examination she thinks I have trigeminal neuralgia.
I have to wait for more tests for a full diagnosis, I'm getting blood tests on the 24th of August and some more as well.

Anti-Cardiolipin Abs
Blood Picture(includes FBC and Diff)
Coagulation Screen(INR and APTT)
Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate
Lurpus Anticoagulant
Rheumatoid Factor

My doctor wrote me a prescription for Amitriptyline in the meantime, they are in 10mg tablets but they make me drowsy and give me some nausea.
Ive taken 2 and I'm not going to take anymore until I get the full diagnosis, I know the side effects are supposed to pass after a week or so but ive read that this drug only gives relief in 1 out of 4 people and you have to come off it slowly so id rather wait for the full picture before I start taking them.

My pain started on the 5th of August as I say and I had an attack on the 17th that lasted for 15 minutes, I bared it quite well but it left me shaking.
Since that attack(It's now the 20th of August at time of writing) I have had very little pain with it, I am really hoping I am one of the few lucky cases I have read about.

Well that's me I look forward to talking to people about it but please don't scare me too much the realisation of my situation has hit me quite hard.

Hi Antony. sorry you are dealing with pain . I would say before you start thinking and worrying about everything...do as you stated wait for a rx of what is really the issue . It may not even be TN at all so a wise decision you have made to wait and see what other tests and doctors say. I would try best to see a neuro doc they would be the best to rule it T.N. or face pain of some type. . we have a T.N. forum here if you want to visit it at some point later if you find you want to read around. Most times meds control TN so dont be discouraged. here is the link to the T.N. forum http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum26.html welcome to Neurotalk and if I can help please feel free to post . sending good energy your way. PEACE BMW

Hi Antony,

Your GP should refer you to a Neurologist for a definitive diagnosis - probably including an MRI to check for arterial or vascular knots round the Trigeminal Nerve - and proper treatment.

While I hope you are lucky, you have to jump through the hoops and be examined properly to protect yourself from possible further Attacks.

As BMW says, join us on our TN Forum if you need advice or support.

Dave.

Hi Tony!

Welcome to NeuroTalk!

It's great your doctor is doing an in depth evaluation.

I see Burntmarshmallow and English Dave have given you a royal welcome!

Please make yourself at home here on any of the many forums!
We also have some fun forums, where we share music, movies, wildlife pictures, pet stories, recipes, humor, word games and more!

I hope you enjoy your time with us!

To Our Healing,
DejaVu

Hello and welcome, happy to see you have come to be with us, it a great place to be. As you can see we have a great number and caring fellow members here, where you have find a supportive and relaxing place. Have fun looking into the different forums. Our shoulders are here for support in many ways.

Please keep us up to date on your condition. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Darlene

Hi Anthony

Welcome to NeuroTalk .

As you can see from the other posts, this is a very knowledgeable and supportive community.

I think that your GP has done a good job in arranging detailed clinical tests.

However (here I am echoing Dave) it would be good if you got your GP to refer you to a specialist neurologist - a specialist might be able to work with you to figure out what is going on.

All the best.