New Symptom: Numb Face and Jaw
 

Hi everyone, starting in December I started getting numbness in my face on the left side only. It starts in the jaw and spreads up around the eye and down along the jawline to my chin. The numbness is also felt in the left side of my neck. My left arm feels heavy with period tingling/pins and needles, and my hand sometimes feels shots of pain in my wrist and knuckles.

I have had 5 episodes already and am having the start of one now. I have been seen by emergency room doctors who assured me I was not having a stroke. It's a strange symptom as I feel like my left side is drooping even to the point where I will think saliva will start drooling out of the left side of my mouth (embarrassing).

I am going to a neurologist on Wednesday hoping I can get some answers. The MRI of my head and neck are not until next month.

Has anyone else experienced this? It's a scary symptom to start all of a sudden after a year and a half!

Sly,

I haven't experienced anything like that.

I hope the docs can help you.

My prayers to you, Bud

Some types of migraines can cause some of those types of symptoms with the paresthesia but I would have to wonder about the actual pain in your wrist and knuckles. Does anything else noticeable happen at the same time that the numbness starts? How long does it last when it happens?

I hope you get some answers from your Neurologist. Let us know how you get on.

Hi Slg,

I'm currently dealing with something similar to what you seem to be experiencing but not as severe. I'm just about 9 months post concussion and I get pressure and numbness on the left side of my cheekbones, upper teeth, outside of the eye and temporal area. I've been told that my symptoms could be due to trigeminal nerve neuralgia, but none of the doctors or specialist have told me anything definitively, which makes it all the more frustrating. So far I find it comes and goes with the pressure becoming more severe with exercise or increased activity. Do you find it gets worse with activity?

It's something I'm unfortunately adjusting to, it is better than the shooting pain I was having in the same area earlier but still seems as debilitating at times. Hopefully the specialist you're going to see can shed some light on your symptoms since it seems like you're having effects in other parts as well.

FYI, there is a
Trigeminal Neuralgia Forum
here at NeuroTalk.

There are resources and information in the Sticky threads at the top of that forum as well.

There's also a forum for
Occipital Neuralgia and other Cranial Neuralgias

For discussion of Occipital Neuralgia, Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia, Nervus Intermedius (or Geniculate Neuralgia), and Vegal and Superior Laryngeal Neuralgia.

Cheers for links Lara.

Hope you got on well today, Sig1.

I had partial face paralaysis and trigenmeial neurplasia noted by optician/DR about 1-2 months after injury. The pain is the key thing in the latter, but the former had similar to what you are saying, I also had a wet/cold sensation down the back of my head/behind my ear.

The partial paralysis has healed a lot, my eye doesnt really droop now though the shape as changed a little. I can raise my brow, though still do not have range/flexabiity as before yet. My skin is more sensitive, though there are still patches where it feels as if I am touching through cloth.

The pain has...lessened. Still there. Some days are worse, others better.

I find it a bit odd that the symptoms should continue into the left side of your body. Useually the body is effected on opposite side that head was injured. Or did you get a couple of knocks on diff sides?

Get your Atlas bone checked
 

Hello, I have had the same symptoms and history of accidents like you. After suffering for 4 years, I believe I have found the answer to my PCS. The ATLAS and Axis bone in our necks! when you get whiplash they become misplaced and it causes all of the symptoms you are having. Find an Upper cervical chiropractor in your state that is trained in the Atlas Orthogonal Technique, Google it, to find one in your area. Dr.Roy Sweat is the founder, read up on it. This has been truly amazing to me. I started my treatments 3 months ago, and I am finally on my way back to having a normal life again. Good Luck to you and God bless.

Yes, I got knocked around. I had the head on and then the side impact. Thanks so much for your reply :)

Thank you so much for the information. Everyone has been afraid to even adjust my neck or touch it in any way. I finally have a neck/T1 MRI coming up in February so I hope that I can on with my therapy as you did.

Thank you Lara. A neurologist last week wondered about that diagnosis but is still wondering about why my left arm is involved. One night last week my arm and leg was involved. Very strange but I have a head and neck MRI coming up this month - I can't wait for the results.

Pcs
 

I am just frustrated beyond anything else. A few weeks before the Christmas holiday I had a freak accident in my own home and hit the back of my head pretty hard on the metal frame of my couch. It jolted me so much that I felt almost like it was an " out of body experience" and I could see everything surrounding me like i was sucked in a black whole for a few seconds ( I had panorama vision). fast forward through the next few days and weeks after the injury , it literally felt like the flood gates had opened inside my brain. I hated to think about the fluid/blood/whatever else was happening in there, I just felt so much PRESSURE. Beyond the sharp pain I would feel on either side of my head, everyday was different and I was down, unable to live my daily routine. 30 days post injury I finally started to feel a bit more like myself, less dizzy, less headaches, sharp pain, numbness, jolt of nerves feeling like they were slowly repairing themselves. I was optimistic that i was well on my way to recovery...
Well, unfortunately (more than 60 days later from the injury day) pain is back and it has been here to stay. I am freaking myself out reading all kinds of information on concussions, now wondering if I am going to have a stroke because now I feel tightness in my head, sorta numb feeling going downwards to my jawline. I feel helpless, my neurology appointment is 18 days away and it seems like no one gives a **** when I tell them that it's urgent and I don't want to go to the E.R. because I cannot afford to pay that kind of money out of pocket, I am uninsured and that is why I didn't run to the E.R. in the first place. I'm sure people who can relate to having go bankrupt over not being able to pay hospital bills can understand. I just want to find out (statistically speaking) if there are symptoms that I need to look out for a blood clot in my brain and if people die months later of pcs after not going to the hospital and getting a brain scan. Again, I am freaking myself out and really debating whether I should bite the bullet and go to the E.R. and suck up the 5k bill I know I will end up with:(

juelz313,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

First, nobody dies from a simple concussion without first having some severe symptoms. Those would be stroke like symptoms. Loss of motor control, extreme headache, extreme nausea, etc.

Some of your symptoms can be caused by an upper neck injury or a jolt to your TMJ. These are common with concussions.

Do you have a way to check your pulse and blood pressure ?

You don't say where you are so it is difficult to help direct you to care.

Urgent care clinics can be good. An ER visit would not be $5000 for something like a concussion. A CT Scan at this point would be to reduce your anxiety more than diagnose anything important. They are best just a few days after the concussion unless extreme symptoms manifest.

Concussion clinics can be helpful. Many neurologists are not much help for concussions. People around here will attest to that.

If you are in the US, I can help you sort through medical bills based on the CPT codes. There is information available online that shows the allowable fees for every procedure and other billable services and facilities for those on federal health benefits. The gross bill is just that. There are formulas used by insurance companies and providers to reduce those gross bills to something more palatable. It is not uncommon for a gross bill to be reduced by 50% or even 75% and close to the Medicare/Medicaid allowables.

So, if you could tell us the general area where you live and a more specific list of symptoms with severity on a 1 to 10 scale, we can help allay your fears and help you make some decisions.

btw, There are a lot of reasons your symptoms came back other than a worsening injury. A concussion is a process, not a single moment event. Stress (Christmas, New Years, illness, drinking, etc) can cause symptoms to increase.

I've not heard of new symptoms appearing after so long, why would that happen if you haven't done anything to make the problem worse such as a new jury?

I've had similar things, although not all at once.

Currently I am dealing with pain and numbness in my right eye, and right side of my mouth. For me it feels like I am constantly drooling and the side of my mouth is numb. I have looked and it isn't, it just feels like it. This has been going on since December for me too.