Strange facial sensation on left side
 

I have had a (constant) strange sensation in the left side of my face for a little over a year now. I am a 28 year old(f) and i did have a cavity of the left lower jaw that was drilled also over a year ago. The dentist that i had at the time was pretty ruff and i think he may have drilled into and damaged a nerve? not sure. This feeling feels like tightness and pressure and slight muscle weakness although i have full use of my face. I can feel it in my cheek, around my eye, forehead, chin and left side of neck( all on the left side). I feel my face has become slightly less symmetrical but no one else seems to see a change.

I have had an MRI which was normal and i have seen 4 neuros. 2 of the neuros think i have a form of trigeminal neuralgia that is uncomfortable rather than severely painful. I do not think i have tri- gem but i of course cant say for sure. This feeling is CONSTANT- the only time i do not notice it is when im asleep.

I have tried acupuncture, massage therapy, physical therapy w/ electro stim( this felt good but the feeling never went away completely) and now i have been seeing a chiropractor. I have also seen other dentists and now wear a nightgaurd every night to protect against occasional grinding/tmj.- I can open my mouth fully, no cracking etc- but apparently i do clench my jaw when sleeping.

I did try to ignore this feeling for 4 months before i tried to find treatment- I was convinced i was just sleeping on the left side of my face all night and thats why it felt like my face was always pressing against a table. Trying all these different treatments is just very expensive and nothing seems to be really resolving it. I can feel in that side of my face so there is no loss of sensation/ total numbness. I know it could be worse and i could be in constant pain but this is still feeling is still quite uncomfortable.

Whats most frustrating is that i don't know whats causing it and every time i go to an MD they talk about things like MS, brain tumors, perry romberge and other terrible conditions while i think there is a good chance this may not even be neurological( i.e nerve damage?).

Anyway im considering trying thermographic imaging( for tmj, and the face?). I want to try what i can instead of ignoring this feeling. The fact that it may be permanent is very upsetting to me.

Thanks for letting me share! I hope me posting here isn't at all disrespectful to those who have severely painful conditions. I am just trying to seek knowledge and information outside the MDs office!

Hope everyone feels better soon( in a perfect world we all would!:)

Sorry to read about the problem you are having. I don't have any words of help - other than to encourage you to continue looking for answers. You are welcome to post here whether you are in severe pain or not. Maybe someone else here has had a similar experience. I wish you well!

Discomfort on one side of face
 

I have been experiencing a very similar sensation for the last 6 weeks.

I am controlling the severity with a drug called Pregabalin (in the UK), also known as Lycra (I think).

I have an MRI the other day to see if they can pick up on anything else.

I'll keep you posted.

This is more a feeling of fullness and discomfort in my face rather than searing pain.

Wish you well

ADAM

Strange facial sensation on left side
 

How's it going ibdvine and ADAM? Any updates? :hug:

I'm 23(m) and I have, what seems to be the identical problem as you have ibdvine.

In my case the feeling is mainly around my left cheek, and it feels like its kinda drooping or weakening (but physically it's not!).

what you describe as strange feeling of tightness, pressure (like the cheek is pressed against a table, is spot on.) Also, slight muscle weakness is familiar, although it's very subtle (maybe imaginary).

My feeling is as if I've rested my hand on my face's cheek for a while or gently holding two fingers on specific areas, like under the eye. Sometimes it feels like someone has slapped my cheek the day before, when the strange feeling is more apparent (which is often). flickcabin(.)com/public/view/150641 if you look at this picture, most of the sensation is where the lightning bolt symbol is and maybe lower.

I'm always brushing off imagined hairs and cobweb from my face and checking the sensation every minute. It's so weird and it's driving me crazy because it's constant, (at least when I'm thinking about it, and that's too often.)

I think one year or more has passed since I got this "thing". And either is the sensation worsening physically or my mental health is.

Any ideas?:confused:

Any updates ibdvine? I've found many of these people with similar symptoms and they never follow up on things. I've been having this same things for 7 months and its constant. I've seen many doctors and one neurologist. No one knows what's goin on. Some say irritated trigeminal nerve. I'd really love to hear what has happened since your post. Hope all is well!

Hey Nanoo,

I'm experiencing something very, very similar to you. It's pretty spot on when you described it as: "feels like its kinda drooping or weakening (but physically it's not!)." The way I would describe it is that it feels like something is ever so lightly touching my cheek below my left eye and about a quarter inch or so from my left nostril. It's not nec what I would consider pain. It's just a feeling on barely noticeable pressure being applied to that area. And like you said, it almost feels like it's drooping a little (also around the lower left eye lid). It's constant as well. I've actually had this feeling before (a year or two ago), lasted a few days, and didn't experience it again til now recently. The area of the picture you referred to with the lightning bolt is pretty spot on.

Did you ever get it diagnosed?? Do you still feel it?

Glad to hear from someone!
Now, I can give you more background about how this developed. It's always hard to describe these sensations with the right words, and It seems to be changing and moving on my face, and I find myself describing it differently.
Well, it begun with a kind of heavy redness felling low around the side if the neck and over the cheek. This was before it moved closer to my nose and under the eye. Now it's more intense sensations and specific to under the eye and the nasalobial fold (which has physically gotten deeper than on the other side sadly.) . But the redness and slapped feeling is still there, constantly. Sometimes it feels like tiny tiny twitches or like a scratch. I mean... my healthy side, on right side of the nose, just feels more robust and normal. it's crazy. It's very uncomfortable but still so subtle. So annoying and I can't stop thinking about it. It has become a part of life, but it feels like a handicap, holding me back.
I talked to a curator once about this, quite a while back now. She said it was imaginary! I also talked to a neurologist I think it was, he basically did some very simple tests and asked about my hobbies, and that was that. I feel like I have to meet a good doctor and really explain my problem asap, now that I know it's still here and I'm going to ask to Do more tests.

Some speculations: what about stress? What about some sinus problem? I'm always shuffled on one nostril. I dunno.

Hope to hear from you!

My pain sounds similar to yours. I have been diagnosed with Atypical TN. I was very confused at first because my pain didn't come in short, shooting bursts of electrical type pain that people with TN describe.

Mine starts out in my molars on the top and bottom left side and by the middle of the day my left jaw, cheek and ear are so sore. It is a constant, digging and pulling, achy pain like I got punched in the face. There are some days it isn't there and some days are worse than others.

As soon as I starting reading about Atypical TN, or Type II TN, it fit my pain very well.

My journey started out in the dental office, too, as I was convinced it was my teeth. Next to a TMJ specialist who said I have TMD and bruxism and gave me a night guard. When the pain was continuing to increase I had an MRI, which was fine, and was finally diagnosed with TN.

Good luck to you on this terrible journey!

I doubt it is TMJ Disorder.
A Tricyclic medicatiOn or Lyrica might do the trick. These are meds to ask the doctor about.

Hi ibdvine,

I've been through a similar situation, in fact exactly like JustJane.
And after everything, one thing I can say is that if something like a valium or another anxiolytic makes the pain go away, it's probably a nerve disorder.

My story in a nutshell.
Started with pain on right side of my face, treated for sinus infections and referred to a dentist and ENT. (months and months on and off antibiotics and even sinus surgery suggested.)
Started with dental work a year ago and a domino effect followed.
-Top 2nd molar pulled because of major pain, the pain didn't stop in the area.
-Removed bone graft 6 months later, no infection present. OUCH!!
-Then extracted the bottom 2nd molar.
-Then ended up root canaling both 1st molars...
---The pain in the area did not stop. In fact got worse because of the abuse of the area by dentists.
-TMJ diagnosis and mouth guard which has helped a bit because I do clench.

After multiple ct-scans and mri's "everything looks great"!!
And the root-canals seem perfectly done.

But the cheek and jaw pain didn't cease, and it would always start with the molars on the right side feeling swollen with a dull pain that would sometimes turn sharp to the point that i'd want to pass out.
Often turning into an intense migraine lasting a couple days on end.
This would include ear and neck pain all the way through the cheek and lower jaw, always only on the right side.

Finally I stumbled across something when I took a Valium and amazingly all of the pain/pressure in my teeth was gone.

So after many incompetent doctors and specialists that are always convinced that you have what they specialize in, I finally came across a doctor that has listened and explained to me how this is probably trigeminal neuralgia and atypical migraine.