I want to jump off a bridge .... or be in hospital! lol
 

Hello,

I am Bec. I'm new!

I have recently started to experience the most revolting and horrendous pain I could imagine.

I am yet to be diagnosed, having a MRI and MRA on Thursday. I have a pretty long and complicated neurological history, although it has never included pain.

The pain is all on the right side of my face. Deep in my ear, behind my eye, in my gum and some teeth (although if I touch any of the teeth or similar in my mouth they dont hurt), the right side of my throat and lastly, it feels like someone has broken my nose.

Its a slow, killer pain and pressure. It keeps coming and going. This cycle started on Saturday night. Currently it is 4.30am, and I cant sleep.

I cant cope with this. It is horrific.

oh how i feel for you, hopefully relief is on its way. Make sure you are honest about your pain to the docs and don't settle, if the doc doesn't seem to understand get a new doc! Some docs aren't trained to treat nerve patients and are not sympathetic to your pain, reach out to one that can treat you the correct way. Good luck!

Bec ~ Has your doctor looked at your right carotid artery? Just a thought.

Bec, I am quite sure your pain is from Trigeminal neuralgia rather than occipital. I had the same thing and got help from a doctor in Portland Oregon. I took tegretol for several months and finally the attacks went away. My doctor told me my TN was from the herpes virus and similar to shingles and that like a cold sore, would go away but might come back in times when my body is very stressed..sadly not alot of doctors are familiar with trigeminal neuralgia, so you must find one that is and is willing to treat you with tegretol or carbamazepine (generic for tegretol which is much more $) The meds made me rummy but stopped the hideous pain. Eventually it went into remission and I have been free of the TN for 4 years, but keep the meds in my cabinet for another attack.

Hello Bec,

I am familliar with your symptoms. I have many of them as well. When dealing with certain regions in the face, those point to certain cranial nerves. When the eyes and nose are involved, it typically points to the trigeminal nerve (cranial nerve 5 CN V) or facial nerve (CN VII). Pain in the throat generally points to the glossal-pharangeal nerve (CN IX). The teeth and gums are served by the trigeminal nerve (CN V). Although the CN V and VII exit the cranial vault near the ear, a predominance of pain in the ear reflects a neuralgia of a tiny nerve branch call the genicular nerve.

How does this little nerve effect the other regions that you are having pain? All 4 of these nerves send messages to the brain through the same ganglion. Think of it like an old telephone operators switchboard. All of the afferent signals (sensory messages going to the brain) from these nerves are going through the same switchboard. Even though the primary problem is with the genicular nerve, sometimes the wires get crossed and the brain recieves the sensation as if it came from another nerve.

The crossed signals make the problem even more difficult to diagnose. I went on with this pain for more than 10 years before being properly diagnosed. Unfortunately, medications are not very effective in treating this kind of pain. I would recommend (if you are still having these symptoms) finding a neurosurgeon recommended by the Facial Pain Association. That is how I got the proper diagnosis. Their web site has a state by state directory.

I hope this is helpful, or that you have already been helped.