Does ON cause face swelling?
 

Hi. I'm a 38 year old female that gave birth to my daughter in November. I was diagnosed with thrombophilia during my pregnancy (no history of blood clots, but recurrent miscarriages). After delivered I was put on warfarin. I stop warfarin treatment in one week.

Right after my delivery I started getting shooting pains behind my right ear and temple. Didn't think much of it because it had happened before. A few days later I got severe postpartum edema and the a couple of days after that, severe neck pain that radiated to the back of my head. Dr's told me it was all normal after delivery. The neck pain was probably tension and from holding baby. I can't take any anti-inflammitory like Advil because of the warfarin.

The pain behind my ears and temples never went away and I started noticing pressure on my forehead and dizziness. In early December l noticed swelling on my cheekbones, more on the right side than left. The doctor thought it was cellulitis and prescribed antibiotics. Swelling didn't go away. They prescribed antihistamines, but it didn't help the swelling. One week later, I started feeling tingling and numbness from my scalp to my chin. I also started noticing facial spasm. Sinus CT was normal. Head CT was also normal.

After one month with facial swelling and 2 weeks with the tingling, I saw a Neuro last week. He ordered a B12 blood test which I don't have the suits yet. I also did a brain MRI yesterday, but I spoke with the Neuro and he said that for what he sees, it looks good, but he's going to wait for the official report.

I'm starting to wonder if this could be occipital neuralgia? Does it ever cause cheek swelling? The back of my head still very tender.

I can't wait to start taking Advil. :(

Hi, Anna! I have ATN, TN, ON, & GPN. It sounds as if you are describing both ON & ATN (possibly even TN). It is not abnormal for NOTHING to show up in a MRI. A clear MRI doesn't rule out any neuralgia. It took me eight years to get my first neuralgias (ATN & TN) diagnosed. Mine began at 17. My ON was diagnosed in 2010 and my GPN was just diagnosed in July. As far as the swelling, I had personally never heard of it until a couple times my eyes looked very sunken and almost a little black and blue. I inquired about this and found other people have experienced the same thing...so for your cheekbones to have swelling, is not too surprising. That was part of what made my eyes end up looking as if they sunk into my head. Good luck. I hope you soon get the answers you need so you can hopefully find a good treatment plan that works for you. :hug: