Lyrica
 

Anyone had any experience of this? Does it help pain.

I reported to the doctor that I have increasing pain behind my ear and also the temple above it since I have started going back to the gym. The result is a diagnosis of Neuralgia and prescription for Lyrica.

In many ways I am relieved by this, the other doctor used to diagnose me with a slight ear infection and antibiotics. To think for a year I had this, but it wasn't treated.

Although to be fair to my first Doctor he prescribed Cymbalta which has greatly helped. Whatever Neuralgia it is I have it comes for periods of weeks and then goes. Hopefully the combination of Cymbalta and Lyrica will do the job.

I used Lyrica for a frozen shoulder (before my brain injury!) and it was fine for me. I hope the two meds together are alright for you.
I wonder if the pain behind the ear and around the temple are cranial nerve damage related to your brain injury? I have pain from behind my right eye through to my mouth 24 hours a day....sometimes gets really bad but is always there. Brings on headaches if I do too much.
hope you feel better!

Sorry to hear about your 24 hour pain, I hope you get the right pain meds.

He mentioned Occipital Neuralgia, and this seems to make sense because I have experienced a lot of one sided pain, light sensitivity and and migraine like symptoms.

The other strange thing is when I stopped Cymbalta I had 24 hour tingling/numbness in my gums and teeth. When I went back on it, it stopped.

I think now that I am through the worst of PCS, as I try to get back to normal with the gym etc some old symptoms reoccur. Maybe the MRI will show something up.

Yep, Occipital Neuralgia, I have it and still can't get rid of it. Pain from my neck to the back of my head especially when under stress or sickness. A recent case of sinusitis made it so bad I went to the doctor and after antibiotics with treatment for my recent sinusitis, it started dying down but still with a mild pain back there. I try to not get sick or do too much involving my neck because of this. When I reach my limit, i usually rest and apply heat to the back of my neck. Heat therapy usually works for some relief. Hope you feel better. :)

Consider,

Your Occipital Neuralgia sounds much worse than mine. I used to get the most dreadful sinus pain as well, thankfully this has completely gone. Have you tried Lyrica? It is one of the best medicines for neuropathic pain around, but it is quite expensive. It hasn't worked yet, but I only started it yesterday lunchtime.

It happened after the trauma to the head from the impact. It's a bit better but gets awful after sickness or stress. I haven't been stressed lately due to the antidepressants, so I am pretty much content with how it is. It's not terrible yet its not really great, either.

Fixing my posture had helped plus the tricks they taught me at physical therapy. If I am under a Occipital Neuralgia attack, then heat therapy, a pain reliever and rest usually suffice. Otherwise, it hurts till I sleep. It's my body sign of "you are doing too much and you need to stop."

I try to have my stress under control and organize, as well as ask for help if I need it. B-12 and Fish Oil has also helped repair the nerves that were damaged from the impact, as recommended by my neuro as well as Mark's Vitamin Thread.

Ever since then I started the regimen plus an antidepressant, I felt tons of improvement and was cleared for recovery. I went back to school again. I am somewhat me again and I am glad for that. It's just absolutely terrible when I get sick so I try to keep healthy and get in my nutrients.

Perhaps we are some of the lucky one's here, like yourself I only seem to relapse when I push myself too hard. When I am good, I feel 100% better.