[rweidn]

Hi folks. I posted over at the MS part of the site and someone there suggested i look into TOS. To give my history my problem is that for over two years now i have had numbness on both sides of my face. It's a constant prescence which has good and bad days. I also have other symptoms occasionally such as small pains behing my eyes, a bit of earache, a burning sensation in my nostrils. The trigeminal nerve supplies sensation to the face and it seems this is the nerve affected. I have had MRI's and seen neurologists. They have said i do not have trigeminal neuralgia or MS. Before all this started i had become a bit of a fitness fanatic and was doing loads of exercise. I started to get pain in the side of my neck (on my right side) and shoulder and numbness in my hand. These symptoms would be affected by things such as weight lifting and typing on a computer. The shoulder, neck and hand symtpoms gradually went when i stopped my exercise regime but come back over time whenever i restart an exercise program. The facial symptoms started weeks after the onset of the other symtpoms and to my mind i sometimes think there muse be a connection. However neurologists seem quite clear that neck problems (MRI showed a small prolapse disc at C4-C5) cannot affect the nerves that supply sensation to your face.

My question would be - can you get bilateral facial numbness/pain with TOS and would these symptoms persist even if the more typical symptoms wear off.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Much appreciated.

[chroma]

I haven't heard much about facial numbness from TOS, but you could have TMJD. Or you could have TMJD + TOS as I and others do.

You may wish to see a TMJD specialist to get an eval and possibly an MRI.

There are a couple well reviewed books on TMJD on Amazon that cover stretches and exercises that may improve your condition.

Getting more speculative here: You could have chronic neck tension causing neurovascular compression leading to various symptoms that vary depending on the tension. I get dizziness from neck tension for example.

I get some relief from doing this self neck massage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duSNnBnqFts

Finally, it would be good to get an eval from an experienced PT. They have a different perspective than the MDs.

Good luck.

[rweidn]

Thanks. Funny you mention TMJD as i saw an ENT specialist and he said that when i relax my jaw and allow my jaw to open it shows evidence of being misaligned but he didn't think it could cause the symptoms i have. I notice that i often clench my jaw as well.

[nospam]

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d.php?t=167977

I haven't had any further facial numbness or significant TMJD since having both 1st ribs removed.

[Limoges]

I have had right-side mastoid surgery as the result of cholesteatoma, as well as right-side rib resection and scalenectomy. One thing I found interesting while reading imaging results was that I had something called Eagle Syndrome, which produces neck pain and similar symptoms to TOS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_syndrome .

[nukenurse]

I get facial numbness esp when my tos is flared ---- esp from lifting weights and doing a lot of exercise.

[chel1017]

been dealing with my face being numb and slight earache, and feels as if sinus pressure, along with numbness of the left side of my throat. My neurologist of course the two (tos) and my symptoms have nothing to be with each other. How often I hear this.

[Anne4tos]

Facial symptoms are TOS are related. Mystifies me how some Doctors do not see a correlation. Muscle tension effects the facets of the cervical spine and puts pressure on the cranial nerves.

My face symptoms flare when my neck tension increases. Occiput-C2 (maybe even C3) kick my face into high gear. I recently went without PT for 3 weeks and my face took the brunt of it. C2 was inflamed on the left side, so I applied a topical medication of Diclofenac and DMSO. It helped somewhat until I got home, but manual PT to loosen the tension is the best and is resolving it.