[jennadeleon]

Hi everyone. i'm new to the site and the forums and just got diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia today. But i'm concerned about my symptoms as they don't seem like the typical and common symptoms of TN.

History is that in 2005 i had a bunch of dental work in my upper left tooth near my molar. In 2006 while enlisted in the military, they re-did my root canal. I'm not sure if this is the cause of any nerve damage but a year later, I've felt alot of pain and thought it was the toothache.

Early 2007, I went to a dentist thinking it was my tooth and he took x-rays and did some exams and couldn't find anything wrong but he prescribed my Vicodin ES which seemed to work. No symptoms or episodes for about 6-8 months. The pain felt like throbbing pain that lasted about 10-15mintues and would fade to pain that felt like alot of pressure and a dull ache. I felt this same pain throughout the end of the year and in 2008 sometimes 3 times a week, sometimes every 3 months. It comes and goes.

However, this year seemed to be the worst and is progressively getting worse. In June, I had so much pain that I had an emergency appointment with a different dentist and req to redo my root canal, after many xrays, evaluation and medications, they confirmed that it was NOT my tooth and it was not TMJ either. The pain i felt also had alot of pain in my left jaw and cheekbone. They referred me to a medical doctor to be evaluated for TN.

This week, on Sunday i had the same pain again, and once more Monday evening when I walked into the Sauna after a session at the gym. Monday night is when i felt the most excruciating pain I have felt. I felt the pain crawling up my cheek to my teeth, underneath my eye, in my teeth and jaws. Could barely move my jaw (i think because i didn't want to) it felt like throbbing for about 20-30 minutes with a severly dull ache that led to major pressure in my teeth, cheekbone and jaw.

i saw my PCP today and he diagnosed me with TN. I have been reading on many forums and haven't found much like my symptoms. I just want to know if anyone else have these symptoms or similar to them. Please help..

I was given Tegretol 200mg/day to start off...

Thank you for your replies

[Bassetcase]

Hi, welcome to the forum - I'm sure someone will come along shortly to give you more helpful info than I can, but I like to respond to newbies as soon as I can because I know they are usually horrified with their new diagnosis. You will find the folks here to be the most caring and helpful on the net.

To respond to your specific question - yes, I have seen many posts here describing your same pain. It seems that TN can strike any area of the face or head, so you were probably diagnosed with Atypical TN. My pain is centered directly in my right ear and the immediate area surrounding it. Pain is a constant, hot, boring pain deep in my ear with intermittent ice pick jabs. In addition, the surrounding area is very tender to the touch and talking, eating, turning my head, or God forbid, SMILING increases the pain.

Fortunately, my episodes are sporadic and I do not have to take meds on a daily basis - just when I get an episode. They are occuring more frequently lately about once a week or so and usually last about 4 hours. Heat applied to the side of my head helps the pain better than the tegretol.

So, I would suggest that you go to the beginning page of the TN forum and read the stickies and do some searches for your kind of pain and I am sure you will see a few that sound much like yours.

Take care and try not to panic - I will be thinking of you and praying for you and all of those here that suffer with this monster.

Rhonda

[Omariffic]

I had the same tooth issues as you did...but I also had a route canal. And about a month after, the tooth started throbbing and I felt like I wanted to rip it out. After many pain killers and antibiotics, I still had this terrible pain. They couldn't figure it out. One oral surgeon said the tooth was fractured. Which a CT scan proved it wasn't. Finally, an MRI showed that I had a blood vessel hitting my trigeminal nerve.

I am on Trileptal. But the tooth still is achy.

Not sure if this helped. But I get it at least!

Originally Posted by jennadeleon

Hi everyone. i'm new to the site and the forums and just got diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia today. But i'm concerned about my symptoms as they don't seem like the typical and common symptoms of TN.

History is that in 2005 i had a bunch of dental work in my upper left tooth near my molar. In 2006 while enlisted in the military, they re-did my root canal. I'm not sure if this is the cause of any nerve damage but a year later, I've felt alot of pain and thought it was the toothache.

Early 2007, I went to a dentist thinking it was my tooth and he took x-rays and did some exams and couldn't find anything wrong but he prescribed my Vicodin ES which seemed to work. No symptoms or episodes for about 6-8 months. The pain felt like throbbing pain that lasted about 10-15mintues and would fade to pain that felt like alot of pressure and a dull ache. I felt this same pain throughout the end of the year and in 2008 sometimes 3 times a week, sometimes every 3 months. It comes and goes.

However, this year seemed to be the worst and is progressively getting worse. In June, I had so much pain that I had an emergency appointment with a different dentist and req to redo my root canal, after many xrays, evaluation and medications, they confirmed that it was NOT my tooth and it was not TMJ either. The pain i felt also had alot of pain in my left jaw and cheekbone. They referred me to a medical doctor to be evaluated for TN.

This week, on Sunday i had the same pain again, and once more Monday evening when I walked into the Sauna after a session at the gym. Monday night is when i felt the most excruciating pain I have felt. I felt the pain crawling up my cheek to my teeth, underneath my eye, in my teeth and jaws. Could barely move my jaw (i think because i didn't want to) it felt like throbbing for about 20-30 minutes with a severly dull ache that led to major pressure in my teeth, cheekbone and jaw.

i saw my PCP today and he diagnosed me with TN. I have been reading on many forums and haven't found much like my symptoms. I just want to know if anyone else have these symptoms or similar to them. Please help..

I was given Tegretol 200mg/day to start off...

Thank you for your replies

[cc smiley]

Hello, yes I have the same problem on the left side. I have blood vessels compressed on the nerve. My mouth hurts alot my gums swell, I have a bridge on the upper left side, at times I just want to rip it out! Chewing is impossible on that side, my jaw hurts to the point I can't talk, smile and chew. I had MVD surgery in 05 that didn't work, I take Tegritol up to 600mgs. aday and vicodin, when the pain starts it can last up to 3 weeks. I do the best I can mostly sleep because of the increase medication, I don't always take that high dose of tegritol, I usually take 200 to 300 mgs, when I go higher and in that much pain I just want to sleep. If you have any other questions maybe I might be able to help.

[jennadeleon]

Thank you so much for the reply. Now I know that I"m not the only one out there. I'm not certain if I have a blood vessel compressed on the nerve though. Chewing for me during and attack, will not let me move, speak, bite because it hurts so much. Sometimes it goes away after an hour or so. Recently the attacks went away for a couple of weeks and last night I was just sitting on my bed and it happened. The pain was crawling up from my jaw to my cheek to underneath my eye. It lasted for about 20 minutes. I'm guaranteed It's not a tooth problem since 2 different specialists did multiple diagnostics tests and such and determined it wasn't a tooth problem.

The thing is, I read so many threads on the forums, and i understand that everyone has different symptoms but I'm still not secure... Ijust want to know for a fact that my problem is in fact TN or ATN.....

Thank you so much for the reply...God bless us all and I wish we can all survive through this pain we deal with almost everyday.

Originally Posted by cc smiley

Hello, yes I have the same problem on the left side. I have blood vessels compressed on the nerve. My mouth hurts alot my gums swell, I have a bridge on the upper left side, at times I just want to rip it out! Chewing is impossible on that side, my jaw hurts to the point I can't talk, smile and chew. I had MVD surgery in 05 that didn't work, I take Tegritol up to 600mgs. aday and vicodin, when the pain starts it can last up to 3 weeks. I do the best I can mostly sleep because of the increase medication, I don't always take that high dose of tegritol, I usually take 200 to 300 mgs, when I go higher and in that much pain I just want to sleep. If you have any other questions maybe I might be able to help.

[jennadeleon]

So today doctor advised me to increase my dosage to 400 mg/day. Still low compared to others, but last night I had 3 half-hour attacks one after the other and I couldn't sleep. Hopefully this new regimen will work... and I have to go get labs done on Monday.... hang in there guyzz..