I need your advice, I'm going to try to explain the best i could.

Everything begin in June 2009. I went to see the dentist. I broke the last molar on the left bottom side in the summer of 2008. I had many visit to the dentist to fix it. During one of the visit, the dentist syringe needle touch something on the left bottom side and a sharp pain radiate from the left side jaw to the ear and up. My eyes were crying by them self and I had the reflex to rush my hand to my left side of the face. It last for a good 2 minutes than slowly the pain regressed. The dentist said he was sorry and it isn't something that happens often.

After I left the dentist I had that huge head ache, I had to go home and rest. Then I begin to have the tongue burning. Every time the tongue was touching the teeth or when I was talking, I had that burning stabbing pain. It last for 7 days then go away completely. Then couple days later I was driving and I turn left and everything begins to be blurry. I begin to be dizzy with vertigo. When I arrived at work, I was seating at my desk and the ceiling lights and computer make me feeling like everything was spinning around me. I add to go to the hospital and I wasn’t able to walk easily. It last for 2 weeks than it when away.

During the next 3 weeks I had big migraine and with the migraine I had the light sensibility, dizziness, vertigo, wasn’t able to walk without falling, ringing ears and that sharp pain on the left side of my face. Every time I eat, the first bite trigger a sharp pain on the left side that begin in the jaw then goes up to the side of my face.

They send me to have a CAT scan and MRI. They didn’t see any tumor. I went to see a Neurologist and after few minute to look at the MRI he said that it should be some Big Migraine and send me back home with some Strong dose of Steroid that should stop it. I took it for 10 days and nothing happen. Then I saw an Ear specialist and he didn’t find anything.

Since then here are my symptoms. I have that pain right on the top of bolt eyes every time I move them left, right, up and down. If someone opens a light without letting me know, I get that sharp pain like a knife into my eyes. Neon lights like those in an office or hospital hurt too. I have to close all blinds in the house because light is hurting my eyes. Computer and television are hard to watch. I can’t look left and right more than 3 to 4 times before I get dizzy and vertigo to a point that I won’t be able to walk without falling. I can’t drive because all the cars passing beside me make me dizzy and spinning. If my wife is playing Guitar Hero I can’t watch. It’s like a hyper sensibility to movement. Sometimes my eyes are watering after reading on internet or going outside.

2 to 3 times a week, I get those huge head ache that nothing I’m taking is taking the edge off. They are in the frontal lobe part right on top of my eyes. I try some Imitrex and many others but noting is working.
I have that sharp paint on the side of the face that goes up every time I eat. It last for 10-20 sec than goes away. The first bite trigger a sharp pain on the left side that begins in the jaw then goes up to the side of my face. Some days it’s happening more often than others. Cold and hot trigger pain. When talking I can feel pain in the jaw.

I have that ringing in bolt ears. I get really irritated. Ex: if I’m watching TV and some is talking close to me or doing some sound or movement, it’s irritate me. It’s like I can’t concentrate to do one thing. Like if I’m hyper sensible to sounds and movements.

I’m a finance clerk and since July 2009 I’m not able to work or do anything. If I try to input some data in the computer and I have to look at the sheet beside the computer, the back and forth trigger a huge vertigo and dizziness to a point that I can’t do it. If I get up and try to walk after it’s like to be on a boat in a big storm. I can’t control my movement. It’s hard to explain. I try to work an hour 3 days a week and after that hour it trigger huge head ache, dizziness and vertigo and the next day it’s not better. I did it for 2 weeks to see if there will be improvement but I fall couple time and the last time I black out. The doctor stops me and since then I’m at home doing nothing and I can’t stand that.

Every time I walk more than 30 minutes I get the same symptoms. I have two dogs and if I look at them when they are running the same symptoms are coming back.

My doctor doesn’t know what to do now. They have tried many things. I will be beginning Tegretol this week. I can’t change doctor because I’m in the Military. Need your help guys…. I don’t know what to think. Is it Trigeminal or Occipital Neuralgia or Something else? Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks

Hi ALIFE Welcome to the T.N. forum .
I had to let you know I see you here but I need time to read your post and take all the info in before I can reply. Right now it seems like it could be a few things and not just one specific
neuralgia. I will go threw the different ones and come back and share what I think or help best I can.
Sorry you found your way here over such a monster but WE are Glad you are here.
Low pain to you.
PEACE
BMW

I went on a little hunt threw the different neuralgia and well the thing that throws everything off for NOT being t.n. or o.n. or another cranial is you mention dizzy and vertigo. That is more a sign of head injury or concussion ,trauma of some type.
Which I am very very familiar with as I suffered face head trauma being hit from behind by a semi while i was stopped behind other cars. I had all the vertigo and dizzy... by just looking up at clouds or at the ocean, moving cars had the ringing in my ears and would "hear odd sounds too. But It was not from t.n. it was from head injury and post concussion syndrome.
So thats where I am lost . The only time another of my many contacts mentions dizzy and vertigo is from side affects of medication. it is not a symptom of t.n. or o.n. or gloss neuralgia . not as far as I know
I am going to do some home work and see if I can find some helpful info.
This is a good post ...if dizzy and vertigo is a symptom of t.n. or o.n. well your post here is very very much needed. They Experts are still learning and well we are still living with it .
I hope Another will come by and offer some help or input. Maybe I am wrong about dizzy and vertigo Not being a symptom of T.N. or O.N. ????
Off to find that out best as I can in depth.
Slow and Steady low pain to you .
I will post what ever I find out.
Sorry I wasnt able to help you. (yet )

PEACE
BMW

P.S Thank you for your service in the military. God Bless you

I'm also sorry you're here but welcome. I'm with BMW after reading your symptoms. I have both TN and ON and I have a lot of dizziness, but its caused by the medications and some other stuff. My ON pain is in my neck, the base of my skull, and up over and around my head. It also goes into the forehead some. I get eye pain from both condtions, but the TN eye pain comes from the outside while the ON eye pain comes from inside the skull, if that makes any sense to you. It can be hard to describe for me. These are sensory nerves and the TN eye pain I get feels like I'm being stabbed repeatedly in the eye while the ON eye pain feels like a red hot poker is being stuck in my eye from inside my skull. Maybe thats a better description. I have had the trigeminal area in the jaw injected with long acting marcaine and that has caused the pain episode that you described that emanates from the jaw and also leaves you with a #^$# of a headache. The TN divides there into the three branches that serve the face. There is a diagram on the web which shows it. I'll try to find it and post a link. What confuses me is the other symptoms that you describe. Rapid eye movements can trigger my TN pain as can bright light. But then it also can trigger the ON eye pain too. I don't remember if you posted, but did you see a neurologist?

Thanks for your reply; I'm asking the same question about the dizziness and vertigo. If I turn a 360 degree on the spot and try to look around I'm losing it. The best example of that is when i enter date; I have to look at the sheet than the computer. Doing that is like everything move slowly than the blurry vision and dizziness are in. It's like my eyes can keep up. But my last concussion was an ATV accident 3 years ago. Since then I was ok. I spoke about it to my Neurologist and he said that can't be it. Everything begins after the paint I felt at the dentist in June. I don't remember any shock to the head since then.

Hi EE03

I saw a neurologist few months ago. He thought it was some huge migraine and gave me the maximum dose of Steroid to break it. I took it for 10 days without any change. I told him about the concussion I had 3 years ago. He didn’t think it could be possible.

I’m seeing a physiotherapist for the stiffness in the back of my neck. It bothers me and I put ice often when I have those head ache. Like today! Moving my eyes to any direction is more painful. The pain is inside the skull right in the back of the eyes. At the top part in the back of the eyes. It’s really hard to explain. Hope this is clearer. It’s there all day long and getting worse if I’m exposing to lights or reading and other things.

When I have those head ache the paint is in the back of my neck were the neck and head meet, but nothing like burning just stiffness and if I move its worse. The frontal lobe right on top of the eyes is the most painful part of the head ache. I feel it right under the skin/hair like a pressure from inside. The eyes and head ache paint are on bolt side but the sharp pain when I eat is only on the left side. When I talk or sleep on that side I can feel something just over where is the jaw joint, closed to the ear.

I’m taking these medications.
The Novo-Betahistine 24 mg 2 to 3 times a day is working a bit. I try to stop taking it for couple days and the dizziness is getting worse. Taking it doesn’t make a huge difference but it’s better.

The Flunarizine 5 mg is supposed to help to prevent the head ache…At the beginning I had head ache all the time for 4 weeks nonstop. Now it’s more 2 to 3 times a week. They still are strong when they come but not as often. When I was trying to work these was getting worse, like at the beginning.

The Amitriptyline 25 mg is supposed to work on the nerve by slowing it…..not too sure about it but since I begin it, it makes the dizziness worse. The Doc said to continue it and the body should get use to it. She is the doc.

The last one is Garbamazepine 100 mg twice a day. I haven’t begin it. I want to make sure I need to. There is a lot side effect.

Thanks all to reply!
Steve

We seem to be on the same page with the ON headaches. I get sharp, shooting, burning pain which starts in the upper part of the neck which shoots upwards to the base of the skull and then branches off from there. If you've read up on ON, they talk about the ram's horn pattern and that fits mine. I also get random hot spots all over my scalp. If they're touched, they burn. I also get the random spots of pain that just hurt. Nerves have a life all their own. I get the constant throbbing headache in the base of my skull and it keeps me from lying on my back. The temple pain is a hard one for me to call as it could be attributed to either conditions and my Pain doc says there is a lot of cross communication between nerves, etc....I couldn't find the diagram I'm looking for since its in the Striking Back book, so I can't direct you to anywhere. Try googling images of trigeminal nerves and you might find one. There is a separate thread on here for ON which is worth checking out. I'm still confused about the dizziness and vertigo. Has anyone checked the 8th nerve (I think that one deals with the ear but my brain is in a fog right now)? Take care and hang in there. EE

I spend the last days to read when I can on the internet. Reading on the internet is hurting my eyes and get me dizzy. Now I’m more confuse than before. It can’t be O.N. because I have pain in bolt eyes and they aren’t red. Normally is only in one eye. Can someone confirm it! I have the blurry vision, movement pain and sharp pain in the back top part of bolts eyes. I try ice before and it hurt more so I will try hot and see if it can help. On top of that I have seen an optometrist, did some test and he said everything was find.

I just spend the last 5 days with a big migraine with eyes pain. I read about post concussion syndrome and I can’t find answer to this question. After full recovery can suddenly the symptoms come back 3 years later? I had couple big concussion in 2006, but they when away. After these episodes, I when back to my normal daily routine. I continue to race quad and car without a trouble. A lot of symptoms I have are matching it. At the beginning I wasn’t able to walk without falling down. It took me a month to be able to walk a little bit more freely. I learn to walk with the felling to be on a boat all the time. But still today when I get dizzy I need someone to help me to walk but I think it’s a normal when you are dizzy to not be able to walk straight. Dr normally will give Novo-Betahistine and your dizziness will get better. For me it did not much. If I stop them I fell a little worse. So I think they are helping a bit.

I don’t know anymore about the trigeminal. I have that sharp pain when I eat and often when I talk I fell a pain radiate around the jaw joint closed to the ear but it isn’t a sharp pain. Just a continuous pain of a 5/10 on the scale of pain! One thing I know was that everything begins after I when to the dentist. That sharp pain that radiate through all the left side when the syringe needle touch something and the burning tongue for a week. I read couple post that people have just V1 pain and not TIC sharp pain all the time. Can some with V1 explain to me your pain and your symptoms please? Or maybe refer me to someone, forums or any article that is specific to V1.

Thanks everyone to take times to read it and to comment!

Hi ALIFE,

Here are my experiences:

I have Trigeminal Neuralgia but not the typical one. It is atypical. That means, it is coming from somewhere else. In my case I have got two information:

1. It is from the neck muscles (there is levator scapula, the muscle)
2. It is from sinusitis. Again, sinusitis is from the neck nerve, called suprascapular.
As I have all three neuralgias: Occipital, Trigeminal and Suprascapular I have studied them.
Trigeminal nerve is divided into three branches:
1. V1 - ophthalmic (over eyes and eye browses)
2. V2 - maxillary (on the face and maxillary sinus)
3. V3 - mandibular (bellow chin).

I have pictures of them but can't post so long as I didn't write at least 10 replies.

I have TN 1 and TN 2.
V1 is over the eyes, comes from frontal head and makes terrible pressure into my eyes. I feel very sleepy and tired. Beside that I have always eyes pains, most of the time the right eye.
V2 is maxillary nerve and is connected with my maxillary sinusitis. There are pains in the nose mucus membrane and between nose and mouth. Very strange is, I am swollen just there. I taught for long time that is from sinusitis, but there is no sinusitis, because there is no hole.
Beside those pains I have also jaw joint pains and right ear pains. When I eat, I have after that pains in the eyes, sinusitis and jaw bones. Doctor in Pain Centre told me, that TN is going into Occipital area and Suprascapular area.
There are pills: CLONAZEPAM 2 mg (we call them RIVOTRIL) they can help. They help me only in the evening together with Naproxen and Sanval (the last one is for better sleep). During the day I take Ephedrine pills but have got high pressure, so I have to find something else.
When I was in Spain they have Rivotril Drops and they did help me also during the day.

Hope, to help you with my experiences.

Bozena

Hi everyone

Thanks to all of you. It's rely helping me. Here is what new since last time.
The Tegretol is working a bit. I'm at 400 mg and I see a difference. I still have pain when i talk or eat but it's really better.

For the eye it didn't change much. I still have huge headache. I stop taking the Novo-Betahistine. I don't feel any different. Since I begin the Tegretol my dizziness is worse. I'm barely able to cook if someone else is in the kitchen. It's really weird!

Another good example is we received a lot of snow. I try to help my wife to shovel the snow but looking at the shovel and the movement of it, make me feel everything is spinning around me. The same is happening when many car are passing us at the intersection. Every time I want to jump out. Make me feel crazy!

I haven’t been driving since July 2009. I miss my 2006 Subaru STI and all my ATV ’s.

Thanks against everyone!
Steve