scoopy, it sounds like you and I are suffering the same complaint. Tooth #12 had had a root canal 3 1/2 years ago. It always hurt. During July the pain increased. My family dentist and I had talked over the years about the possibility of the root being cracked. He said no way to tell on an xray only way to know was to pull it. Anyway, I had the tooth extracted and knew immediately that something was wrong. Burning and stinging in mouth, sinuses and eyes. My sense of smell was off (the air conditioning smelled like burning chemicals - thank heavens that symptom resolved itself). Bridge of nose felt like I'd been hit with a baseball bat. All of my upper teeth hurt. Hurt in ethmoid sinuses, top of head, back of neck. Was in AGONIZING pain. Five trips to the ER. Got a referral to a neurologist who diagnosed "atypical facial pain" and started me on amitriptyline.

Today is day 30 of my journey in pain. These are current symptoms -

1. Constant pain in area of extraction.
2. Teeth #11, 13, 14, 15 are numb.
3. All of top teeth ache, but especially front teeth.
4. Pain from front teeth up to bridge of nose.
5. Pain on left cheekbone.
6. Some numbness along jawline.

Pain level goes from a 3 to a 7 based on this scale tipna.org/info/documents/ComparativePainScale (I'm new here and it won't let me post links yet. Put the www in front and the dot html at the end to find the site I am referencing.)


None of the opiate based pain relievers work on this. I tried Darvocet, Hydrocodone, Tylenol with codeine, Dilaudid, and Oxycodone.

The amitriptyline has reduced the pain from the constant 7 to 9 that I'd had before seeing the neurologist. I take it about 6 or 7 o'clock so that I am allowing myself plenty of time to sleep off the sedative effects of the medication. I started at 25mg per night and increased the dosage to 50mg. At 25mg I did not have too much trouble waking the next morning, but at 50mg it takes me almost an hour to get out of bed and another 2 hours to feel like I'm not in a fog. It also has had a slow down effect on my intestinal tract. The amitriptyline by itself is not keeping the pain at bay at this point in time, but I've only been taking it since August 25th. I understand that it takes weeks for it to build up in your system. When I wake up in the morning the pain is about a 3. But the longer I'm up and the more I have to talk, the pain level goes up.

Sure wish I could go back to Aug 6th and NOT have that tooth pulled.

Chalkdusty-I feel your pain. This thing has pretty much robbed me of any joy in life right now. It is really tough to experience joy when you have a near constant tooth ache all the time. I do have hope though and you should too. Let's hope the amitriptyline will start to kick in and bring you relief. If not, there are other med options out there that may be beneficial.

I see my neuro in a month then I'll probably be on amitript too. Right now, I need to come off my pain meds before I start though-due to drug interaction. I had spinal fusion in march and getting off these pain meds has'nt been easy but I need too. Kinda been a tough year for me. lol

Plz let us know how you are doing? I will do the same.

Peace
Shannon

Scoopy, you are absolutely correct in your comment about having no joy in life. I totally agree. I haven't had anything to smile about since this all started. My day is all about the pain. What level it's at and what do I take to try to lessen it. I hate what my life has become. It is so hard to go to work, but if I lose my job, not only do I lose my income I will lose my insurance. I'm an elementary school teacher and there is just no way to go to work when the pain levels high.

I backed off the dosage last night back to 25mg. At 50mg I'm to sedated to function and the effect on the GI tract is challenging. I hope it will still work for pain at that level.

Chalkdusty-how are you doing? You say the amitript is working for the pain? When did it star to kick in? Feel better.

Shannon

I have had some fairly similar symptoms since having my teeth bleached 10 weeks ago. It was the first time I had it done and was not expecting it to be so painful. I felt like my body went into shock and developed lots of weird symptoms. One of my lower front teeth throbbed so much it kept me awake for 5 nights. I then got a numb chin and lower lip and burning neck and jaw pain. This cleared up as the tooth stopped throbbing. However, the pains then changed to the top of my head. My upper teeth started to ache & throb and I got numb temples & a burning pain under my scalp with the odd electric shock pain up my face. My GP said it was a type of Regional Pain Syndrome but after doing some research I thought it might be ATN. I hadn't heard of AO. He prescribed Amitriptyline 10mg which I took twice but made me really drowsy but I am going to try them again.

My GP said it should subside within a couple of months. I have had the aching teeth and burning scalp pain for about 7 weeks now. The aching teeth is actually worse for me than the burning scalp but work has been really hard and have had time off and left early. Don't want to leave the house as cold air blowing on my head and teeth hurts them more. Hopefully mine and everyone else's symptoms will go away soon.

xxxxxxxxxx

Hey there, scoopy! I'm feeling a lot better. I've been on amitriptyline since August 25th - 25mg at bedtime (though I usually take it between 6 and 7 o'clock). Sure does help me to sleep! My neurologist told me to double that to 50mg per night after the first week. I tried over the holiday weekend, but was sleeping 12-13 hours per night and still not able to wake up in the morning without a one hour wrestle out from under the covers. I dropped it back to 25mg. I HAVE to get up in the morning and go to work! I'm an elementary level teacher and you just can't be semi-awake and do that job properly. It really took the better part of 2 weeks to feel an appreciable difference in the pain level. During the day I take a lorazepam 0.5mg at about 9am. That does not make me sleepy at all. I thought about trying to up the amitriptyline and take the second 25mg in the morning (and not take the lorazepam), but I was really afraid it would make me too sleepy to be an effective teacher. I'm waking up fine with just the 25mg at bedtime. However, the amitriptyline does cause some gastrointestinal issues as it slows the movement across the transverse colon. Not sure that I could handle the 50mg dosage....

Last week my pain started at a 3, went to 4 by noon, and was at a 5 or 6 by end of the work day. This week I've started at 1 and never gone past 3! I also started going to a chiropractor over the weekend. Oh, and I made my own homemade mini heating pad from a sock and some uncooked rice. Pop that puppy into the microwave for a minute or two and hold it over my teeth after I've eaten lunch. Yesterday I got home from work at 5:00 and realized that something did not feel right.....my pain level was a 1. :winky: As I said, the previous week it was much higher whenthe work day was through.

So I don't know exactly which to credit - the amitriptyline, the chiropractor, or just that I'm finally getting used to how 4 numb teeth and 5 that hurt all the time feel in my mouth. I am finally back among the living and not sitting around wishing that someone would euthanize me. :eek: I feel that I can still be an effective teacher and that is what is so very important to me. I was afraid that this nerve damage/pain would rob me of my identity. I'm just NOT gonna let it!!!

Now more importantly, how are you doing?

Besides all the other issues I am having, I had Zoom bleaching and yes it did play havoc on my teeth. It's obvious in my case the Zoom agrivated the nerves resulting in more pain. The first few days were really tough. Hopefully, in your case it will go away.Good luck.

Glad you are doing better Chalkdusty. It's great to hear success stories out there. I'v been better to say the least. My life is pretty much on hold filled with pain, anger and depression. Before I try the amitript, I need to be off my pain meds due to drug interaction.

I had back surg in march hence the pain meds. My back is doing really good though and very thankful. I should be totally off em in a few weeks. That's a whole nother issue of itself-coming off norco(vicodin).

Once off then I can try probably amitript.

Continued health for ya.

Scoopy, I'm sorry to hear that you are still in pain and feeling less than hopeful. I spent the first 3 or so weeks of my ordeal with pain level7, 8, 9. No sleep, no relief. So I do understand what you are saying. I sincerely hope that when you are able to taper off the vicodin that you are able to tolerate the amitriptyline and that it gives you relief and your life back. I just came from the chiropractor and was reflecting on the absolute night and day difference from where I was a month ago. When this started, I thought I'd never be able to return to work and that my career was over. I feel very blessed that that is not the case.

I found that narcotics did not help my pain at all. Yet every ER doctor I saw kept tossing narcotics at me. Since my pain did not present as typical TN, they didn't try any meds that would work on nerve pain. Shrug.

My pharmacist isn't thrilled with the amitriptyline and lorazepam together either. However, the neurologist said it was okay. I just don't take them at the same time. One at night and the other during the day.

Keep me posted on how you are doing.

Dear Scoopy,
I was unaware that there is a drug interraction between amiltriptyline and vicodin.
I take Nortriptyline, cousin of amil., with narcotics, (some pretty heavy ones, in fact) with zero interraction.
Didn't mean to pipe up in your conversation, but just wanted to let you know that there are possible alternatives.
Take care,
Lily