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.

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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.

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. 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. 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?

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

Hey Lily, how's it going? It's really not a major interaction but when it comes to treating atypical, some say the amil works better on it's own and not as good when combined. Who knows, but that's what I was reading in this med journal. By the way, how are you doing? Are you getting relief and if so what is helping you? Take care.

Hi Scoopy,

I just read your thread and it reminds me a little bit of me. I have been dealing with this pain for more than 2 years.
my pain started out in my tooth. thought I had a toothache and went to dentist. he could not find anything wrong, but said I could have cracked tooth syndrome. decided to have root canal and crown. Was back in his office after several weeks in severe pain and they told me everything looked great and it was just soreness and needed to give it time. I was in tears and told them this was not soreness. they gave me a couple of pain pills and sent me on my way. went back to dentist again after several more weeks and they said something. I was more insistent that something was wrong. they were not very nicety me and kept telling me that it was just sore. I kept telling them I new the difference between sore and pain. gin ally they said they could send me to an endodontist, but they didn't recommend it because it was expensive and they would not give me any pain pills. I realized at that moment that they thought I was a drug seeker. really hurt my feelings and I was very angry. told them I wasn't asking for pain meds and to just make me an a ppt with endodontist. endodontist was very nice and helpful.
I did end up with 4 root canals and 3 crowns . During the 4 th root canal, which was a tooth retreat I could not get any relief from nova cane he stopped procedure and said I think you have a nerve problem and wanted to send me to a pain specialist. I went home and decided after some research to see a neurologist.
neurologist immediately diagnosed me with TN. my pain ran across my upper teeth and sometimes up my nose into my eye area. she did an MRI and said it was atypical. I then started all the different anti seizure meds. the med would help some and then within few weeks pain would increase. Dose of med was increased and then another would be added. I went on like this, but side effects of meds made me a walking zombie and pain kept escalating.
my pain seemed rather constant, but I would have breaks although they were always very brief. the pain level also varied somewhat. I spoke with my neurologist about the possibility of having typical TN and asked if maybe a compression just didn't show up on my MRI. she said absolutely no way, I had atypical and would always have pain and be on meds. I choose to get another opinion and went to a neurosurgeon that specialized in TN. he took one look at me and said he did not know how I could even stand up they had me on so many anti seizure meds and doses were so high and I was still in co stant pain. I told him I wanted another MRI and I wanted and MVD. he said no MVD unless he found a compression.
he was several hours from me and I made an a ppt to have an MRI the next week and had MBD scheduled immediately following, that same day if he found anything. he found the compression and I was wisked away to surgery. woke up pain free. it was amazing, but I did have problems.
Woke up with intense pain in back of head. it was like TN had moved to back of my head. he kept telling me it was just from the surgery and it would calm down within couple of months. went back to his office several times within 5 weeks complaining of back of head and he kept assuring me pain would stop and then within 6 weeks my TNin teeth came back suddenly full force. Went back to him and he redid MRI and said everything appeared fine and suggested gamma knife. I declined. went to duke to see a neurosurgeon there. He listened to my story and said if it was his head, he would go to Pittsburgh to see Dr Janetta and have him open me back up and see what was going on. he said the only way I would know was to have a look. he didn't want to do it. he said I should go to the best.
A week later I was in Pittsburgh and saw Janetta and Dr Sekula. They were wonderful. they agreed to do a second MVD together thenext day. it had been 3 months since my first MVD at this point. second MVD was harder to recover from, but they added more padding and my TN was once again gone.
they said my pain in back of my head was probably from my occipital nerve. they said my original incision was not in the normal place and was a little high on my head and very close to my occipital nerve area. they thought maybe my nerve was caught up in scar tissue.
3 weeks later I had them do a third surgery to explore the occipital nerve. they found my occipital nerve was shredded and in shambles and they could do nothing to fix it. they think it was caught in retractor during my first MVD because of the incision placement. I went home devastated and still in pain. started looking into a stim implant for my occipital nerve. in the meantime, I started having a tooth pain. this time I really felt it was one particular tooth that had had 2 root canals and a crown because when I flossed it smelled bad besides the pain. went to endodontist in mid may and he took dray and said my crown did not fit properly and had caused an abcess. had another root canal, finally went to a new dentist and paid for a new crown. now my TN pain will not go away again. my neurosurgeon feels that the trigeminal nerve is just irritated and will calm down this time on it's own. I also just had a stim implant last weeks on my occipital nerve. it has reduced my pain by about 75%. I am still on pain meds, but am already reducing them. they also said that if my trigeminal nerve does not calm down I can have a lead placed on it to help.
Sorry, very long story, but wanted to say it is always best to get a second a third opinion. Don't just assume by one Dr that it is atypical or AO. sometimes it can be typical. my pain was so bad it felt constant, when in reality it was just firing so much and for so long it seemed constant. I did have breaks. also compressions do not always show up on MRI even when it is the right kind of MRI. it must be a special thin slice and still may not show up. my advice would be to go to the best Dr. I would go to Pittsburgh and be evaluated, even if it is hard to come up with the funds. at least you would know what you are really dealing with. if I had gone to Pittsburgh in the first place, I would not be where I am today.
hope this helps you in someway.
Easygoing