I had a root canal in January and had other procedures done. I have prickly sensation on the cheeks, forehead,ears and neck, nose. All over. Plus I have dry nose and nasal congestion. No pain but I was wondering if this still could be trigemiial neuralgia? My quality life is not like it was. Anxious and depressed. lv I have done all the scans and blood tests imaginable. EEG came out abnormal but I did not have any head injury, just confused.

What has your neurologist said?

She said that I had an abnormal eeg and wanted me on Keppra. She asked if I have had a head injury and said no. She said she didnt think it was trigeminal neuralgia because I had not pain and wanted me to get tested for an autoimmune disease. The test came back negative for any autoimmune disease.

I would suggest seeking a second opinion. Of course my opinion is based on just researching for myself and looking at what others have had experienced. TN pain can be very weird and abnormal but like other disorders can only be diagnosed by ruling out others basically. Obviously your having an uncomfortable pain so something has to be causing it. I am not a TN expert but what you describe I have read some atypical TN patients describe that. Don't give up until you get an answer and trust me it could take time, but keep searching!

You can have all of the symptoms for an autoimmune disease, and have negative tests. Later on they may come up positive, but a negative blood test should not be the only criteria. I had symptoms decades before my tests for Sjogren's Syndrome came up positive. By the time I actually had a positive test, I was already in need of punctal plugs for my eyes. So, if you feel something is wrong, keep pursuing the matter until you find an explanation. Just keep in mind that autoimmune diseases are notoriously difficult to diagnose because the symptoms crop up like a game of whack a mole, sometimes disappear, or morph into something else, and blood work can be late in confirming symptoms. I wish you the best.

The question comes to mind...did this pain start only after your visit to the dentist? If you had some serious work done at the dentist with difficult procedures it would make sense, to me (though I am no doctor nor a dentist) that some facial nerves may have been disturbed.

I, too, would suggest getting a second opinion from a Neurologist. In the meantime, keep a journal of when and where the pain begins and ends, what you use to relieve the pain. Like, does it begin in the forehead and work down toward your jaw or is it all over all the time? Take these notes with you to the new dr. Just a suggestion, but it helped my neurologist rule out TN for me.

Hi,

thanks for your reply. It mostly feels like I have inflammation, feels tight. Its not painful just discomfort. Thats why im confused and fear its the beginning of something worse. Its been hard to accept what happen, this started at the end of Jan. I would do things different if I could. But i cant. No moisture in my nose only if I cry which is alot.No more refreshing air. I think the zoloft makes it more inflammed which I dont understand, i thought it would help. Just feel scared and guilty. My family is going through this with me.

Patty

I subscribed to TNA Quarterly. They have a questionnaire that helps to answer if you have TN and if you do what type. Go to google and type in trigeminal neuralgia questionnaire, it will come up at the top of the 1st google search page. One of the administrators put the web address under useful tips. It's the last one listed, way at the bottom.