[Rani28]

Hello.
I'm in my early 40's & a mom of 2 grown sons and 2 dogs.

I've had a "not fun" week.
I am leaving for an MRI in 30 minutes.

Easter Sunday, I landed in ER with "the strangest migraine I'd ever had" The pain was horrible and started at the temple and had spread throughout my entire right side, you know the drill.... it lasted 2 weeks. This is day 5 of the latest attack.

Is this unusual? ...the not having the lightening bolt-like shooting pain at the beginning; but the constant pain instead?

Yesterday, my GP, dentist and chiropractor all said: "TN"...today my Neurologist is the one sending me for the MRI....long story, two days ago was when the neurologist informed me I had epilepsy. (told ya it's been a bad week) he was certain of the dx before the EEG results came back, so I have been on two anti-seizure meds for over a month now. (for epilepsy) Lamictal and Topamax. No pain relief...and I am NOT thrilled at the idea of taking tegretol. (also, it is not the ideal anti-seizure med for my kind of epilepsy)
The vicodin is not helping...it may as well be baby aspirin. At the moment, having my head run over by a truck on the highway sounds like relief. I'm so tired, I have not slept in 3 days.

Anyway, back to my question, is the constant pain at the beginning unusual? or should I just wait to see what the MRI says?

Thanks.

[AnnabellG]

In my experience, constant pain was normal.... so you're not alone in that

[EE03]

Hi Rani,

Welcome and sorry you're here.

My first experiences were constant pain. These were not the lightening bolts, which sadly did come later, but the lesser pre-TN pains. They went on constantly and were unrelenting until they just decided to stop. I tried every pain med and nothing made it stop. I also tried numerous antibiotics, decongestants, and steroids as most of my early episodes presented as sinus problems and eye problems. Of course CT scans and exams were negative for any indication of eye or sinus problems. So, it wasn't until the second visit to my ENT that he suggested TN and it turned out that he was right. Its a difficult condition to diagnose and to treat and many docs don't really want to treat it. This is something I seem to be learning about currently.

Take care and follow up with as many docs as you need to. Also, MRI's are usually used to rule out other causes such as tumors or MS. They don't show the vessels or arteries which wrap around the nerve and cause the damage which leads to the nerves misfiring and causing pain.

EE