Well folks....it's been a long run, since my TN attack on Aug 19. Today, I went to Mayo for the 3rd time, took the hubby along this time! Met with a different Neurosurgeon. He was great! Dr. Frederick Meyer, the head of the Neurosurgery dept, the way I understand it. He had 2 residents following him, and his nurse. So 6 of us in this little consultation room. Dr. Meyer was wonderful, he was very good about explaining my scans which I had a few weeks ago. Actually showed us where my Trigeminal Nerve was on the right & left side, and then showed where the blood vessel was near the nerve. He said he cannot tell for sure if there is a compression by the blood vessel, from the MRI/MRA. He said especially because it shows the same thing on the left as the right (where my pain is), it is symmetrical. He said the only way he would be able to know for sure there was a compression was is he did the MVD. With that being said, he wasn't encouraging me either way to have the surgery. He actually told me that I would only have a 50/50 chance of the surgery even being worth it. He definitely told me the only procedure he does is the MVD. He said he thinks that my TN is Atypical...which mean, not classic, not normal Trigeminal Neuralgia. That is because I have pain very deep in my right ear on occasion. People who have Atypical TN or ATN have less of a chance of surgery working, as far as I understand. He did say also because of my age, I was very young, and he just wanted me to "go home and think about it."
I asked him if he were to prescribe a medication that is THE BEST in his eyes for TN, what would it be, and he said Lyrica. Well, My awesome PA, Brenda Vis, already prescribed that for me, so it was on hold at the pharmacy, I just picked it up and took my first dose. Lyrica 50mg BID. Hopefully it doesn't cause me any of the yucky side effects I've been warned about. He also mentioned Nortirptyline as a substitute for the amitriptyline I'm already taking. Said either one of those is good. So, I've going to give this Lyrica a few days and see how it affects me before I make any decisions. Dr. Meyer believes that something caused my Trigeminal Nerve to become inflamed or "damaged". But I don't remember doing anything specific to injure myself. So, who knows, it could have happened years ago he said. He did say that if I chose the MVD surgery at some point, and there was no compression on the nerve, he would "squeeze" the nerve. Not sure what that would do, he didn't really explain it. He said my side effects could be hearing loss or numbness in my face.
Sadly, I still have some pain. It got up to about 4/10 today, but that was on the ride home from Mayo. We are a little over 3 hours away from Mayo, so to make the trip in one day is a big day, and I think I just over did it. I'm happy to be home, hanging on the couch, listening to our High School football game on the radio, GO LIONS!
Thanks to everyone who has been following my blog & praying me along. My plan is to, use the Lyrica & Amitriptyline, continue seeing my Upper Cervical Chiropractor in Sioux Falls, SD, and see if my pain decreases in the next week or so, I'll be back at work!
Love & Hugs,
Robbie