Can the trigeminal nerve cause the occipital nerve to become irritated too? I have always had some neck discomfort since I started feeling the TN pain. The neck pain got excessively worse around middle of Jan and radiated into my shoulder also. Then I started getting severe flash pains in the sides of my head, top of my head and the back of my head. They would be only a few seconds in length, but would darn near send me to my knees. I thought for sure that I was having aneurysm explosion or something. After a double lidocaine block done on each side of my head, the flash pains stopped entirely and haven't experienced another one. Now, of course, I worry that they may return if they are referred pain from the TN. Can ATN cause this?