Neuro says MRI scans look good. He believes my tn is from a virus that became reactivated as a result of stress and a reduced immunity, just as with my bells palsy. He also said that I am not the first to report a tn attack right after a pt worked on the patient’s neck. He wants me to stay on the tegretol for 5 more weeks, finish up the antiviral med, and see how I feel.
Glad you got some answers! Sometimes not knowing is the worst!
I think that is great news! Does that mean your TN will go away as you rebuild your immunity? I can only hope that mine is from a virus as well but my neurologist did not say so. But the MRI was negative for any TN tangles but I know that a lot of people show nothing on MRI. Does anyone know if what degree of confidence a Neurologist has with the Fiesta MRI? I would be willing to go thru another MRI if it gave me some degree of clarity! I think this is good news and I wish you the best. Tina
Hi Debbie J,
That is great news and I hope he is right! Please keep us updated.
All this means is that the Neuro did not see anything abnormal on the MRI so he is guessing that it’s viral. But as I read striking back I am realizing this dr just made a wild guess.
I did not read your other posts yet but did you have a flare after p/t? This summer I underwent p/t for a work related back injury and the p/t triggered a flare up of my TN that has taken months to get back under relative control. I still have trouble more frequently than before the accident. I don't think the pseudo docs believed me when I was telling them that it was messing up my TN. If I wasn't under w/c I would have quit p/t immediately.
Yes, it is all guesswork , in many cases…there are people here with TN from shingles or virus , I don’t think any get TN to be gone because of that… Between that book
And this site…
As well as facial pain association site… Was called TN association
You will learn more than most doctors!
Shadow…yes!!! Right after pt did something I think she called 'muscle entanglement?" Not sure but I was have terrible neck aches especially in the morning. It hurt to lift my head off the pillow. The pt grabbed and pulled at a neck muscle and immediately my neck felt better. I was amazed at the difference. I can’t remember if it was that night or the day after, I felt a huge jolt after reading something that caused me stress. I ran to ask my husband and kids to get me something for my pain. The jolt was followed by intense pain that eased up after about 30 mins or so. The next day pain was on and off the the day after was the absolute worse. I could honestly say my thoughts were "maybe this is the kind of thing that could make a person consider suicide. I took hydrocodon and I thought it help, or was the pain just doing its thing on and off? Finally 3am my husband took me to er and the dr said I have Tn, gave me prednisone, more hydros and the name of a Neuro who agreed he thought it was Tn. He gave me nerve injections tregretol and the landicaine patch. Then the MRI which showed no abnormalities. Since then I have felt a dull ache, can’t eat on that side, and I did find out I have a cracked filling in the molar that hurts, but it doesn’t hurt as a toothache would hurt. It feels like something’s there that shouldn’t be. Also I have had extreme sensitivity with food and drink on that whole side. Dentist kept telling me to use the special toothpaste. I did for months and it just kept getting worse.
All the best. Keep us posted.