Anyone else have TN following cluster headaches?
I guess I am a rare bird because last year I started having cluster headaches. These went on for about 6 weeks and believe me, death would have been my choice while they were happening. Anyway, shortly after I started having Trigeminal Neuralgia. Now, I deal with that daily and I hope the clusters don't return. This is on top of the chronic back pain I've had for decades.
I am taking 1200 mg of Tegretol a day. The pain is milder but still there.
I've heard too many horror stories about the invasive surgeries, so that's not an option. Any advice?
Cherokee I wish I had some advise to give you. I rarely get headaches (oddly I have one right now, this damn snowstorm is messing with my head) Are you sure the headaches you get are not due to the upper branch of the trigeminal nerve?
Cherri
Well the pain jumps around from above my eye to cheek bone to ear. I don't know.
Cherri said:
Cherokee I wish I had some advise to give you. I rarely get headaches (oddly I have one right now, this damn snowstorm is messing with my head) Are you sure the headaches you get are not due to the upper branch of the trigeminal nerve?
Cherri
Look at this page Cherokee and look at the illustrations. See where the upper branch goes? http://www.ucc-ny.com/conditions-treated/trigeminal-neuralgia.html
Hi Cherokee! Sorry to hear about your symptoms
I am not sure exactly which surgery you are referring to, but if you are talking about Vascular Decompression, my advice would be that it is important to determine if there is an organic cause for your TN. For example - if there is a blood vessel impacting on the nerve. In this case Vascular Decompression can be effective (note I am not talking from personal experience, just materials I read).
It is not unheard of for the surgery to be effective only for the symptoms to return years down the road. Also, there are cases when the condition is only made worse because of the surgery. Nerves are very delicate structures, no one knows exactly how they become irritated in many instances of TN.
Did you try any medications for cluster headaches when they occurred and if so - have you found any effective?
Also, because you've had two different disorders and they occurred in a very short while from one another I would strongly suggest a CT scan or MRI of your head and neck to eliminate the possibility of an organic cause like cancer, etc. Don't want to alarm you further but it would only seem prudent....
Thanks!
Moribund said:
Hi Cherokee! Sorry to hear about your symptoms
I am not sure exactly which surgery you are referring to, but if you are talking about Vascular Decompression, my advice would be that it is important to determine if there is an organic cause for your TN. For example - if there is a blood vessel impacting on the nerve. In this case Vascular Decompression can be effective (note I am not talking from personal experience, just materials I read).
It is not unheard of for the surgery to be effective only for the symptoms to return years down the road. Also, there are cases when the condition is only made worse because of the surgery. Nerves are very delicate structures, no one knows exactly how they become irritated in many instances of TN.
Did you try any medications for cluster headaches when they occurred and if so - have you found any effective?
Also, because you've had two different disorders and they occurred in a very short while from one another I would strongly suggest a CT scan or MRI of your head and neck to eliminate the possibility of an organic cause like cancer, etc. Don't want to alarm you further but it would only seem prudent....