this effect ?
i hope i can explain myself precisely :
i've dont several nerve injections in a pain clinic over this year. none helped.
3 weeks ago - again i've done 2 (or three) nerve injections of lidocaine.. i the v2 v3 nerve. i felt my half face numb for 10 minutes. and there was still pain. the doctor said it should have effected immediately. it didn't.
i was very sick last week (virus) and felt like hell. and this sunday i recovered. and the pain got a little better. it's very very very very small relief. but a relief in some of the pain. i still got 24/7 pain in some levels.. but it seems the pain near the tooth (which was the worse) got a little (a little) better. i came to the point that today i was at hospital to "pull out" the tooth but was afraid - beacusse of the little better feeling i had the last three days.
the question :
can it be connected to the injections ? can these injections effect only after 3 weeks , an only in a limited way. (let's say - it's like if the pain in some places of the mouth is more vaugue. but again - only a little. if the pain was 8 last week. it's 6.5 these days. i wonder if it could be the injections or just a coincidense and more injectinos can increase the effect.
I've talked with a couple of neurologists in the past about Lidocaine nerve blocks. What I was told is that a single shot very frequently doesn't do much good. Both of these docs have found that they need to administer a series of blocks over a period of weeks. When the nerve "settles down", pain relief might be more persistent. But be advised that nerve block doesn't work even in series for a lot of people, beyond the 24 or 48 hours or so immediately following an injection. It's unclear why this method works for some people and not for others.
Regards, Red
Hi Red,
you have given me some hope maybe the very slow effect means i should not give up and keep "annoying" the nerve... i hope the doctor will "go with me" on that idea.
... i was trying to call the doctor today asking him myself.
next time he wanted me to do another RF but i think i'll ask him to do more injections.
i don't mind doing 4-5 injections ... but it depends on the docor of course. they don't like "being" told.. and here in pain clinics you hardly get a chance to talk the docor. you come in and the put you stright for the injection.
i was also wondering that - if you inject the trigeminal nerve - and it doesn't help. what does that mean ?
maybe that the pain IS from somewhere else - like the main nerve ststem in the brain. but i don't really belive that. i feel the pain in the gums. but the doctors in pain clinic only do external shot. they are not dentists so they don't do shot inside the mouth.
so hard to find a really thorough doctor who will really try and invest his time in trying to help.
What does it "mean", Nir? I'm afraid I really can't answer that question in a helpful way. We know from medical literature that nerve blocks do help some people some of the time. But it isn't altogether clear why they work or don't work in a given patient. Likewise, there is speculation in literature that some form of Central Nervous System sensitization may set in after neuropathic pain has persisted for long periods of time. That idea is being pursued in treatments for issues like Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and Cluster Headache. But as far as I'm aware, no specific therapy has been developed or tested to address this mechanism, if it actually is a "mechanism" rather than a speculation.
Regards,Red