So early last year I suddenly started feeling pain on the left side of my face. To make a long story short, I was diagnosed with TN very quickly, and it also quickly progressed. I'd been on some of the medications for awhile for another reason, so I actually had been having symptoms for much longer, and blamed them on other things. Anyway, after month of trying different things and nothing working, it was to the point that I decided to have MVD surgery. Sure enough, there was a deep groove from the compression, even though the MRI didn't show it.
Well flash forward 7 months, and I suddenly started having pain in my right ear up into my head. I went to the doctor hoping I'd be told I have an ear infection (even though the stabbing felt like TN, I was hoping it wouldn't be.) My ears look good, I don't have anything going on. So we're trying some numbing ear drops and giving it a couple weeks to see if that fixes things. But the doctor said that there's a real possibility that it is TN related to the right side.
So my question is, has anyone later had it develop on the other side? If so, did one side respond better to meds than the other?
My TN is on my right side. Quite typically the MRI does not show any compression on that side. The kicker is that there is a clear and large compression on my left, non TN side. The neurologist said that it is a very real possibility that it maybe develop into TN. I am having MVD surgery this fall on the right side.
I have bilateral TN. Yes, one side responded better than other.
Right side TN1 well managed with meds.
Left side predominantly TN 2 and also TN 1, resistant to meds, had mvd recently, so far so good.
My right side is still managed with Tegretol XR.
Hope it’s not TN, positive thoughts…
Mimi
Thanks Mimi. Glad to hear your MVD went so well. It was a life saver for me!
I can't take Tegretol. We tried twice but I have bad reactions to it. I've taken Gabapentin (Neurotin) for several years, so they just upped it a lot last year. I was taking 2100 mg by the end along with Baclofen every 4 hours and pain meds as needed. Keeping fingers crossed that's not the cause of the ear pain (it feels like someone is jabbing a pencil into my ear) and the headache over my right eye. My TN on my left side was mostly in V3 and V2. Occasionally it went to V1, but mostly stayed in the other two. So the head ache thing feels different.