Does anyone else glow?

General
1

So the past few years have been awful awful awful with sinus scans & dental x-rays. Is anyone else glowing? Prior to the past few years I never had any sinus scans and just the regular bite wings. It makes me so mad & depressed thinking about it. Have had a few MRI’s which I am not worried about. The journey of trying to find out if what your dealing with is nerve related or not. In trying to find answers to our pain I have gone to many different specialists over the past few years.

The ent would bounce me to dentist & dentist to ent. Right now I am labeled atypical face pain. I just wanted to know in your journey of finding out what your issues was if you’ve had a lot. I just left a dental school & the face pain dr thinks the swelling I have (very minimal) & pain is related to atypical face pain. He said in another 3-6 months we can do an updated scan to compare. Last scan I had was last Oct.

2

Have these ent’s and dentists prescribed any medication for you? What are you taking?

Have you seen a neurologist?

So sorry that you have not found any relief yet.

3

Well I am currently on 40 mg of duloxetine. Was also on 300 gabbapentin but I just had a hard time keeping up with both so I stopped the gabba.

I know I am on a low dose. I see the neurologist later this month.

4

Covering their butts, or trying to see pathology?
The issue is that neurological pain cannot be seen on X-rays. But doctors have to rule out everything.
Forget about the radiation, it’s minimal. Hope the doctors can help you.

5

What do you mean by glowing? Also, you should be seeing a neurologist NOT and ENT. ENTs have little training or knowledge of TN. Go to a neurologist. One other thing, atypical facial pain is atypical trigeminal neuralgia.

6

Thanks. I am seeing a neurologist. I am on low dosage so far. It all started a couple of years ago with upper jaw pain. Go to ENT and they said dental then dental people said ENT & so forth. Then started having procedures like pull teeth & still in pain. Getting x-rayed a ton over this. After my last tooth pulling I was referred to a neurologist. I am still following up with the ENT over my nose & see a face pain dr at a dental school. I am still in denial over the nerve aspect over it. I am still feeling like it’s something else causing it like a hidden infected tooth or the gunk in my sinus. After the last extraction I was sure & I guess still am convinced something didn’t heal right. So it’s my brain that has to accept it.

8

yimminy - I’ve read a LOT of entries on this website, but rarely replied to any entry.
Do yourself a HUGE favor and see a GOOD, experienced neurologist.

I’m 64, but finally arrived at the max of gabapentin (4800mg/day) years ago, and my pain finally subsided (I’m a little - no, PRETTY stupid now but I’m more-or-less free of devastating pain.) Don’t stop at 300mg/day of Neurontin and just call it a day. I’ve heard and read of many other similar stories from others. Better to be stupid than dead (and I was almost there - literally and mentally). At least ramp up on some anti-seizure drug, to see what it can do for YOU - and not just at some “regular” dosage that might impair you. This is unusually serious stuff, and it can take consequential measures.

I’ve had TN for YEARS but I didn’t get a neurologist that really KNOWS trigeminal neuralgia, but before then I saw jaw and tooth doctors TOTALLY misdiagnose my condition (my sister’s a dental hygienist, and I’ve worked at a hospital for over a decade, with access to many doctors and pharmacists). I’ve successfully used an out-of-town doctor at Vanderbilt in Tennessee (Moots), and I FINALLY got diagnosed correctly.

PLEASE do yourself a HUGE favor and see a doctor who knows (by EXPERIENCE) what they’re looking at. You can save yourself a LOT of money and a LOT of time and an absolutely rotten, horrible, misunderstandable(?) pain. Believe me - I’ve been misdiagnosed plenty of times and I HATE to hear that some doctors want to take your pain way too lightly - TN pain really is called the “suicide disease” for real and believable reasons. Mine hurts like a major beotch sometimes, but you really can get some relief, regardless if you have surgery or not. A qualified, EXPERIENCED neurologist doc is worth gold. This pain is absolutely rotten, and many docs don’t mind taking your (or your insurance) money for a split second - just in return for their OPINION alone! Do yourself (but maybe more importantly, your devastating, excruciating pain) a favor. It’s not worth spending your life in horrible agony. I did it (put up with that pain no one else can understand) for years until I saw an EXPERIENCED neurologist who can identify the unfathomable depth of pain of trigeminal neuralgia. (I don’t want to mislead you - you may very well have a different cause to your pain, but DON’T mess around with TN if you truly have it.) It’s difficult to diagnose unless they actually SEE it in an MRI, and can see that it matches TN by symptoms as well - even mine was misleading.)

May God truly give you good guidance with this type of issue. “Glowing” is the LEAST of your constant and persistent worries right now. Just get diagnosed CORRECTLY. It took me time plus a number of docs to figure it out. The rest of the money I spent is money truly down the drain - insurance or not. Ask for God’s best guidance, and be thankful. It took me a while to really listen, and then it took a while to realize I may have been putting my faith in some doc who gets a LOT of money REGARDLESS of their opinion. Again, ask for God’s best in your life. It’s not worth messing around with. I give God ALL the thanks for good advice AND for EXPERIENCED doctors who have matched all my symptoms with others’. I am pain-free enough, as well as happy (and otherwise healthy) so that I can live a fulfilling life with love and terrific marital sex. Ahhh… life for me is GREAT! Don’t live your life without God’s BEST. It’s definitely possible, and WONDERFULLY rewarding! I never thought it would be great again, and now I LOVE life! What a beautiful change!!

Thanks for your time in reading my words & experience. Don’t forget to ask God for the right guidance and message, and also to thank God for sound advice - not just mine or someone else’s.

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Please do not see your ENT or dentist until your neurologist has fully investigated what has been going on. They will start you with a regular MRI to rule out MS, if they haven’t already. When it shows nothing, have them do an MRI using a CISS, VIBE, FIESTA, or similar protocol. These are much better at seeing nerve damage. Pulling your teeth is not an answer for the pain. Many have done this and still have the same pain, only now without some teeth that were necessarily pulled.

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unnecessarily pulled

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Thank you for your replies. I had an MRI a couple of years ago which didn’t show trigeminal neuralgia. I should ask for the Fiesta one or the others you mentioned. I won’t pull anymore teeth unless necessary! That last tooth extraction was the biggest mistake. Yikes lesson learned!