I seem to have got in the middle of an unresolved conflict here?!
I shan't ask anything else because I feel like the little kid trying to make sense of mum & dad's argument! I'll just work on the supposition that if I had a file tip left in my root canal I'd have known all about it long before now. Thanks for the pics anyhow, Cleo - interesting.
The pain might be the same/similar, Flossie, but the cause would be entirely different. Dental damage damages the nerve anywhere along its length under/above your teeth - most usually directly under/above where the dentist has been working. With a vascular compression, the damage is in your brain, i.e. a nerve is being squashed or has had the casing damaged by a vein beating against it and wearing the myelin sheath away. The end result can be much the same, i.e. face pain and/or 'electric shocks' but because the cause is so different, completely different treatments would be called for. There would be zero point in having an MVD, for example, if you had dental damage. That's why it's important to know.
Flossy said:
Why do you think when it’s starts with dental work that it is different?
Has anyone tried Calmare scrambler therapy for constant burning in a tooth? I just did but no success, dr wasn’t sure where to place leads. I want to pursue this and find out if any Calmare technicians have treated this tooth pain successfully? Any other ideas to try? I’ve also had sphenopalatine ganglion blocks with minimal if any relief. Feel like I can’t breathe the pain is so deep and intense with no relief.
So sorry about your pain. Maybe you already tried this - but after my root canal, screaming pain all thru half my face and temple... The dentist tried steroids - that definitely helped calm it down after a couple days.
Also, Ive been on cymbalta for nerve pain, it is helping. good luck.
justjane37 said:
Part of what makes TN or ATN or AFP or AO or Nerve Damage so difficult to navigate is the lack of information. Most of us are out here treading water by ourselves. Many of us have a difficult time just being diagnosed properly. Every single one of us is different in our experiences that got us to where we are now.
I have seen two dental specialists, my GP, a neurosurgeon and a facial pain neuro. I still don't have a proper diagnosis. No compression showed up on my MRI/MRA's but who knows if one is there or not. I had a root canal early into my journey with this pain that has grown in span and intensity over the past two years. But did the root canal make it worse? Or would it have gotten worse anyway? I have no idea. I'm now bilateral anyway with no dental work on the second side. The neurosurgeon says ATN and he can't help me. The neurologist says AFP and meds. So who knows really. It is more a process of weeds things out then it is gaining insight. The more questions I have, the fewer answers I seem to get.
I agree with what you have to say 100%. But it has taken me almost two years to come to that opinion through asking questions, seeking professional opinions and a lot of reading, writing and chatting with my fellow TNers out there. I could have made many mistakes along the way and not had known until it was too late.
When people are sick they do generally turn to DRs for help. We do not assume that DRs don't know what there doing. Yes, we are in control of our own decisions but without knowing the difference how can that hold up? And living in Chronic Pain causes a lot of stress, anxiety, panic and depression. I was not in my full, right mind when I was in dire pain everyday for months on end. I begged a dentist once to pull out my tooth and cried in his office. Thank goodness he didn't! People do desperate things in desperate times. My point is that we want very badly to believe any solution to our pain that is given, any way out of this horror. We are vulnerable.
That's if you can even find a DR that knows anything about it at all except for outdated beliefs of a one size fits all mold. And I am a lucky one so far. I have found a medication, actually two now, that work for me. I am able to function very well and lead a happy, full and rewarding life. What if I was still in dire, constant pain now? Two years later and a hundred times more intense. Yeah, I would probably pretty "desperate and gullible". It is called the "suicide disease" for a reason. The pain is one of the worst known to man...bad enough that some people would rather die. I would think because they see no way out of it. Which is horrific and true for some of us. That's awful and so so sad. My heart goes out to every one of you. I wouldn't wish this type of pain on a single person.
Luckily, with the internet we are all able to come together and are learning what works and doesn't--more through others' experiences then through our own. We are becoming our own DRs, our own specialists and our own best advocates. What you have to say is important and hopefully it helps somebody see the truth in front of them. We need to remember to be compassionate to one another. I don't know about you, or anyone else on this board but this has been one of the hardest things I have had to deal with in my entire life and that is saying a lot. TN, or whatever it may be, is not an easy disease (or injury) to navigate your way through. And it is mostly through others' mistakes that we learn so much more about what to do and what not to do.
What a lovely, insightful comment :)
I actually believe that this is what happened to me. Some very bad decisions were made and I was left with TN and the pain where the root canal was performed in the Mandublar nerve. Now after MVD the ocipital nerve is involved. I life live very well with plenty of sleep! Too many medications but something that does allow me to be functional. I consider myself lucky now.
Thanks so much for posting this!!!
I did not listen to the warnings. I was told I could get Anesthesia Dolorosa.
Such a great posting by RC and other. So much help for educating people like us who are new in this field.