Hello friends! I have Geniculate Neuralgia, but I am hoping to find someone who has undergone this procedure here, since it is used primarily for TN sufferers. I met a new pain doctor and had high hopes, as their website stated experience with TN, they use a wide variety of healing methods, and their office was stunning! Unfortunately the really young doctor said he had no knowledge of GN- that had only read about it in a textbook in school. He was leery of taking over my medications as they are many and at high dosages. The only option he could suggest was a Stellate Ganglion Block. He described this to me by jabbing me in the neck.
Have any of you had this nerve block done? Did it relieve any of your pain? I've had many nerve blocks but had never heard of this. Any info would be greatly appreciated! Have a good weekend!
RueAnne, this is the sort of inquiry made to order for the search window at the top right of our pages. Suggest that you run "Stellate" there and page down through some of the eight pages of hits. My own reading of this traffic is that results with Stellate Ganglion Bloc are pretty spotty. A few patients have gotten relief for more than a few days. The majority were not that successful.
Yes. I have had the procedure done. In fact, I had it done twice. In the traditional method they insert a tiny catheter up your nose and then inject the lidocaine solution. It is just a little uncomfortable, though it sounds horrible. The worst part is when the stuff drips down your throat. Yuck. This did procedure did nothing to help my chronic ATN pain (over my eyebrows and bridge of nose. Maybe yours will be in the throat because of where your pain is. I don't know.
The second time I had another doctor do the procedure. The newest way is that they insert a similar catheter but there is a tiny hooked catheter inside the initial catheter. Once up the nose they push the smaller catheter up so that it comes out and hooks so it is situated directly by the trigeminal nerve. Then they squirt the solution. Once again, it did nothing to help my pain.
Really, it is an easy procedure to endure. The doctors got me all worked up about it. When I got finished I couldn't believe that it was as easy as it was. I hope that you get the relief that you are praying for. I am still hanging in there and looking for my own miracle. I am trying to get a peripheral nerve stimulator, but I am in a battle with the insurance company.
You are not alone in this battle. When I am at my worst, I lay there and think of you and others like you who are enduring similar trials. I also sing "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." lol
I admit, I am actually relieved. I'm in a holding pattern now until my next brain surgery, this time out of state (at UPMC). I have one doctor left who is managing my pain medications who desperately wants to stop seeing me, as I have made no progress, and my neuralgia is not his specialty. He took over my care after my neurosurgeon failed my first brain surgery and then promptly dumped me as a patient. The doctor who suggested the block is a pain management specialist, however when I explained my Geniculate Neuralgia he looked confused and uncomfortable, quickly admitting he had only read about GN in medical school and had no experience whatsoever in treating it. He did say he had used the block for patients with TN so he could try it on me and maybe it would help. From the look on his face, his honesty about being unfamiliar with my disorder and only a "maybe" chance at any pain relief I was not going to pursue it unless I read many outstanding results from other patients. I've already gone down too many maybe routes, and none ended well. Thank you for your prompt and honest answer, Red. Have a good weekend!
RueAnn
Richard A. "Red" Lawhern said:
RueAnne, this is the sort of inquiry made to order for the search window at the top right of our pages. Suggest that you run "Stellate" there and page down through some of the eight pages of hits. My own reading of this traffic is that results with Stellate Ganglion Bloc are pretty spotty. A few patients have gotten relief for more than a few days. The majority were not that successful.
Thank you so much for writing and giving me so much more detail than the doctor who suggested the procedure did! I was leery to begin with as the pain management doctor who suggested this block did so after admitting he knew nothing but what was in his medical textbook in school about Geniculate Neuralgia. Since he was unwilling to take on my prescriptions, the block was offered as a sort of parting prize and apology for driving so far without his ability to help me in any way. After he jabbed me in the throat to give me a sense of what the injection would feel like I had pretty much decided he had said it would "maybe" help too often for me to be comfortable risking it, unless folks like yourself and others here wrote back that it was an amazing temporary pain reliever. Thanks for telling me what I needed so that I can make an informed decision against it. I'm so sorry it did not help relieve your pain.
When you have a moment, would you share what a peripheral nerve stimulator is? I can figure out the basic workings by the name, but where is it placed, how long does it work, which nerves does it stimulate? I'm always amazed that after years trying to relieve my neuralgia pain there are often new medications - like Nucynta I recently read about in someone's post and has been amazing in taking the edge off my pain so I can sleep ( a miracle!) or other methods of symptom relief that I know nothing about like the peripheral nerve stimulator. I sincerely hope you win your battle with your insurance company! I'll be thinking of you and sending positive thoughts your way.
I hope you're having a nice weekend! Thank you again for your help!
RueAnn
flute cutey said:
Yes. I have had the procedure done. In fact, I had it done twice. In the traditional method they insert a tiny catheter up your nose and then inject the lidocaine solution. It is just a little uncomfortable, though it sounds horrible. The worst part is when the stuff drips down your throat. Yuck. This did procedure did nothing to help my chronic ATN pain (over my eyebrows and bridge of nose. Maybe yours will be in the throat because of where your pain is. I don't know.
The second time I had another doctor do the procedure. The newest way is that they insert a similar catheter but there is a tiny hooked catheter inside the initial catheter. Once up the nose they push the smaller catheter up so that it comes out and hooks so it is situated directly by the trigeminal nerve. Then they squirt the solution. Once again, it did nothing to help my pain.
Really, it is an easy procedure to endure. The doctors got me all worked up about it. When I got finished I couldn't believe that it was as easy as it was. I hope that you get the relief that you are praying for. I am still hanging in there and looking for my own miracle. I am trying to get a peripheral nerve stimulator, but I am in a battle with the insurance company.
You are not alone in this battle. When I am at my worst, I lay there and think of you and others like you who are enduring similar trials. I also sing "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." lol
I would love to give you more details of the PNS. Email me with your email and I will be in touch. Lora lsromney@centurylink.net
RueAnn said:
flute cutey,
Thank you so much for writing and giving me so much more detail than the doctor who suggested the procedure did! I was leery to begin with as the pain management doctor who suggested this block did so after admitting he knew nothing but what was in his medical textbook in school about Geniculate Neuralgia. Since he was unwilling to take on my prescriptions, the block was offered as a sort of parting prize and apology for driving so far without his ability to help me in any way. After he jabbed me in the throat to give me a sense of what the injection would feel like I had pretty much decided he had said it would "maybe" help too often for me to be comfortable risking it, unless folks like yourself and others here wrote back that it was an amazing temporary pain reliever. Thanks for telling me what I needed so that I can make an informed decision against it. I'm so sorry it did not help relieve your pain.
When you have a moment, would you share what a peripheral nerve stimulator is? I can figure out the basic workings by the name, but where is it placed, how long does it work, which nerves does it stimulate? I'm always amazed that after years trying to relieve my neuralgia pain there are often new medications - like Nucynta I recently read about in someone's post and has been amazing in taking the edge off my pain so I can sleep ( a miracle!) or other methods of symptom relief that I know nothing about like the peripheral nerve stimulator. I sincerely hope you win your battle with your insurance company! I'll be thinking of you and sending positive thoughts your way.
I hope you're having a nice weekend! Thank you again for your help!
RueAnn
flute cutey said:
Yes. I have had the procedure done. In fact, I had it done twice. In the traditional method they insert a tiny catheter up your nose and then inject the lidocaine solution. It is just a little uncomfortable, though it sounds horrible. The worst part is when the stuff drips down your throat. Yuck. This did procedure did nothing to help my chronic ATN pain (over my eyebrows and bridge of nose. Maybe yours will be in the throat because of where your pain is. I don't know.
The second time I had another doctor do the procedure. The newest way is that they insert a similar catheter but there is a tiny hooked catheter inside the initial catheter. Once up the nose they push the smaller catheter up so that it comes out and hooks so it is situated directly by the trigeminal nerve. Then they squirt the solution. Once again, it did nothing to help my pain.
Really, it is an easy procedure to endure. The doctors got me all worked up about it. When I got finished I couldn't believe that it was as easy as it was. I hope that you get the relief that you are praying for. I am still hanging in there and looking for my own miracle. I am trying to get a peripheral nerve stimulator, but I am in a battle with the insurance company.
You are not alone in this battle. When I am at my worst, I lay there and think of you and others like you who are enduring similar trials. I also sing "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." lol
Flute -- others in the discussion thread may benefit from reading the details of your experience with peripheral stimulators. Please do cross-post them here.
Thank you for describing your procedure. Is it called Sphenocather? Did you have any side effects like numbness or tingling in your throat or any difference in swallowing or motor ability?
flute cutey said:
Yes. I have had the procedure done. In fact, I had it done twice. In the traditional method they insert a tiny catheter up your nose and then inject the lidocaine solution. It is just a little uncomfortable, though it sounds horrible. The worst part is when the stuff drips down your throat. Yuck. This did procedure did nothing to help my chronic ATN pain (over my eyebrows and bridge of nose. Maybe yours will be in the throat because of where your pain is. I don't know.
The second time I had another doctor do the procedure. The newest way is that they insert a similar catheter but there is a tiny hooked catheter inside the initial catheter. Once up the nose they push the smaller catheter up so that it comes out and hooks so it is situated directly by the trigeminal nerve. Then they squirt the solution. Once again, it did nothing to help my pain.
Really, it is an easy procedure to endure. The doctors got me all worked up about it. When I got finished I couldn't believe that it was as easy as it was. I hope that you get the relief that you are praying for. I am still hanging in there and looking for my own miracle. I am trying to get a peripheral nerve stimulator, but I am in a battle with the insurance company.
You are not alone in this battle. When I am at my worst, I lay there and think of you and others like you who are enduring similar trials. I also sing "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." lol