HI I am new to GPN and want to know what symptoms I have are associated with GPN Excessive saliva ,a feeling of tightness and pain in throat kind of like the pain of a sever sore throat but not constant and that your glands are swollen. After eating I get excessive saliva and my throat feels tight But I have had all my allergy testing was negative I do not know if I would call it electrical socks in my throat but have pain in my throat that run to my ears and burning achy pain running from ear down to throat , Headaches It seems like my trigers are cold drinks eating especially crunchy food, blowing Air from Fans , AC Extreme heat and sweating I was first diagnoised with TN I had the classic electrical shock pain in my face I am on gabapentin and the shocking pain is gone but I now get aching burning pain and throat pain on both sides mostly on the left side it seams like it run from my throat belovw the jaw and up to the ears with pain on my face next to the ear and in the ear. The Gabapentin has seemed to help the electrical shock pain and the excessive saliva and throat tightness after eating but not all of it and I still get the ear pain and achy pain in face and throat pain.
Andrea- I laughed when I read your comment about making an appointment for your teeth, only because I can relate! Then, when the stabbing pain starts, I think....of course! Its the GPN, duh.
I usually get the sensitivity in my face, gums, head and teeth first, followed by the stabbing pain in my ear and/or throat. Sometimes the sensitivity part is skipped and I go straight to the stabbing pain or what you describe as "electric shock".
I'm wondering about frequency. My symptoms started when I was 19, 3 months following a wisdom teeth extraction. It started out maybe 4 times per year, and now at age 37 I have attacks at lease once per month and each attack lasts longer, sometimes up to 10 days. I'm also wondering if the condition could have been caused by the wisdom teeth extraction.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Thanks Andrea I just went to my primary care Doc. for the sore throat I can not tell if it is GPN I asked him to culture my throat he would not do it but put me on zithromax I just want to make sure it was not a throat infection before i go to neurologist on monday. Do you ever get a dry cough wihen your GPN is acting up right now I feel like I hava a really bad sore throat and headache and get the ocasional sudden bad ear pain through out the day I am also very tired does anyone else get really tired when their TN or GPN acts up everyone says it is the medicine but I am ok when my Tn or GPN is not acting up. I am so sick of doctors
Andrea said:
Hi Kat - I've got what you've got, except for the excessive saliva. I had a dumb moment last week when I was about to make an appointment for my incredibly achy molars/wisdom teeth, then remembered that I have GPN. Doh! It was only the electric shock bursts which reminded me. Otherwise I feel like I have tonsillitis, an ear infection, swollen glands, tooth ache, and need to pop my ear to equalize pressure as my 'constant' symptoms. Headaches, burning, electric shock are added extras which fortunately don't show up as often.
So, in short, I think that most of what you describe is your GPN, except for maybe the extra saliva.
Hope it's not too bad for you.
Thank Andrea Your post had been very informational I go to my new neurologist on Monday so if anyone else out there could tell me what there GPN symptons are like for what they feel like.
My primary care doctor also said it might be allergies I hope the new Neurologist is good my last one is not very knowlegable and give me miss information all the time another one I went to was verbably abusive and very rude I almost gave him the finger and walked out and I am not a person to loose my temper.
Katthompson said:
Thanks Andrea I just went to my primary care Doc. for the sore throat I can not tell if it is GPN I asked him to culture my throat he would not do it but put me on zithromax I just want to make sure it was not a throat infection before i go to neurologist on monday. Do you ever get a dry cough wihen your GPN is acting up right now I feel like I hava a really bad sore throat and headache and get the ocasional sudden bad ear pain through out the day I am also very tired does anyone else get really tired when their TN or GPN acts up everyone says it is the medicine but I am ok when my Tn or GPN is not acting up. I am so sick of doctors
Andrea said:Hi Kat - I've got what you've got, except for the excessive saliva. I had a dumb moment last week when I was about to make an appointment for my incredibly achy molars/wisdom teeth, then remembered that I have GPN. Doh! It was only the electric shock bursts which reminded me. Otherwise I feel like I have tonsillitis, an ear infection, swollen glands, tooth ache, and need to pop my ear to equalize pressure as my 'constant' symptoms. Headaches, burning, electric shock are added extras which fortunately don't show up as often.
So, in short, I think that most of what you describe is your GPN, except for maybe the extra saliva.
Hope it's not too bad for you.
I have found Lyrica (Pregabalin) works better for me that the Gabapentin. For me, 300mg daily of Lyrica is more effective than 900mg of Gabapentin. Note that Lyrica was a difficult drug to get used to, for me.
How long did it take to get used to Lyrica and thank you for your responce
Seeking Help said:
I have found Lyrica (Pregabalin) works better for me that the Gabapentin. For me, 300mg daily of Lyrica is more effective than 900mg of Gabapentin. Note that Lyrica was a difficult drug to get used to, for me.
Thank you for yor reply Bryde do you have any triggers that bring on an attack
brydie said:
Andrea- I laughed when I read your comment about making an appointment for your teeth, only because I can relate! Then, when the stabbing pain starts, I think....of course! Its the GPN, duh.
I usually get the sensitivity in my face, gums, head and teeth first, followed by the stabbing pain in my ear and/or throat. Sometimes the sensitivity part is skipped and I go straight to the stabbing pain or what you describe as "electric shock".
I'm wondering about frequency. My symptoms started when I was 19, 3 months following a wisdom teeth extraction. It started out maybe 4 times per year, and now at age 37 I have attacks at lease once per month and each attack lasts longer, sometimes up to 10 days. I'm also wondering if the condition could have been caused by the wisdom teeth extraction.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Hi -
I have found my pain is better on Trileptal than any other in the anti-seizure class. Once my doctor thought it was the GN nerve he switched me from Topamax to Trileptal and I have better pain control on the same amount of medicine. I also take Cymbalta as well since my primary symptoms are migraine headaches in addition to facial aching, ear "clogged" sensation, tooth ache (I too, have almost made dental appts!) but for some reason I lack the sharp electric pains that most have.
-Jessica
Not that Ive been able to pinpoint.
Katthompson said:
Thank you for yor reply Bryde do you have any triggers that bring on an attack
brydie said:Andrea- I laughed when I read your comment about making an appointment for your teeth, only because I can relate! Then, when the stabbing pain starts, I think....of course! Its the GPN, duh.
I usually get the sensitivity in my face, gums, head and teeth first, followed by the stabbing pain in my ear and/or throat. Sometimes the sensitivity part is skipped and I go straight to the stabbing pain or what you describe as "electric shock".
I'm wondering about frequency. My symptoms started when I was 19, 3 months following a wisdom teeth extraction. It started out maybe 4 times per year, and now at age 37 I have attacks at lease once per month and each attack lasts longer, sometimes up to 10 days. I'm also wondering if the condition could have been caused by the wisdom teeth extraction.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
About a year. I started on Gabapentin for just a few days prior to being put on Lyrica. I hadn't had any drug therapy prior to that. I aked then to get me off of it fot 2 years from the time I started taking it, but they had no alternatives. I stopped asking them to get me off, as I wasn't making progress. I was sent to a clinical pharmacologist by thr neurologist to deal with intense 24/7 headache pain from a cranial AVM. He suggested that I try Gabapentin again. I found the gabapentin to be not as effective, leaving me in pain, and couldn't stop using Lyrica as a result. I tried the switch for 2 weeks. I was very uncomfortable for those 2 weeks, and experienced dangerous sleep walking a number of times. I suspect this is relative to trying to switch drugs. These drugs work by slowing Brain activity. I don't like taking Lyrica, but it is effective for reducing the pain. If I'm late for a dose and pain starts to ramp up, it's harder to control the pain. Best to stick with a strict schedule with this med. Take it on time, and you youll have less problems with pain/dose overlap. Its not fun when youre late for a dose.
Katthompson said:
How long did it take to get used to Lyrica and thank you for your responce
Seeking Help said:I have found Lyrica (Pregabalin) works better for me that the Gabapentin. For me, 300mg daily of Lyrica is more effective than 900mg of Gabapentin. Note that Lyrica was a difficult drug to get used to, for me.
Thanks so much for sharing Kat.
I actually insisted that an Oral Surgeon pull my lower Right Tooth & he did because I was in such horrendous nerve
pain.
jessica said:
Hi -
I have found my pain is better on Trileptal than any other in the anti-seizure class. Once my doctor thought it was the GN nerve he switched me from Topamax to Trileptal and I have better pain control on the same amount of medicine. I also take Cymbalta as well since my primary symptoms are migraine headaches in addition to facial aching, ear "clogged" sensation, tooth ache (I too, have almost made dental appts!) but for some reason I lack the sharp electric pains that most have.
-Jessica
Not that I have been able to pinpoint, although I almost always have an attack after prolonged dental work or a trip to the chiropractor.
Katthompson said:
Thank you for yor reply Bryde do you have any triggers that bring on an attack
brydie said:Andrea- I laughed when I read your comment about making an appointment for your teeth, only because I can relate! Then, when the stabbing pain starts, I think....of course! Its the GPN, duh.
I usually get the sensitivity in my face, gums, head and teeth first, followed by the stabbing pain in my ear and/or throat. Sometimes the sensitivity part is skipped and I go straight to the stabbing pain or what you describe as "electric shock".
I'm wondering about frequency. My symptoms started when I was 19, 3 months following a wisdom teeth extraction. It started out maybe 4 times per year, and now at age 37 I have attacks at lease once per month and each attack lasts longer, sometimes up to 10 days. I'm also wondering if the condition could have been caused by the wisdom teeth extraction.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
I've had GPN for about 7-8 yrs. My main trigger is the right, back of tongue from eating or movment such as speaking. Very intense pain every day, some worse than others. Pain goes to right ear and jaw and can have right -side headaches. I take Tegretol, same class as Trileptal, with Methadone occasionally (yes Methadone). It has totally impacted my life. The pain initially wasn't this bad but in the past year can be debilitating on days, even with the meds, especially in the morning.
Hello..I have many of your same symptoms! The tight feeling in my throat has just come over the past couple of days, after increasing ear/throat pains lately. I don't have many of the sharp pains either just like the sore throat/earache type of pain. Also on gabapentin. I share in your frustrations!