Hi, I have TN1 and my TN is triggered by temperature. It hurts when I eat anything hot or cold, but also sweet. In fact, my triggers are mostly cold and sweet with only very hot food or drinks being a trigger. The same goes for outdoors or breezes: cold winds and cold days are much worse than warm or moderate breezes. Anyone else got sweet as a trigger???
More like getting up, which suggests blood pressure changes, so probably blood vessels. Coldish liquids yes (should use straw), ice cream no. I don't eat/drink hot, not my habit.
So you don't have sweet as a trigger? But you have cold liquids as a trigger, but not ice cream? That's odd. What about when the ice cream melts in your mouth?
And you don't eat any hot food? At all?
Coldish liquids (never with ice in it) not as cold as ice cream.
With ice cream, I don't wait until portion put in the mouth melts entirely. I don't eat hot food, I eat warm food.
Sweet is a trigger for me too, as well as hot, cold, spicy, alcohol, etc.
as well as cold temperatures.
Protect yourself as much as possible from your triggers because Pain cycles are hard to control.
Bellalarke
Got you. Do you deliberately only eat warm food, to avoid triggering your TN?
Lisa said:
Coldish liquids (never with ice in it) not as cold as ice cream.
With ice cream, I don’t wait until portion put in the mouth melts entirely. I don’t eat hot food, I eat warm food.
Hi Bella, at last, someone else with sweet as a trigger. I've recently been worried that I don't have TN at all and it's really a cracked tooth. While that would be a huge relief, it's worrying to think we might have got it wrong all this time! Poor you having spicy as a trigger too, and alcohol. Don't have those two, thank God.
Bellalarke said:
Sweet is a trigger for me too, as well as hot, cold, spicy, alcohol, etc.
as well as cold temperatures.
Protect yourself as much as possible from your triggers because Pain cycles are hard to control.Bellalarke
Hi WWtET:)
From what I understand, the problem with sugar as a trigger is that it is acidic and when it comes in contact with the epithelial tissues of the gums and roof of the mouth, throat, etc. it lights up immediately. I can eat some food that is slightly sweet because other ingredients act as a sort of buffer.
I am very careful about what I put in my mouth. I’m also careful about how I move my tongue around in my mouth as well. Some areas around the gum line and other spots on roof of mouth are “exquisite” triggers.
Before I had my MVD I often felt like my back three molars were being “strangled” and also sensations like nails being pounded into the pulp. That is somewhat better now but I could get those sensations again if I poked around with my tongue. I especially keep my tongue away from the sharp points of my teeth.
I don’t have straight up TN but I did have compressions. It is thought to be part of something bigger but what that is is still up in the air. I have facial spasms, severe burning throat, something that could be occipital neuralgia…you name it. I’m still being considered and tested for this and that…it’s a slow process here in British Columbia.
If you want to chase up the sugar trigger, Google “acid sensing ions” and you will get a plethora of information. It helps if you know how action potentials work in neurons. I got a good lesson from the Kahn Academy online. This illness is so incredibly complicated.
Never doubt your triggers. You are the only one who knows what they are.
I wish you the best.
Bellalarke
No. I don't eat hot food because it's unhealthy. It's a habit.
When I eat warm food I don't drink cold liquids immediately after; when I eat ice cream I don't drink warm liquids immediately after or eat warm food immediately after. It's unhealthy to teeth.
Woman with the electric teeth said:
Got you. Do you deliberately only eat warm food, to avoid triggering your TN?
Lisa said:Coldish liquids (never with ice in it) not as cold as ice cream.
With ice cream, I don't wait until portion put in the mouth melts entirely. I don't eat hot food, I eat warm food.
Acid sensing ions - right, will do. Sounds interesting. And it's interesting that you use the expression "lights up" - that's what I use all the time! I was at a Xmas market today and got a free mulled wine chocolate, and very nice it was too. But I noticed that for a good while after, my teeth were lit up and far more sensitive to the cold wind and rain (we had a spectacularly cold blustery day here in Scotland today). Mine always feel like they light up - having electric teeth is definitely my thing!
No, my big problem is that the tooth where most of the pain is centred now is a healthy tooth, without restorations, and it's very hard to test for cracks. I really don't want to go down the road of damaging healthy teeth that so many TN sufferers go down, but nor do I want to take anti-convulsants for the rest of my life if I just have a bloody tooth problem. It is really, really hard and doctors and dentists seem to be precious little help!
Bellalarke said:
Hi WWtET:)From what I understand, the problem with sugar as a trigger is that it is acidic and when it comes in contact with the epithelial tissues of the gums and roof of the mouth, throat, etc. it lights up immediately. I can eat some food that is slightly sweet because other ingredients act as a sort of buffer.
I am very careful about what I put in my mouth. I’m also careful about how I move my tongue around in my mouth as well. Some areas around the gum line and other spots on roof of mouth are “exquisite” triggers.
Before I had my MVD I often felt like my back three molars were being “strangled” and also sensations like nails being pounded into the pulp. That is somewhat better now but I could get those sensations again if I poked around with my tongue. I especially keep my tongue away from the sharp points of my teeth.
I don’t have straight up TN but I did have compressions. It is thought to be part of something bigger but what that is is still up in the air. I have facial spasms, severe burning throat, something that could be occipital neuralgia…you name it. I’m still being considered and tested for this and that…it’s a slow process here in British Columbia.
If you want to chase up the sugar trigger, Google “acid sensing ions” and you will get a plethora of information. It helps if you know how action potentials work in neurons. I got a good lesson from the Kahn Academy online. This illness is so incredibly complicated.
Never doubt your triggers. You are the only one who knows what they are.
I wish you the best.
Bellalarke
Unhealthy in what way? And how unhealthy for teeth?
Lisa said:
No. I don’t eat hot food because it’s unhealthy. It’s a habit.
When I eat warm food I don’t drink cold liquids immediately after; when I eat ice cream I don’t drink warm liquids immediately after or eat warm food immediately after. It’s unhealthy to teeth.
Woman with the electric teeth said:
Got you. Do you deliberately only eat warm food, to avoid triggering your TN?
Lisa said:Coldish liquids (never with ice in it) not as cold as ice cream.
With ice cream, I don’t wait until portion put in the mouth melts entirely. I don’t eat hot food, I eat warm food.
Thermal contraction and expansion.
Woman with the electric teeth said:
Unhealthy in what way? And how unhealthy for teeth?
That might certainly be unhealthy for people with TN, Lisa, but normal folks' teeth can take a lot worse with no ill effects. Teeth are tough as titanium - metaphorically, of course.
Lisa said:
Thermal contraction and expansion.
Woman with the electric teeth said:
Unhealthy in what way? And how unhealthy for teeth?
i notice that when i drink a lot of sweet drinks or eat anything sweet i get zaps ... i think i read on here how diet plays no role in our TN ... maybe it's a coinincidence ?
Titanium implants with titanium crowns? Tough as titanium and good looking too.
Woman with the electric teeth said:
That might certainly be unhealthy for people with TN, Lisa, but normal folks' teeth can take a lot worse with no ill effects. Teeth are tough as titanium - metaphorically, of course.
Lisa said:Thermal contraction and expansion.
Woman with the electric teeth said:Unhealthy in what way? And how unhealthy for teeth?
No, definitely not coincidence, Rebecca. I assume it's happening simply at a pain reaction level, as in sugar irritates teeth in general. As soon as we eat sugar, especially too much of it, which, let's face it, is common in modern life, we get 'sensitive' teeth, which when you have TN means the pain reaction is overexcited and bang - off it goes. And I love that somebody had the audacity to declare that diet plays no role in TN. How the hell would they know, when no-one has the first clue what causes TN in the first place? And let's face it, if sugar, for example, is implicated in virtually every inflammatory condition in the body, it figures it will be implicated in damage to the brain too, ipso facto, it could definitely influence our condition - even cause it. Forgive my French, but diet plays no role in TN my arse!
Rebecca said:
i notice that when i drink a lot of sweet drinks or eat anything sweet i get zaps … i think i read on here how diet plays no role in our TN … maybe it’s a coinincidence ?
Works for me. Especially if you don't put a porcelain veneer on them. Nothing screams new money like a mouthful of titanium. I think for someone with an 'electric teeth' problem, like me, they would be just perfect.
Lisa said:
Titanium implants with titanium crowns? Tough as titanium and good looking too.
Woman with the electric teeth said:That might certainly be unhealthy for people with TN, Lisa, but normal folks’ teeth can take a lot worse with no ill effects. Teeth are tough as titanium - metaphorically, of course.
Lisa said:Thermal contraction and expansion.
Woman with the electric teeth said:Unhealthy in what way? And how unhealthy for teeth?
it's been a couple of weeks that i have not eat/drink sweets ... i am still getting the zaps ... another thing i noticed is that when i go long periods of not eating, the zaps appear (after off the sweets) ... i get up at 5 AM ... i did not eat all day until i went to see a movie at 3 PM ... i started getting zaps right before i walked into the theater ... i ordered a water and a small bag of popcorn ... i ate a few bites of the popcorn and gave the rest to my friend ... not enough nourishment and i was still getting zapped ... we go to a supermarket afterwards and i purchased a small whole milk to put some protein in my system ... i ate dinner that night but i still continued to get zaps throughout the night ... a couple other times during the week when i went without eating i received zaps ... maybe lack of eating causes the pain as well ? ... just an observation
That's very likely, Rebecca. I think any kind of stressant can trigger the pain. And being hungry is certainly a stressant. Everybody is different, of course, so if you are someone who is not fazed by being hungry, or one of those food 'camels' that never seems to need to eat, then probably hunger will have no effect. It's a funny old disease.
Rebecca said:
it's been a couple of weeks that i have not eat/drink sweets ... i am still getting the zaps ... another thing i noticed is that when i go long periods of not eating, the zaps appear (after off the sweets) ... i get up at 5 AM ... i did not eat all day until i went to see a movie at 3 PM ... i started getting zaps right before i walked into the theater ... i ordered a water and a small bag of popcorn ... i ate a few bites of the popcorn and gave the rest to my friend ... not enough nourishment and i was still getting zapped ... we go to a supermarket afterwards and i purchased a small whole milk to put some protein in my system ... i ate dinner that night but i still continued to get zaps throughout the night ... a couple other times during the week when i went without eating i received zaps ... maybe lack of eating causes the pain as well ? ... just an observation
My theory is blood pressure. Anything that raises or dips it, causing stress on blood vessels, can cause it. Stress and sweets di both for me.