Hi. I’ve been suffering from facial pain on and off for over 15 years now. I’ve not had a diagnosis, but I’ve had the usual dental checks and nothing has shown up. It can be depressing at times as I also suffer from severe ibs pain as well. I feel in some way that the two pains are related.
Welcome, I have multiple painful/chronic illnesses too. If mine aren’t related a swear they build off of each other. Good luck!
Can you describe your pain a bit more? Have you ever been prescribed amitriptiline? It is actually very effective for IBS as well as often for ATN.
As far as ATN goes, I have wide spread aches across mostly the lower 2 branches of the left side of my face, but recently (last 3 months) it seems to be creeping up above and around my eye as well. Specifically my cheek bone, jaw joint, just in front of my ear, and left point of my chin get REALLY bad deep pain that feels like a nail was pounded into my face. My teeth ache, and get very sensitive to any temperature change, even just breathing quickly can set them off. The left inside of my mouth and gums sometimes feels like it was burnt like by hot food when it was not, and my tongue gets “phantom cold sores” the whole left edge feels tender. My lips sometimes tingle.
Other pains include sinusitis (head aches, sore throats, etc), GERD (sore throat, burnt lungs, I am numb below my collar bone because of the scar tissue from this), Kidney stones, gallstones, and “digestive sensitivities” basically I am allergic and intolerant of so many foods my intestines and stomach are just angry and swollen all the time, and I can’t cut out all the foods and still eat a balanced diet, so I cut the worst and live with the rest.
I am on Nortriptiline, it has been good for my face and basically eliminated my life long insomnia issues with the drowsy side effects. I am a big fan of this drug and hope to stay on it forever as long as it keeps working. I am also on Limotrigine (I think that spelling is close?) with both together I can take low doses to get livable side effects and pretty good pain relief.
My ATN sounds exactly like yours. I responded to your other posted about the lidocaine… You really must try the patch. I swear to you it changed my life.
Gabapentin has worked for me as well. I found it worked as a booster for lamictal and I was able to take less of both with better results.