First let me apologize for being a fair weather friend or in this case a bad weather friend. I haven’t visited the site in a while primarily because I have been feeling pretty good. However, lately the flare ups have begun again but in a different place. In the last three weeks the “lightning strike” pains have started in my upper left gum line. Initially, the pains were in my lower left gum line. My doctor (neurologist) increased the dosage of one of the meds (Trileptal from 600 mg to 1200 mg) that I am taking as a remedy. However, the pains are still there and last night I had the weirdest thing happen. I got a searing pain that started in my neck and came up to the base of my head. At first, I thought it was a dream. But when it didn’t stop, I woke up. I put an ice pack on the area and was able to go back to sleep. The pain is still there but not as bad.
Any input? Why the changes?
I am currently taking 3200 mg of Gabapentin (Neurontin) and 1200 mg of Oxcarbezapine (Trileptal) daily.
Thank you Jackie for the recommendation. I checked it out and it turns out some of the symptoms are common. I have been being treated for migraines for over a year. I don't like to side affects of the medicine so it take a lot for me to take them. However, I have called the change in to my doctor. I'll pay closer attention to see if I can identify more symptoms.
Again, thanks for your help.
Jackie said:
You may want to look up Occipital Neuralgia on Wikipedia and see what you think!
Yes, I agree with Jackie. I hope you are okay. Any pain or weird sensation in your head or neck, is a bit of a worry when you have TN. Get it checked out & mention occipital neuralgia to your Doc. Hugs Sally
I feel so uninformed. I never even heard of this prior to Jackie's info (thanks Jackie). It turns our the first experience with this pain was when I had a DHE treatment for what the doctor thinks is migraines. The pains were so very very bad. The doc prescribed demorral while I was in the hospital to help with the pain. Now the I Treximet for migraines and any time I take them I experience this occipital neuralgia pain.
Thank you both for your remarks. I really needed them.
I have a similar pain in the neck which occurs when the TN is very bad, shortly before the lightenings are firing. I had a neck CT which turned out fine, so it seems to be part of the TN. That make some sense if one recalls that the nuclues (spelling) of the trigeminal nurve is in the neck, and has close relationships with local nerves.