ok maybe u all can help me I am confused as to
whether I am suffering from myofascial pain instead
of tn. reason being is that I also suffer from pain
throughout the neck and shoulder. according to the
striking back hardback it sounds like my pain but my
neurosurgeon said that he can see the artery touch
my trigeminal nerve. this sucks I am so confused to
add to the stress I’ve been told I have this before
but I didn’t keep up with the therapy . any insight
would help thank u.
I meant the striking back facial pain handbook
Trigeminal nerve pain can sometimes be "referred" to the greater or lesser occipital nerve which services the back of the skull and cervical spine in the upper neck. But this type of pain almost never migrates down into the lower neck and shoulder.
If you have both face pain and a vascular compression in the MRI imagery, then most neurosurgeons and neurologists would probably tell you that the face pain component of your overall pain profile is probably trigeminal neuralgia or neuropathy (the precise designation will depend on the character of the pain and whether you have a history of any facial traumas). The pain in your neck and shoulder is something else, and myeofascial pain is a candidate for what that "something else" is. There is no magic that says you can only have one neurological disorder or pain issue at a time.
Regards and best,
R.A. "Red" Lawhern, Ph.D.
Resident Research Analyst, LwTN
thx red u been helping me alot here lately it’s greatly appreciated
Richard A. “Red” Lawhern said:
Trigeminal nerve pain can sometimes be “referred” to the greater or lesser occipital nerve which services the back of the skull and cervical spine in the upper neck. But this type of pain almost never migrates down into the lower neck and shoulder.
If you have both face pain and a vascular compression in the MRI imagery, then most neurosurgeons and neurologists would probably tell you that the face pain component of your overall pain profile is probably trigeminal neuralgia or neuropathy (the precise designation will depend on the character of the pain and whether you have a history of any facial traumas). The pain in your neck and shoulder is something else, and myeofascial pain is a candidate for what that “something else” is. There is no magic that says you can only have one neurological disorder or pain issue at a time.
Regards and best,
R.A. “Red” Lawhern, Ph.D.
Resident Research Analyst, LwTN
Have you ever tried massage therapy? This might help alleviate some of the shoulder pain. I am not quite sure what you are feeling but the connective tissue (fascia) might be restricted by the way you react to you facial pain or from something else completely. A body is very complex and tries to protect itself so who knows what is going on there. But if the Neuro can see the compression, I'd say there is TN. There is a type of therapy call Myofascial Release. They don't really massage you and you don't have to get undressed, if you don't like that part, but it would probably help this problem immensely.
Good luck to you!
woody,
I am glad you brought this question up and Red answered. This situation of "referred" pain sounds like it very well could be what happened to me two weeks ago. I had shocks and burning pain hitting the base of my skull, upper neck and what felt like the top of my head. My doctor basically said "Can't be TN so see ya!"
What was even more confusing is, along with the new areas of shocks, I developed some myofascial trigger points. Now I do know I have had TN for 10 months and these new pains/sensations for only two weeks. As Red said you can have two problems together but they not have to go together necessarily. But wow - the stress is crazy, right?
We have enough stress without being muttled in more. Hope your situation is becoming less of a stress.