Does anyone have a slight swelling on the side of their face where you experience pain? I have residual numbness from another condition on the right side of my face, so it often feels a little different to the touch, but I , and my teenaged, daughters, have noticed that it actually looks swollen. I am still trying to sort this all out, so I really appreciate all your input.
Thanks!
Christine
Funny You say that, I have had TN for 5 years. I am getting ready to get the MVD Surgery. I had never had any swelling until last week! Not sure if it was from the TN, like I said never had it before, but it was in the same area as my TN! Very strange!
Greetings Christine,
I also have slight swelling and residual numbness on my tn side. The numbness preceded the pain by years and was totally numb for about a year and a half before it slowly went down to a constant 10% of what it was. As I physically exert myself it will ramp up to more numbness. I can relieve the swelling by draining my lymph nodes.
Take care,
Scott
Yes! That's actually what brought me to this site. I noticed the other day that I had two large lumps in my face after a terrible attack. I decided to look online to see if anyone else had the same problem. I'm so glad it's not just me. Mine is painful though.
Alexis
Wow! This is what is great about this support group. I had a horrible attack about six weeks after MVD surgery.
The pain was so bad I cried out, probably lasted a minute but it was a very long minute for me.
I never had anything like that before that time and was afraid it was not going to stop. It was after that my cheek puffed out and is still puffy. This was a year and a half ago that this happened. I thought it was from the surgery, umm, maybe not necessarily so? Would like more to post if they have had this happen to them and how they think it may have occurred.
Maddy
How do you drain the lymph nodes??
Scott said:
Greetings Christine,
I also have slight swelling and residual numbness on my tn side. The numbness preceded the pain by years and was totally numb for about a year and a half before it slowly went down to a constant 10% of what it was. As I physically exert myself it will ramp up to more numbness. I can relieve the swelling by draining my lymph nodes.
Take care,
Scott
I cried a lot one time..next mornig it was really puffy, but I was also laying down. But I usually notice slight puffiness from sleeping laying down. Soo I like to sleep in a recliner. This is also easier so I don't sleep on my Typ2 side.(accidentally roll over on that side. ) Although I am getting pretty good at staying on my left side now. :(
I've had Type 2 for 3 years now I always get swelling in my right cheek when I'm in loud places. So, needless to say I avoid large social gatherings, music concerts, etc. This condition has changed my life in so many ways. I wish there was a cure.
I also have swelling on my Type II side. My neurologist actually was the one that noticed it.
Like Pierette I also have to avoid loud noises. I used to love going to concerts and going out with friends, but haven't gone in quite some time. Scared to go to a movie and even left my godson's birthday party early because of the noise from the kids. I haven't even picked up my guitar in almost a year.
yes, my husband will look at me and know that it's a bad day...it always happens on my left (affected) lower jaw line and up to my cheekbone area. the swelling is not terribly noticable, but if you know me, you will see it... really touchy and unable to chew / talk much when this happens...
Greetings Min,
It is hard for me to explain, but I will give you my thoughts. There is different ways on the internet on this subject. My sister is a trained lymphatic massage therapist and she does it on my face and has shown me how to self drain them and also has shown my wife how to also. This is in my own words so you can take it for what it is worth. Basically I open the channel at the top of my collar bones for the lymph drainage to occur and then manually massage my face very gently in downward motion to drain the lymphatic system where the swellings is. This is a crude description at best. I know it works for me and would stress as always to research to see if it something you would be interested in. I would advise anyone to see a trained lymphatic therapist (researched first) instead of trying it off of an internet site. I feel that the pressure of the touch is very important so that is why getting treatment or training by a professional first is a must. I also think that someone else massaging my face works better than me massaging myself. I hope this helps to answer your question. I hope you have many pain free days ahead!
Scott
Min said:
How do you drain the lymph nodes??
Scott said:Greetings Christine,
I also have slight swelling and residual numbness on my tn side. The numbness preceded the pain by years and was totally numb for about a year and a half before it slowly went down to a constant 10% of what it was. As I physically exert myself it will ramp up to more numbness. I can relieve the swelling by draining my lymph nodes.
Take care,
Scott
Well Scott, that sounds better than what I thought you were going to say... a needle??? I will ask a proffessional. THANKS!!
Yes it is gentle hands on massage. I can help you find a professional in your area if you want. I have a website that has their training level listed.
Min said:
Well Scott, that sounds better than what I thought you were going to say... a needle??? I will ask a proffessional. THANKS!!
My face, and entire jaw swells up so much that my teeth are miss aligned and I can not close teeth together.
The latest thing is my top eye lids swelling up. But if you ask my neuro TN does not cause this. My Opthamologist said the swelling in my eye lids makes some sense if I am already getting swelling in my face. He said it could be a just fluid transfer when I am sleeping.
I have TN/ATN. I do not feel well today so I am not super discriptive. But my eye lids are both swollen today and I did a search on swelling. About 2 months ago I started having symptoms on my other side. So now its both eyes.
Hope I figure it out, before it keeps getting worse.
Thanks, Tree69
Just an addition to the info provided by Scott. I'm currently in Level 1 LDT (Lymph Drainage Therapy) and even that level of education trains you in draining the face.
I'm learning it for my massage practice and to use for myself. One of the helps they give is passing out a nickel and having you put it on your arm. That is the level of pressure we are instructed to use and it takes some practice especially when, as a therapist, my work is usually much deeper. It can be hard to believe something that light could do any good but the superficial lymph will be affected.
I'm in the middle of my first four day training session and the face work is tomorrow. However, from the first day's work just on the neck area caused my sinuses to open so that can help to reduce pressure and irritation in my face. I'm hoping to get some help from the direct work tomorrow. I've had an additional snafu because I had to have a tooth pulled Monday on my affected side so that put me in a flare along with the cold air conditioning in the workshop. Tegretol and ibuprofen are close friends right now.
But there are definite benefits but it would be helpful to see someone trained to understand it better and see how you respond to it. The light touch won't feel invasive and is often calming.
I'm glad you found some relief! the nickel things is a good description. Thanks and keep us updated on your training.
I too have mild swelling on my TN side. My Mom and I are the only ones who really notice it, but it's definitely there.
What can help is sleeping in a recliner. It seemed to help me anyway. You can try it.For some reason laying flat seemed to make my swelling worse.
For two years now I have the sensation of swelling and numbness to the right side of my face. Visually there is no difference. Sometime the right area of my mouth feels like I had novocaine injections that's how bad the sensations can get. Especially when I am in any moving vehicles. I've talked to Drs about this and the reply is always the same. "We just want to manage the pain" not the symptoms. Hmm.
The first time I noticed swelling on the TN side of my face was about 2 weeks ago. It WAS there, not my imagination.