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I have suffered from dull, throbbing, relentless headaches for many years. They last for 2-3 days at a time, and I'll get several occurrences over the course of a couple of weeks. In the past they have also occurred along with the onset of TN episodes.
No pain relievers or any other drugs would help me at all.
A few weeks ago, someone suggested that I try weed. I was two days into a non-stop headache that was with me for every waking moment - I could only sleep by taking Ambien, and the headache would be with me when I woke up a few hours later. Anyhow, I tried it, and miraculously, my headache was gone within five seconds. It was nothing short of amazing.
A couple of days later, another headache began, and I was able to halt it in its tracks.
I subsequently did a lot of research using Google, and found out that this has been - and continues to be - a front line medication for migraines and other bad headaches.
I have spoken with my neurologist and pain guy about this, and while they can't officially recommend it (due to the state that I live in), they have urged me to continue to use anything that works. They are aware of the research and recommend it "off the record."
If you - or anyone else with horrible headaches, migraine or other - has not tried this, I would suggest it is worth a try. I'm interested to see what happens the next time one of these episodes hits me, but I'm pretty confident that this has been a life-changer.
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with your new doctor. Reading your post angered me for you as I really hate to read about doctors doubting the veracity of our pain. I'm guessing the incomplete findings on the trigeminal nerve are from the MRI? Does she not know that most times the MRI's do not clearly show a compression but they are almost always found during MVD surgery? It seems like the more knowledgeable a doctor is on TN, the less they "doubt" us during office visits. imo, it is best to only have doctors in our arsenal that are actively trying to help. We have precious little energy to spend trying to convince them of our conditions or prove them wrong. I know, I stuck it out too long with a new neuro that I should have run from after he sent me into withdrawal from poorly scheduled med change. I knew better, but followed his advices and paid a terrible price for 10 long miserable day. I gave him 6 months and he never came around. After nearly 5 years of this I am learning to cut bait. Hope you find help!
I also get throbbing and stabbing headaches, often behind my ear or temple and they seem to be much better since I was put on nortriptyline.
This is tricky for me. This becomes a part of your permanent health record. And for various reasons, not a good note. I think I would want a second opinion. Amd of they both thought it was psych related, then I would do what was recommended.
The problem is that many in the medical community think ATN related pain is not real. Amd that is so unhelpful.