I just can't figure out what actually makes it start hurting SOOOOO much? Is it the heat? (Can I still be in the sun?) (Can I still have my coffee in the morning?)
Or is it the loud noise? Seems like its everything... Is there something I should start avoiding?
Please, help...
There can be many triggers and they are all different for many people. Many people have it triggered by the cold or wind. For me, my TN is triggered mainly by heat and loud noises. You need to try and learn what your triggers are so you can best avoid them in future. With my TN as its triggered by heat I do try to avoid staying in the sun for too long so I dont get too hot and I avoid exercises which may increase my temperature. Fortunately for me things like hot food or drink doesnt seem to trigger the TN unless my body temperature is generally warm from the environment im in. With loud noises theres not really much you can do to avoid that, perhaps just avoid busy places, where theres lots of people and noise.
Good luck, hope you find some relief from this soon :)
Hi Kate,
I agree with Alana - there are a lot of triggers, but we all seem to be different. For some it's the wind, the cold, the heat, chewing, weather temperature...and the list goes on and on.
I've found that my main trigger is bending over. Since so many of us have blood vessel compression on our trigeminal nerve, it makes sense to me that my trigger seems to be bending so that the blood rushes to my head. The last time I did a major floor clean and mop I had such a severe flare up I wound up in the emergency room later in that day.
If you start paying attention to when you get flares, I'm sure your triggers will eventually make themselves known to you. Good luck!
Gloria
Hi Kate! I hope you are doing well! I wanted to give you some triggers I have, and perhaps they are the same for you. First, I am sad to say that my husbands voice is a trigger. When he is talking louder than normal, or when we are in the car, and I am sitting close to him. That sounds bad, but it is true. I ask him all the time to please talk lower.
Breezes or getting hit by a fan in the face. Sunday, it was the stupid fan that did it. It ended up being so bad, I was ready to crawl in bed.
High-pitched sounds. Another sad one...my son is Autistic and makes high pitched squeals just about every day. I can escape to another part of the house, but I just hate that. I just want to be able to be by my kids without fear.
Cold drinks or ice cream...this is a good one. It hits my teeth and I can feel the earthquake in my nerve going from my teeth up into my skull. Interesting. I only drink hot, warm or room temp drinks, rarely ice cream.
Lifting my head off my pillow in the morning (when getting up) TOO Fast. This usually is an all day pain event. Lots of hot electric pain on the head.
Certain smells, especially floral, can get the ball rolling into an attack. Light adds to the misery.
This is a good start. My Doctor now thinks I am getting migraines along with the TN. I had a different kind of headache lately along with the usual pain. I had to sleep sitting up, otherwise the pain was pulsating. That was far up on the pain scale and lasted 3 days. I did get 2 steriod shots in the back of my head. It has kept that bad stuff away, but I can still feel it in the background.
What kind of life is this we live? I try to stay positive, because it could always be worse. *Smile*