facial pain and MRI scan

[ontheotherside]

I have had repeated episodes of facial pain my whole adult life and had an especially long and excruciating bout of it recently. Convinced it must be teeth, I went to my dentist (who is lovely). She referred me to a maxillofacial consultant. She seems pretty sure I have a TMJ disorder, but is sending me for a heap of bloodtests and and MRI. Neither she or my dentist will really tell me why - both just say 'we want to rule out any underlying causes'.

I am a super anxious person and I'm struggling with this. It's another week until my MRI scan. I just wish they would say 'x, y and z can also cause these symptoms'. Has anyone any experience of this? If you have a jaw joint problem/neuralgia, have you had further investigation.

Thanks so much. Just hoping for some reassurance, I suppose, that is level of investigation is usual. I am too scared to google.

Yes, it is a usual level of investigation.

I know someone (you could be her the way you describe your problem) who had to go through all these preliminaries before her MRI scan.Even had one where she had to have some kind of substance injected into her bloodstream , so that they could check for a particular thing (but I can't remember what).
Turns out that she has osteoporosis in her jaw joints (not that I'm saying you have), which causes her vast amounts of pain, and for her jaw to occasionally dislocate.

Just to add to it, she also has Trigeminal neuralgia in the temple/eye/jaw area - which is excruciating for her when it hits as it makes all her teeth ache at once.

This all sounds pretty gruesome, but she now has the right meds to treat it, so it was worth all the tests being done.

Good luck.

What sort of pain is it? Dull, aching or like an electric shock that is like being hit by a bolt of lightening?
If the latter.. check out Trigeminal Neuralgia... it's a nasty condition.
I had (in retrospect) my first bout in my 20s then again a few years ago.. had two teeth removed unnecessarily before a neuro figured it out. Put on HUGE doses of Gabapentin (first line of treatment is Tegretol but it made me sick) and it ..thank god.. worked.
Mine was a burning pain on one side from the facial nerve with the odd shock and it was hell...but it CAN be treated. I'm still on gabapentin and probably always will be!

Thanks so much to both of you for replying.

My dentist thought I might have trigeminal neuralgia but consultant thinks not - my pain responds slightly to ibuprofen type painkillers so she thinks some arthritis or inflammation in the jaw is more likely, as you describe, shimmeringinthesun.

I feel a bit calmer about the MRI now. I suppose it will be good to have a more definitive diagnosis :)

You're welcome OP.

IMy friend felt a lot better once she knew what she was dealing with. Once she was given the right medication , plus a mouth guard which she wears at night to support her jaw, she's been so much better.

Out of the two, she reckons the arthritis is the easier to deal with.

Have you tried soluble aspirin? I was diagnosed with similar