Is this a tooth issue? Or some sort of compressed nerve? In excruciating pain!

[opalescent]

I have had awful issues with facial pain for months. Also intertwining issues with grinding my teeth.
My dentist says the teeth at the site of pain are fine. They were x-rayed only yesterday.

I have persistent, hideous pain 😩. Excruciating pain that sears along my cheek, and extends up and around my eye socket. Goes around the back of my scalp, down to the base of my skull. It hurts more if I turn my head to that side. There seems to be a specific pain point at the back of my scalp, to the left:

Today has been awful 😩. I am taking pregablin for this facial pain, which does not seem to help. I am waiting for a max fax appointment which may take months 😩. Why am i in pain? Do I need to revisit my dr or my dentist?

Is my problem dental, or related to facial nerves? Could it be a compressed nerve somewhere?

It is unbearable

You poor thing, sounds a bit like trigeminal neuralgia which I get with my ms, it is fucking horrendous. Just a hand hold really. Would say go back to dr. I take pregablin and duloxetine for nerve pain, and prescription co-codomol when needed. I find heat helps, like a heat pad held to the face, and camomile tea

Thank you dizzy 😭 I really do appreciate the hand hold. What is the duloxetine for? Does the combo help you? It really is vile x

I have trigeminal neuralgia too. One of the worst pains known to man. It can make life unbearable. Try and work out your triggers and see if there is a pattern in the pain. It’s the only way you will manage to live with it. I was diagnosed 5 years ago

What are you triggers? I don't know yet that this is TN, I am desperately trying to get a diagnosis. I've been bounced endlessly between dr and dentist. No one seems to want to take ownership of getting to the bottom of thing.

I'm so sorry you're suffering too.

I also have neuralgia, it's like a contraction of the face. It honestly is excruciating, I've had it 8 years.

@opalescent I have both types of tn. Constant pain for about 2-3 weeks which comes and goes every 3-4 months. Wind, cold weather, eating, steam from shower will trigger it and like I say, it will last for about 2-3 weeks. Shooting pain will last approximately 2 hours and will come and go every 12-24 hours Over course of 2 months. Main triggers are eating, lying on side of face, brushing teeth, water on face, speaking, wind, change on air temperature.

I know the pattern so if I know it’s about time for another bout, I will keep an eye on the weather and try not to go out on windy days and eat soft foods but it’s inevitable so try not worry to much.

I take carbamazepine daily.

I was lucky that my gp identified it really quickly and got an appt with neurology who confirmed diagnosis. Had mri which showed no obvious cause so that in itself confirmed diagnosis.

I desperately need a proper assessment and mri. I phoned the hospital today and was told it would be months.
I might need to get a credit card and go private.

Sarah and Dizzy- can you work when you are having a flare up? I am finding this totally debilitating

My mother has this.
There are other meds that could be tried in meantime
You need to see GP or hospital pain specialist
Horrible condition but it does settle with correct drugs.

I am lucky that I do not get it too much, my other ms symptoms cause more problems. yes I do work through it. I find staying calm helps, deep breathing. The duloxetine is for nerve pain and depression/

@opalescent if it’s constant pain, I try to work through it but often after a week or two, m exhausted by it and phone in sick. Because the electric shock pain lasts about 2 hours, I’ve been sent home a few times (driven home by a colleague). If I feel I can’t drive safely, I phone in. It means by absence rate at the irk is terrible (a few days to a few weeks about 4 times a year, spread our almost equally!)

I have TN. And went private to see a neurologist. It was £200 for the consultation, but I was lucky because he would also have been my NHS one so he saw me privately, then added me to his NHS clinic list as a cancellation. A 9 month+ wait dissolved into 3 days.

One question, that just seeing the neurologist would sort, is how much pregablin you should be taking. It's an odd choice as a first med for facial pain as NICE usually recommends carbamazepine. (Vile stuff - I hated it). Often you have to keep increasing the dosage up until you get pain relief so it's not usually a matter of taking the first dose they put you on and expecting pain relief.

Def step away from the dentist if they say your teeth are fine. I had one removed and another refilled because of my pain and needed neither of them done.

I have had this previously I woke up one day with it and it stayed for around a year and a half gradually improving. By the time I got the referral to the hospital it was virtually resolved by itself.

I found cheese to be a trigger and when it was at its worst I could only eat food that was liquid or would dissolve eg chocolate as chewing hurt so much.

I have atypical facial pain which presents as toothache and flits around different teeth. I went to the dentist about 50 times before being referred to Max Fac - it was complicated because I was clenching my teeth due to stress and HAD actually caused damage, but I am sure I had treatment I didn’t need too (very expensive root canal done by a specialist on a heavily filled molar).

My wait to see MF wasn’t that long, and then they sent me for an MRI. I think getting the MRI results was the longest part.

Judy what was the outcome of your mri? What does the mri reveal in these cases?

I was actually started on carbamazepine, but it completely knocked me off, hence the move to pregablin.

Thank you all for your help and advice 😊

@opalescent how are you now!! Im exactly the sameb been like it for months :( soooo fed up! Im only 26 and have a 6months old xx

Starr, I ended up being referred to oral surgery at the hospital. The dr I saw thinks that my pain is myofascial- referred pain in the muscle across my cheek, caused by TMJ disorder. He has referred me on for some Botox in that muscle.
I also have a good hard mouth splint to wear at night, as I clench and grind terribly.

I'm also planning to have Invisalign next year, to correct my bite.

@opalescent oo are you feeling bettwr with the hard mouth guard? Im gonna use my new hard one tonight! Are you on any meds?
They thini i clench! Are you on any meds? I just feel like my face has an annoying ache everyday :( so they dont think yours is trigemal neuralgia? Xx

@opalescent he also mentioned botox so i may say yes to it!
Just had my mri so waiting for follow up appt x

@opalescent hey ! How are you now? Ive been prescribed gabapentine but abit scared of the side effects xx