Chronic Pain

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
28,326
43,170
I have it. My ears ring 24/7/365. It. Never. Stops. It doesn't bother me much. After years of living with it, I only really notice it in a quiet room.
Same here. I'm fairly certain mine is related to fucking up a disk in my neck. When I turn my head the maximum it will turn, the ringing intensifies slightly. I need some kind of background/white noise when I go to sleep, but other than that, I really don't notice it.
 

Kuriin

Just a Nurse
4,046
1,020
Well, the whole "medication side effects" is an interesting story I'll tell you another time. But for now, keep this in mind. When they are testing out new drugs, etc, many people withdraw from the PLACEBO because of "side effects" (placebo, by definition, is inert!). So people are so convinced this placebo is causing their headache, or GI bleed, or liver enzyme problems that they stop taking it! Every medication info will list the quantity of people that withdrew from it versus placebo. It's actually pretty impressive!

(Obviously I'm not saying medications don't have side effects!)
This is a major problem with clinical trials. People who are in the phase I-III trials need to go in those trials with the mind of, "I'm not going to worry about what drug I may get." -- placebo effect is really fucked up, heh.
 

mizovax_sl

shitlord
24
1
I was diagnosed with TMJ 6 years ago. 4 years ago they decided it was because of Bruxism. 2 Ortho's and my Dentist all suggested the easiest fix would be a night guard. Too bad I have a crossbite of 3mm, and an overbite of 4mm, plus shallow teeth = no guard because they can't make one that will "grab" my teeth so to speak. Oral surgery has been the only other option, but there's no way I can afford it right now. Even as good as my dental is, I'm in no position to take the time off from work until the spring or summer.

Constant jaw soreness, headaches, "popping" when I chew, sneeze or talk. I can hardly get through a meal without not wanting to chew anymore.

I really only skimmed the thread. I saw a lot of TMJ posts, but was wondering if anyone had any alternatives to guards or surgery. That's the way my Ortho was leaning, anyway.
 

Saladus

Bronze Knight of the Realm
271
11
Not much of an update, at least any closer to a diagnosis, but I need to vent. Last Wednesday after flossing my teeth, I had thought that maybe there was something stuck in between my two last upper teeth toward the back. After messing around with the area back there, I had so much jaw pain that I was CONVINCED it was a dental issue. I was still sore and in pain the next morning, so I called out and made an appointment to see the dentist that day. After getting examined, I get the usual perplexed statement that "There's nothing there! Everything looks fine!" which is always just crushing for me emotionally. That same day I was having more and more pain, so I called my health plan and they brought me in to see a doc. There wasn't much help to be done there... he knew I had the neurologist appointment on the 3rd and beyond that there wasn't much he could advise me on, other than to double the medication which I had been prescribed 3-4 weeks ago.

Over all, I just feel like absolute shit. I can't describe it, but I feel like I have something constantly squeezing my head. I'm having 3-4 headaches a day... most often in the afternoon / evening. Sometimes it seems like the pain is triggered by neck movement, which is always sore. Sometimes it feels like it's triggered by talking (my right side of my jaw often feels sore). The burning sensation which I had originally gone in for seem to be mostly gone, but since doubling the meds, I'm still getting the temple headaches, only they are sometimes stronger. When they happen, it's like I can just feel a vein pumping up the back of my neck, through the side of my head, usually it's painful just to talk when it's happening, and the temple just feels tight as fuck. They usually only last 10-15 minutes... they're bearable, so despite me fearing maybe cluster headaches, they're not suicidal pain, and I'm not getting any eyelid drooping or eye redness (but...I am getting this strange sensation behind the right eye at times, sometimes both eyes, they both look a little shot). Sometimes it feels like the headache sort of moves to the left side during the day, only briefly, which is equally frustrating, cause there's hardly any shit that I've read that matches with that.

The 3rd can't come soon enough. Whatever is happening, it's wearing me down. I can't even look forward to things that will be happening in the future, like a new years party at my house, because all I can thing is "How many times am I going to be in pain that night and need to retreat to the bedroom for a few minutes?" Fiance is being supportive, but I can see her getting upset now as well.

Anyways... sorry for rambling, just needed a place to vent.
 

Azrayne

Irenicus did nothing wrong
2,161
786
That's pretty shit dude, hopefully the neurologist can pinpoint whatever the hell is going on.
 

Saladus

Bronze Knight of the Realm
271
11
Saw the neurologist today, for now gave me just a preliminary diagnosis of hemifacial pain. It basically means, we have no clue what it is yet, but we know pain is in that half of the face. Despite how useless that may sound for now, I'll admit that I wasn't expecting any magical diagnosis on the first visit due to the nature of the facial discomfort. The good news is he's ruling out trigeminal neuralgia, at least that certainly isn't the condition right now. There's no external triggers causing this pain, such as touch or cold, which is often the case for TN. He did however press near the right TMJ area, and despite there being no immediate pain, it was sore as hell afterward. After about 2-3 minutes of it still being sore, I spoke up and asked if was normal to still feel that way, and he said nope, definitely not. This was sort of reassuring for both him and myself, as he's thinking it may be some sort of inflammation of that area that may be triggering the pain in general.

Until I see him again (another month) I'm being set up to have more MRI's targeting specifically the trigeminal nerve area to check and see if there are any issues, such as vascular compression of any sort, along with blood work done this morning, and an increase in medication for now to try to find a balance of eliminating the daily pain issues until we figure out exactly what is going on. But for now I feel better at least just knowing it isn't any label of trigeminal neuralgia itself. Additionally, now that the ball is rolling, I've promised myself to stop googling this shit 24/7... it was just depressing in general and sucked the fun out of everything.
 

Uriel

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,653
2,052
Yeah, Google can be your worst enemy at times like this. Looking stuff up is just going to exacerbate anxiety and depression issues. Trust in your doctor, and keep busy to occupy your mind. Also remind yourself of the good things and people in your life.
 

Aychamo BanBan

<Banned>
6,338
7,144
Are you sure you understood the neurologist correctly? When we are going to rule something out, we have to run a whole slew of tests. I wouldn't take it as meaning he does not think it's TN, unless he specifically stated it as such. It sounds like his preliminary diagnosis is "hemifacial pain", but remember the diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia is clinical, which means there are no tests that he can run to "prove" this diagnosis, and that you diagnose it based on history and physical exam. Hemifacial pain is, practically by definition, trigeminal neuralgia (which can have a number of causes, such as vascular compression or a brain lesion), and it sounds like he's ordering imaging (MRI, etc) to look for vascular compression (which is classic TN), or a structural brain lesion that could be (secondarily) causing the trigeminal neuralgia.

I just had a look on UpToDate to see what other diagnoses would be in the differential for hemifacial pain, and the only other interesting things it listed were SUNCT and SUNA (basically TN + severe headache), which are outside of my knowledge base. Please keep us informed, I'd be interested in hearing what alternative diagnosis he comes up with for paroxysmal unilateral facial pain. I sincerely hope it's a really bad case of TMJ that's been overdiagnosed. And I wish you all the good will in the world while coping with this shitty disease.
 

Saladus

Bronze Knight of the Realm
271
11
His wording was that he was ruling out trigeminal neuralgia just for now, but yes, it did sound like I'm basically not fully out of the woods yet. I'll keep ya posted.
 

niss_sl

shitlord
281
1
I'm not insulting you because you're saying I'm wrong, I'm insulting you because you're being an asshole. And while I'm glad that you're so confident about diagnosing someone on a forum when neither he nor his doctor themselves are confident of said diagnosis (which has already been changed twice)
It changed because the OP said his symptoms changed. Pain in temple around the eye usually suggests cluster H/A while burning/shocking/tingling pain in the cheek suggest trigeminal neuralgia.

And if the OP gets weakness in limbs or loss of sensation somewhere and the GP diagnoses him/her with multiple sclerosis, it means medicine is working as intended.
 

niss_sl

shitlord
281
1
you need to look into celiac disease. it causes a host of problems ranging from dermatological to neurological.
Lol. I love the internet.

Not to be technical, but trigeminal neuralgia is hemifacial pain and not all TN is due to notable nerve compression. In any case, it's good that you've been put in touch with a neurologist and that you're getting an MRI. Making sure that you don't have plagues in your brain and ruling out MS would be important.

Have you had any other weird sensory or weakness-type things in the past that came and went?
 

Saladus

Bronze Knight of the Realm
271
11
Pretty much never Niss. Lately I've been noticing a few muscle cramps in my legs, usually just above the knees, which is out of the norm for me, but maybe that's just due to the meds.
 

supertouch_sl

shitlord
1,858
3
Lol. I love the internet.

Not to be technical, but trigeminal neuralgia is hemifacial pain and not all TN is due to notable nerve compression. In any case, it's good that you've been put in touch with a neurologist and that you're getting an MRI. Making sure that you don't have plagues in your brain and ruling out MS would be important.

Have you had any other weird sensory or weakness-type things in the past that came and went?
there's nothing funny about what i said. oh, and MS has been associated with celiac as well.
 

Aychamo BanBan

<Banned>
6,338
7,144
it's worth exploring, dumbass. it's linked to countless disease processes and autoimmune disorders.
No, it's not worth exploring. It's not even in the differential for hemifacial pain (which is a symptom, btw, not a diagnosis.) You can't run tests to rule out every remotely possible disease every time somebody walks in the door. I mean, yeah, technically you can, but nobody (insurance or patients or tax payers) is going to pay for it. You don't start looking for the ultra rare causes until you've ruled out all the common causes, and then the rare causes, etc. Can you find a single published case report in which the only presenting sign of Celiac's was hemifacial pain? Otherwise...
 

supertouch_sl

shitlord
1,858
3
any type of neuralgia can be a symptom of systemic disease. and first of all, celiac disease isn't rare. furthermore, unless they have classic symptoms like weight loss and diarrhea, most people don't think that diagnosis is even in the realm of possibility.

i didn't say celiac disease was responsible. i said it's worth exploring and it is because it can cause a host of issues and the treatment is as simple as changing one's diet.
 

Aychamo BanBan

<Banned>
6,338
7,144
any type of neuralgia can be a symptom of systemic disease. and first of all, celiac disease isn't rare. furthermore, unless they have classic symptoms like weight loss and diarrhea, most people don't think that diagnosis is even in the realm of possibility.

i didn't say celiac disease was responsible. i said it's worth exploring and it is because it can cause a host of issues and the treatment is as simple as changing one's diet.
It is not worth exploring. You are wrong.