Things have been a bit discombobulated for me lately… awkward posts at various times of day… I think I may have missed one or two… and I debated about whether to share some personal stuff, which I normally wouldn’t, but maybe some good can come of my experience.
Last week, I felt tooth pain coming on, and called and made an appointment which was to be on Tuesday of this week. Oh, I didn’t feel great, but I could last until then. Come Sunday night, though, holy cow!
I was in Big Pain. Like, whew… could I make it until Tuesday?
Monday I went to work… It wasn’t a good day, but I made it. Then Tuesday, feeling worse, I left from work to the dentist. By then I figured I needed TWO root canals! Some quick X-rays, some air and tapping and my teeth were pronounced HEALTHY. Right about then, I had big pain. All along my cheek, along both upper and lower jaw… it was ROTTEN!
My dentist couldn’t find anything wrong… but, boy, was I in pain. He quickly called to Cody and got me an appointment for an oral surgeon on Thursday. Two more days. He wanted him to check for something called Trigeminal Neuralgia.
The pain eased for a while, and I was hopeful, but it would come back, then fade, then come again. I knew better, but I was looking for some relief, and I got on the internet. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I did. Oh, Lord. Right about then I started praying hard! If I had Trigeminal Neuralgia, I could see much of my lifestyle disappearing. I left work early Wednesday in tears because of pain and worry about my diagnosis. That day I had pain in a crowned tooth, but also in my cheek and jaw.
TN is the nerve that runs from your spinal cord to your eye, upper, and lower jaw. For whatever reason, it starts to misfire giving excruciating pain. No particular thing triggers an attack… cold air, brushing teeth, eating… smiling even! Some people could have up to thirty attacks a day. I was in plenty of pain, but to hear people’s stories, about what it was like and how they tried to cope and find a cure was gut wrenching.
Thursday, Vernon and I headed to Cody… and when I felt some discomfort, I tried acupressure and massage, and I did pretty well. I hadn’t eaten much for four days, and a cup of soup was all I wanted for lunch! Finally, it was my turn for the oral surgeon. Believe me, I said a prayer from my heart that I did not have TN!
They had the amazing head CT scanner, that revolves around your head in less than a minute. A while later, Dr. G. comes in and asked me questions, examines my jaw and teeth, and reads the scan. The one crowned tooth was tender, unlike Tuesday at my dentist’s.
Finally, his prognosis… The crowned tooth is bad, and my dentist couldn’t see anything with his standard X-ray, but the fancy machine could see it. It was NOT a nerve problem… it was NOT TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA!!!!!!!!
Praise the Lord.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Then I thought… oh, I am sooooooooo sorry for all the people that have this horrible condition. I cannot imagine living with such pain. If you EVER think your life is bad, and you have it rough, just go watch a video about this condition. Your life will look pretty blessed. The weight was lifted off my shoulders.
I got up this morning and made a donation to the Facial Pain Association. I know there’s many medical problems I’ve never heard of or experienced, but coming so close to such a diagnosis, it, honestly, scared the snot out of me! There is no cure to speak of, and opening the skull to cushion the nerve is a dangerous endeavor. I’ll make a plea for them… if you know of someone going into dentistry or neural surgery, get them to find a cure for this! This is soooo painful, you just can’t imagine.
My tooth still isn’t fixed as my dentist is gone until next week… but the excruciating pain has stopped. I can live with being uncomfortable since I know there is an ending coming my way.
But, once again… if more people knew of this condition, maybe some research would help this situation. Spread the word. Make a donation. People need relief.
Find me here!
Wow. So glad you got that figured out. Sorry you had to go through what you did though. Prayer works.
Good heavens! So glad you’re okay. What an ordeal.
I just read this post and I am so happy that you don’t have TN!!! My husband was diagnosed with that several years ago. We like you read about it online and could not believe it! We decided to get a second opinion and chose alternative medicine. I called the Dr. a witch Dr. but she fixed my man and for that I was grateful. He took many, many suplements of which I don’t remember what they even were but within a month his pain was manageable and within two months it was gone! The first Dr. we saw told us to get our afairs in order as there is no cure. So advice I give is it’s always wise to get another view from a different Dr.
My goodness you’ve been through a lot of pain, worry, and anxiety. So glad
your prayers were answered, and that the diagnosis was a fixable/manageable one. I’ve never heard of TN, but have a dear friend who has had fibromyalgia for almost 30 years. She gets spinal injections, and a very new treatment where some of the nerves (or nerve endings) are “burned” whatever that means. It is a true miracle for her. So good luck! Be sure to take a lollipop for
the dentist! 🙂
Just now catching up on my blog reading. Oh my gosh, you poor thing! So glad that relief is on the way soon now.
Sorry you had that experience. Hope that tooth is fixed soon, and you can enjoy life.
I am so glad things turned out well for you.!
Having had chronic nerve pain for 20 years, I’m so very glad you’re not embarking on that journey!!! Here’s hoping the pain is a hazy memory very soon! 🙂
Very very grateful you got a manageable diagnosis, and hopefully a permanent resolution. I’ve had chronic jaw and back pain for almost a year now. I’ve been prescribed narcotic pain killers and gabapentin for nerve pain. I had a friend convince me to try CBD oil, which I did just to make her feel better, and WOW! Not using any of the other stuff anymore, and way more functional than I have been for a long time. My story, but had to share as others could benefit too. Chronic pain SUCKS.
Well, bless you for your long suffering and I’m thrilled to hear you’ve found something that helps! I have to sincerely agree that chronic pain sucks!
I hadn’t heard of that condition. It sounds awful, and I am so glad you don’t have that and can hopefully get your crowned tooth fixed and get out of such pain. Blessings to you.
About 16 years ago I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The endocrinologist I had was…frankly…a quack…so, due to his inability to (do anything right, it seemed!) I was completely hypothyroid (no thyroid, no synthroid) for about 12 weeks (it was rough!) Anyway, due to all the trauma of the cancer and the treatments, I developed Fibromyalgia. It first manifested in severe facial pain. (I know, but believe it or not, this is actually a funny story!) Diagnosing Fibromyalgia is a long drawn out process of eliminating everything else as there is no test for FMS. Anyway, one day I’m sitting there with my face in my hands and I say to my husband, “My face is killing me!” Without missing a beat and in complete dead-pan, he replied, “It’s not doing much for me either.” That still cracks me up! BTW what the pain ended up being was an abscess in a tooth that I could feel almost a year before it showed up on the exray!
wow, that was scary
Oh Carol, so very glad your prayers were answered. It is hard when we get the OK, knowing that others might not. I’m due at our dentist in May and have a feeling that like you my crowned tooth is not happy. I think the nerve in the original tooth the crown is glued too, is what is causing the (thankfully) intermittent pain. Hope all goes well when you get to your dentist. Thanks for info on TN.
So very glad you are going to get better. So sorry for those who can’t. How awful. Some times God does something to show us another door. There was a plan in all that awful pain.