A couple of months ago, I felt a familiar twinge in my right cheek that radiated back through my jaw. I didn't want to believe it, but as the weeks progressed it became quite clear that my Trigeminal Neuralgia (TGN) was back. For those of you who don't know what Trigeminal Neuralgia is, first -- thank your lucky stars and/or whatever god you pray to, and second -- you can check out a pretty comprehensive overview at http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-MVD.htm.
After I finally came to the conclusion that the symptoms were not going to go away, and were only going to get worse with time, I cried on and off for a full day. After that day of extreme self-pity, I transitioned into fighting mode. The next thing I did was to tell Daniel that the TGN was back. Then I called the office of Dr. Peter Jannetta and made an appointment to be evaluated for treatment.
Dr. Jannetta's nurse, Ann, got me in the very next day. The P.A. started the appointment, and I've unfortunately forgotten his name. He was so nice, and gentle, but still he triggered the pain during a very preliminary exam. I started crying and did not stop the rest of the appointment, not even when Dr. Jannetta joined us. I was not at my finest but everyone was understanding, and they all made me feel okay about utterly failing to hide my anguish.
Anything can trigger TGN pain. Lightly touching my face, eating, laughing, even having a gentle breeze blow across my face -- any of these things are likely to set it off. However, it's not consistent and I never know what's going to trigger the pain at any given time. Sometimes it will really catch me off guard -- I'll rub my eye or scratch my nose, and trigger horrendous waves of pain where there should be none. And later I will be able to do the exact same thing with no pain at all. As with many medical conditions that involve nerves, TGN is frustratingly unpredictable yet feels astonishingly singular in its ability to evoke pain.
My pain generally starts out as a feeling of being electrically shocked in my right cheek. Then the pain moves back into my right jaw so that it feels like I am being stabbed in my jaw with an ice pick. Finally, a burning sensation spreads from the right-hand side of my mouth & lips all the way back to my ear. Usually these episodes last a minute or so, with the residual burning sensation staying for five or more minutes. At the worst, I can have literally hundreds of these in one day. Fortunately, it has not gotten that bad yet this time around.
After discussing my situation with Dr. Jannetta, he decided to start me on Carbamazepine (Tegretol). This hadn't worked the first time I'd had TGN -- none of the drugs had worked at all. But Dr. Jannetta reassured me that many people have success with it in dealing with a re-occurrence of the condition, even if it did not help with the first occurrence. So I left his office still in excruciating pain, but with a Carbamazepine prescription and hope that I might have a simple yet effective solution to my pain.
