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Neurology (Expert Forum)
Trigeminal Neuralgia
This forum is for questions and support regarding neurology issues such as: Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, Autism, Brain Cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Chronic Pain, Epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, Headaches, MS, Neuralgia, Neuropathy, Parkinson's Disease, RSD, Sleep Disorders, Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury
Trigeminal Neuralgia
by Pam, Sep 06, 1999 12:00AM
I have an appointment with an Internal Medicine Doctor on Thursday. I have had a very rough two months with severe episodes of pain in my face, ear, teeth, temple and jaw. Finally I felt my medical doctor believed me, and he refered me to the Internal Medicine Doctor after prescribing Tegretol which has helped with the pain. I have slept two nights in a row. My question: does laying down trigger TN? 15 minutes after laying down, I have a severe pain episode. Another question: Will I ever feel I can think clear on the Tegretol? I can barely get through this question, but I have only been on it for two days.
Thank you,
Pam
Thank you,
Pam
Doctor's Answer
by CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS, Sep 06, 1999 12:00AM
Dear Pam:
I am not sure of your dose but if you have just started tegratol, then many people have a similar reaction to it when first started on it. After a few days things should calm down and you should be able to function as you did before the facial pain. What you describe is not uncommon. It usually arise from the fact when you lie down, you stop thinking about the events of the day and suddenly you notice the pain or throbbing. As the tegratol kicks in, you should notice less and less of this at night. If the cloudy thinking continues for a few weeks tell your physician and there are other medications that will also ease the pain.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro MD
I am not sure of your dose but if you have just started tegratol, then many people have a similar reaction to it when first started on it. After a few days things should calm down and you should be able to function as you did before the facial pain. What you describe is not uncommon. It usually arise from the fact when you lie down, you stop thinking about the events of the day and suddenly you notice the pain or throbbing. As the tegratol kicks in, you should notice less and less of this at night. If the cloudy thinking continues for a few weeks tell your physician and there are other medications that will also ease the pain.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro MD
A stoke event would have been picked up on MRI, especially the T2 weighted and FLAIR images. You might have had trigeminal neuralgia as your sedimentation rate was up. Without examining you I can't say for sure. About fixing your heart, if you have no right-to-left shunting of blood through the foramen ovale you wouldn't need to have the patent foreman ovale fixed. If you do have this shunting problem, it might be a good idea to see a cardiologist about getting it closed as you have multiple risk factors for a stroke. Talk things over with your neurologist. It is difficult to answer your question about why. There are things that can give you symptoms as you describe and many of them can be diagnosed by MRI and eye exam.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro MD