burning pain? in face and head

my nephew has received treatment for a germ cell brain tumor, he is 29, his last radiation and chemo treatment was about 5 wks ago, he had a perforated bowel and got septic, he had that repaired and while in the hospital he developed a fungus infection in his throat, they treated him with anifungal antibiotics, I know for sure one of them was flagyl, don't know what the first medication was, shortly after the treatment began he developed sudden burning pain, first in his right eye which got better by putting something cold over it, the burning pain then traveled to his left ear and shortly after was all over his head and face, and then in his throat, they have been treating him with pain meds, which causes him to sleep but the burning and pain are still there. He's has had several consults with different specialties like neuro, the doctor doing the radiation therapy, the oncologist, the surgeon who repaired the bowel, now the ENT and they can't figure out where the source of the pain is or what is causing it, he's still in the hospital and if it wasn't for the pain he would have already been discharged. Can anyone help, or give us an idea of what this could be? Could it be a side effect to any of the antibiotics? thanks, mcg2020

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

If all your doctors are stumped, it's unlikely that I can help you, but that kind of   pain sounds a lot like neuritis, which has many possible causes, and perhaps asking your doctor more about neuritis may help.

[mcg2020]

thank you! they are currently treating it with with Neurontin, they have taken all the IVs off and is not on the pain pump anymore, the Neurontin doesn't help much, it is a really weird burning sensation which comes suddenly and sometimes is made better by cold compresses, sometimes is better with hot compresses, but whenever we apply the cold compress the towel actually gets very hot, as if he was eminating fire from his face. Your answer is very helpful and we will ask the doctor about neuritis.