headaches

[marymoto]

hi i have been having these painful headaches again the top front and side of mt head reakky hurt and my face is numb and tingly again i will be surprised if i do not have lesions in the frontal lobe and the right side of my brain.also realized the top of my head feels numb.

[marymoto]

hello thanks for all the great advice.i guess someone said along time ago that the headace pain is cauesed by the formation of new lesions. so i beleived it to be true. i dont have another appt. with my neuro until july. he knows about my pain issues we talked about them last visit.i do take gabapentin and baclofen for the pain i am having.i also take a  small dose off cipralex 5 mg at bedtinme.the neuro was concerned about my sleep but that seems to be better now less stress.i also have recently started obn alertec for the fatigue.i also take ketorolac for pain indomethacin;and diclofenac by mouth and also by suppository.the thing i find strange about this pain is a lot of iot is in my head area or else i get a lot of weird pain that will hurt for a few minutes then the area will be fine i also get a lot of what i call bee sting pain. thanks rena hugs to you asa well take care .

[Rena705]

Hey there...I have to agree with two pack in that there is no direct correlation between lesions and symptoms...this means that you may be having symptoms that would be related to a certain area of the brain but there can be NO lesions in that area of the brain and you can still have symptoms.

I have Trigeminal Neuralgia and saw my neuro this week.  He said that being that I am on the highest dose of Tegretol that he would be able to give me I only have one other option which is surgery to move a vessel from pressing on the nerves that cause the pain in my head.  It would mean little feeling in the one side of my face afterward but there are days that I would rather have the surgery due to the severity of the pain.  

I have been on Tegretol for seizures from 1993 up until 2006 and have continued on a gradually increasing dose until Oct. 2006.  At that time I started having the Trigeminal pain and have gradually increased my dose until I am at the highest limit I will be given.  This is a pain that needs to be looked at by a neurologist and the usual painkillers will do nothing to ease the pain.  You need to be on one of the anti-seizure meds if this is in fact Trigeminal Neuralgia.  Please get in to see your neuro as soon as you can because these meds do work!  He also may want to try something like Topamax, Lyrica or Gabapentin which does work for some.   I hope this has been of a little help to you and please know that my thoughts are with you as you struggle with this pain and please know you are NOT alone!

Lots of Hugs,
Rena

[marymoto]

thanks for all the great comments this is sure a good place to vent.

[kaluscout]

Hi Mary,

I feel sorry that you are having these headaches. I get them in the left side around my temple and to my jaw. They are horrible. I have no real way of removing the pain but for me codine helps a little...takes the edge off sometimes and yet other times it makes no difference...go figure....

Steve

[twopack]

I don't know why, but I'm still always amazed that body parts can be numb and painful at the same time.  The mystery, miracle, and misery that is the human body.  I hope you have been in touch with your doc before the weekend snuck up on us.

I know this doesn't help the pain, but I wouldn't try to correlate the location of headaches with the appearance of lesions.  It's my understanding that the brain itself doesn't feel pain.  That's why brain surgery can sometimes be done with only local anesthesia.

Headache pain usually comes from pressure on other structures in the head, blood vessel changes, or nerve pain outside of the brain itself.  A lesion itself isn't painful but it sure does mess up communication.  The saying, "Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger" keeps coming to mind.  Can't quite figure out how it applies to MS though.

Mary

[rendean]

Your description sounds very much like my atypical face pain aka TN. Do you take any meds for the TN? Tegretol and Trileptal are the two that I know of to treat this. I use Trileptal and it works well for me.

I know how miserable this head pain can make you. Perhaps you can call your neuro and he can prescribe something particularly for this pain.

Wishing you pain free days,

Ren

[tonyad]

   Oh Mary....I can so relate!  I am dealing (trying to) with this TN....
I have you in thought and prayer my friend.....While I have no advice for you because I have no relief for myself all I can do is say that I am so sorry you are having any kind of head and facial pain.....

    Relax and I hope that you will find some relief tomorrow.
~Tonya