Sharps Pain in Side of my head

Hi There.

For about the past year or 2, I have been having sharp pains as if some one is stabbing the inside of my head. these come and go daily. Sometimes they last for days some times an hour. I'm 22 years old and was told that i just had the flu which I find hard to believe as its been 2 years almost. I'm a pretty healthy and fit person, not overweight but not under. I smoke around 10-15 cigarettes a day. Don't do drugs and rarely drink alcohol. Sometimes the pain is triggered by just my tooth brush, a loud noise chewing, just touching my face or even cold water. It feels as if my teeth are going to explode as well into my ear. I just want the pain to go away, I have seen many doctors but they cant figure it out. Has anyone heard of Trigeminal Neuralgia? And it sounds familiar to my symptoms. I found it searching the net. please help by responding! thanks! much appreciated

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Thank you for your question. Although without being able to examine you I can not offer you the specific advice on diagnosis and treatment that you need, but I would try to provide you some relevant information about your health concern.

This may be Trigeminal neuralgia as you have typical one sided facial pain extending to temple and eye( ophthalmic branch of trigeminal nerve may be involved) and sore gums of the teeth of same side (maxillary branch of 5th nerve). Trigeminal neuralgia may have a triggering factor like recent history of tooth extraction, touch, cold breeze or hot sensation etc. which you need to evaluate and avoid. In addition for persistent headaches, possibilities like migrainous, cluster, tension and refractive errors that need to be evaluated thoroughly with the help of a neurologist here. Hope this helps.