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Neurology Community
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
Facial Pain, Numbness with Chronic Neck Pain and TMJ
by CrVala, Nov 29, 2007 02:43PM
Hello,
I am a 24 year old female with TMJ and chronic neck pain. I have been getting treated for the TMJ for a year and half, though I've had symptoms for it since I was 10. I've been seeing a chiropractor for 4 months when my neck pain got worse instead of better like my TMJ doctor had told me.
For the past 5 months now, I have been having pain on the right side of my head, eye, eyebrow area, eye socket, cheek, and right side of the nose. This is also the same side my neck pain and jaw clicking occurs. The pain is deep, achy, and at times throbbing, except for the on the cheeks, which can sometimes feel like a stabbing at the top of my cheek bone or the bottom of my eye socket, can't tell which it would be. I also feel twitching sensations at the tip of my nose and sometimes in my eyelid. Occasionally my cheek will just go numb, as if it's gone asleep. It will stay like that for about 5 minutes, and I can still move my face when it happens.
The most prominent pain is my neck and eye. The other pain comes and goes (though still occurring everyday or every other day), but the neck and eye pain is constant and both in very specific spots. The eye pain is in the upper corner, right where the eye socket meets the very top of the nose, where that curve is. And I often feel it in my eye in the inner corner, when I move my eye that direction. It hurts more when I touch and put pressure on that spot, as I've compared to what happens when I put the same pressure on the other eye's corner and it doesn't hurt there at all.
I should also mention that my eyelid is drooping. I'm not sure if its considered the eyelid or part of the eyebrow area, but it is the skin directly below the eyebrow and directly above the skin that actually covers the eyeball. It started drooping very gradually, starting almost a year ago on the outer corner of the eye and now the drooping has spread full across the entire eye area from the outer to inner corner, making that eyeball appear like its sinking down my face.
This is all extremely hard for me to deal with as I don't have health insurance and most of the doctor's I've seen have not been able to do full testing on me because I can't pay for it.
I've seen an opthamologist who just assumed it was allergies, did no tests, and just gave me eye drops. When I came for a follow up 3 weeks later with my symptoms of course not improved, she said the same thing and gave me more eye drops.
I've seen a neurologist who told me that the appearance of my eye must have always been this way and I never noticed, and to do lighter less aggressive form of stretching so the neck isn't always in pain. She also recommended I come back after I get insurance so I can get an MRI.
I saw an ENT who did a CT scan but found nothing wrong with my sinuses.
So after having spent $800 on these doctor visits alone, I just don't know where to go next. I was trying to save money by skipping a primary doctor (that I don't have anyway) and go straight to a specialty. But now I don't know what specialty to go to. I also would like to know how lower income people and students are able to get an MRI without paying full price.
I truly appreciate any responses. thanks alot.
I am a 24 year old female with TMJ and chronic neck pain. I have been getting treated for the TMJ for a year and half, though I've had symptoms for it since I was 10. I've been seeing a chiropractor for 4 months when my neck pain got worse instead of better like my TMJ doctor had told me.
For the past 5 months now, I have been having pain on the right side of my head, eye, eyebrow area, eye socket, cheek, and right side of the nose. This is also the same side my neck pain and jaw clicking occurs. The pain is deep, achy, and at times throbbing, except for the on the cheeks, which can sometimes feel like a stabbing at the top of my cheek bone or the bottom of my eye socket, can't tell which it would be. I also feel twitching sensations at the tip of my nose and sometimes in my eyelid. Occasionally my cheek will just go numb, as if it's gone asleep. It will stay like that for about 5 minutes, and I can still move my face when it happens.
The most prominent pain is my neck and eye. The other pain comes and goes (though still occurring everyday or every other day), but the neck and eye pain is constant and both in very specific spots. The eye pain is in the upper corner, right where the eye socket meets the very top of the nose, where that curve is. And I often feel it in my eye in the inner corner, when I move my eye that direction. It hurts more when I touch and put pressure on that spot, as I've compared to what happens when I put the same pressure on the other eye's corner and it doesn't hurt there at all.
I should also mention that my eyelid is drooping. I'm not sure if its considered the eyelid or part of the eyebrow area, but it is the skin directly below the eyebrow and directly above the skin that actually covers the eyeball. It started drooping very gradually, starting almost a year ago on the outer corner of the eye and now the drooping has spread full across the entire eye area from the outer to inner corner, making that eyeball appear like its sinking down my face.
This is all extremely hard for me to deal with as I don't have health insurance and most of the doctor's I've seen have not been able to do full testing on me because I can't pay for it.
I've seen an opthamologist who just assumed it was allergies, did no tests, and just gave me eye drops. When I came for a follow up 3 weeks later with my symptoms of course not improved, she said the same thing and gave me more eye drops.
I've seen a neurologist who told me that the appearance of my eye must have always been this way and I never noticed, and to do lighter less aggressive form of stretching so the neck isn't always in pain. She also recommended I come back after I get insurance so I can get an MRI.
I saw an ENT who did a CT scan but found nothing wrong with my sinuses.
So after having spent $800 on these doctor visits alone, I just don't know where to go next. I was trying to save money by skipping a primary doctor (that I don't have anyway) and go straight to a specialty. But now I don't know what specialty to go to. I also would like to know how lower income people and students are able to get an MRI without paying full price.
I truly appreciate any responses. thanks alot.
Your symptoms explained by you do point towards some type of neuralgia(nerve pain due to some compression) Your explanation of symptoms do correlate with the trigeminal nerve supply site.
With respect to drooping eyelids, it may a part of Horner's syndrome or 3rd cranial nerve pathology.
Try to fix up an appointment with an neurosurgeon
I am a 28 year old female and have had smiliar symptoms for over a year now. I have had been to neurologist, optometrist, chiropractor, dentist, physical therapist etc. Doctors have done MRI'S, CT Scan, blood tests etc. and have found nothing. I have tried every migraine medication and even nerve blockers. No medication seems to give any relief. My nuerologist diagnosed me with cluster headaches and put me on oxygen therapy. I am not so sure this is the case as my syptoms keep travelling down the right side of my body. They first began as headaches. Over the last year the I have experienced, facial numbness, droopy eye,neck pain, shooting pain below my shoulder blade and numbness in my arm & fingers (all on the right side of my body). The most recent pain has been in my right leg. I have a shooting pain that travels down my thigh to my calves and into my toes. It feels as my muscles are locking up and comes and goes every couple of days. I am not sure if this is related to the headaches and other pains.... but who knows. I have pretty much given up on seeing a doctor as I cannot get a diagnosis or any kind of relief. I feel as if no one is really listening to the syptoms.
I am sick and tired of living in pain but I am learning to live with it.
Syptoms
*All pain is in the right hand side only
Face
Head
Neck
Shoulder
Arm
Hand
When the pain get really bad my hair falls out by the hand full.
I loose my balance
The pain is so intence I would rather be dead.
I some times take upto 10 - 12 panadeine forte a day with very minimal relief it just knocks me out so I don't have to feel the pain the downside is it's still there when I wake up.
Diagnosis.
* The doctors say it's in my head, stress related or just soft tissue damage.
I have been checked for MS
Fluid on the brain