TMJ--No, it's Trigeminal Neuralgia

I was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia yesterday. I thought maybe I had TMJ, guess not. I thought maybe I had a sinus infection too.

The right side of my face has been hurting BAD for at least the last 3 weeks. I had an appt. previously scheduled for this last friday, so I waited til then to bring it up to my doc. I have had pain near my ear and up to my scalp and my eyeball (felt like it was going to pop out sometimes) of and on for months.

I was wondering if anyone here has this condition as well?

It really bugs me at work, I guess cuz I have to talk on the phone a lot and my phone headset I wear is on my right ear. It makes all my teeth on the upper right side hurt something awful. My pain meds keep it to a dull roar, but if I take to long to take another one, I start feeling it big time.

So glad to finally know what has been bothering me.

Thanx for 'listening'.

Lori, I have trigeminal neuralgia as well. I was diagnosed after having almost the same pain as you describe, except on my left side. My doctor put me on Lyrica for that and for the fibro, and it has helped alot. The other thing that helped alot was having my wisdom teeth out, since apparently they were also pushing on that nerve.

What has your doctor planned for treatment?

Oh my goodness, I had that a few years ago. It was the most agonizing pain ever. In my case, if my dentist and doctor had been talking together, I wouldn't have endured pain. It turned out I needed a root canal, and now it is crowned. It was actually a small inflammation of the trigeminal nerve caused by a small infection. I found that it only came on at night, when I put my head back to sleep. Then I wouldn't be able to sleep at all.

One thing to start with, IMHO is to get your teeth checked out thoroughly, I had nerve tests done, and nothing came back conclusive and had a Dr. tell me it was all in my head. My dentist confirmed what I had been going through, and voila, no more pain there, anyhow.