Hugs for Lisa (LJ)

[happyone]

I think Lisa could do with some hugs. She has had awful constant facial/mouth pain over the past few months with no definite idea of what has been causing it.

Now Lisa has a diagnoses of TMJ (don't ask me what it stands for!) which is not a favoured diagnoses as it is a real "how long is a piece of string" expected duration.

Lisa has continued supporting me and others through this time that she has been finding tough. I, particularly, am grateful to her for the time she took to support me in my most recent craziness. She took time to pm me and try to ascertain I was ok.

I am pleased to have her as a friend and want to hug her as I am sure she could do with lots of them!



Happyone
xx

[shoegal]

BIG HUGS LISA!!!!


I'm sorry I've not kept in touch via your 'life of a country quirk' thread but I've had no internet for a while and I had to get a new modem yesterday to fix the problem.
I hope you feel better soon hun.

Love and hugs from shoegal xxx

[Piglet]

Have a very big hug Lisa love.

Lots of love your old pal Piglet

[Quirky]

Erm this is embarrasing lol

No seriously thanks so much Happyone mate I really appreciate this. Thanks for your support too, it's really helped me through some difficult times.

Shoegal - Thanks too mate How are you doing these days? I hope you're doing good.

Yes Happy is right I am having a difficult time. I will explain briefly if I can as this is a hugely long story.... It started back in January with a routine dental filling, so small I didn't even had anaesthetic to have it done. After the filling I got pain that didn't go so a week later my dentist did a root canal. I had more pain after this that didn't go so in the three months after that I had the tooth drained, filled with antibiotics, cleaned inside etc at least 17 times, sometimes 3-4 times a week. I was in so much pain I thought I'd be better off dead at times (not something I say lightly with a death phobia believe me!). I had antibiotics several times, painkillers but nothing helped this pain at all. The pain just got worse and worse and I started getting electric shock type pains in my face/teeth too. I phoned my doctors and dentists in tears many days the pain was so bad and I have a very high pain threshold! I have begged three people to take the tooth out (very front top one) and no one will as they say it could make things alot worse for me if the pain is neuralgia plus the tooth looks healthy!

I was then referred to an endodontist who finished the root canal. He said he didn't think the pain was coming from my teeth and may be nerve type neuralgic pain. After that I saw a maxofacial doctor and they had no idea how to help. After that an orofacial pain expert in London who diagnosed TMJ. The TMJ was probably caused from having my mouth open for hours at dental appts. He gave me exercises to do for my jaw, told me I could only eat soft foods etc. He also told me that as I have ME I may have more pain than most people with this and my ME may be a factor in all this.

Anyway still the pain didn't go so I was referred to a neurologist who did an MRI scan. That was normal so based on my symptoms she has diagnosed me with atypical trigeminal neuralgia. This is basically nerve damage above my front teeth, so it wasn't really a dental problem really even though it causes agonising toothache, although may have been triggered by (but not caused by) the root canal initially.

So basically trigeminal neuralgia I was told is the worst known pain a human can have and the medical profession agree with this. It's like the worst toothache ever x 1000! Add in some electric shock things and it's not fun. I can't eat easily as I can't chew or bite, I can't clean my teeth easily as it's pure agony. I have been in agony most days for last 7 months, excruciating pain at times and worst of all there is no cure for this trigeminal neuralgia. It may improve or it may not or it may get worse but it's very unlikely it will ever go away so somehow I have to learn to live with being in agony all day every day!

I can't work at the moment due to this pain and the fact talking brings on more pain and even makes me slur my words sometimes as the facial muscles don't work well. I miss work so much. I can't manage social activities as I can't talk easily and eating is so hard so basically my life is just existing day to day with severe pain right now.

There is no treatment except epilepsy type drugs (which don't work in many people with this anyway) and I also suffer from M.E so that makes taking drugs hard as I cannot tolerate even simple drugs.
Next step is a CT scan on Tuesday to check the tooth root to make sure there are no cracks then they can say for sure I only have TN and TMJ and that there is not a dental component here too!

So yes I have been a bit fed up lately to say the least, especially as I now have two debilitating illnesses (M.E and Trigeminal neuralgia) that might never get better, along with all the other medical stuff I have wrong with me! Add to this even the expert don't agree on everything and some are totally baffled by all this.
Having severe pain daily for 7 months has been bad enough without dealing with the fact I may have to be in pain like this for the rest of my life! But I am a fighter and I will get my head around it all eventually!

Anyway I said I'd keep that short but that was the short version as I left out soooooooooo much stuff inbetween! Still it feels good to get that all off my chest! Sorry for the long post!

Oh and for anyone dental phobic don't be scared by the above, this is not what normally happens after a root canal, most are very straightforward. In fact I don't think the dentistry caused it really, it probably just flared up a hidden problem that I was already suseptible to and M.E can give people trouble after dental work sometimes.

Thanks guys, the support means alot

Lisa x

[Quirky]

Thanks Piglet

Oh and you're not that old lol

Lisa x

[kazzie]

I have to agree with Happy here, Lis has been a good friend to us all despite all her problems!!

HUGEST (((((((HUGS)))))) LIS

Luv Kaz x x x

[Quirky]

Thanks Kaz

Lisa x

[honeybee3939]

Awww Lisa

You can have lots of hugs from me too ..........

Love

Andrea
xxxxx

[debera]

aww big hugs lisa. hope you feel better soon.
love debera

[Southern_Belle]

Lisa, I am so sorry for all the pain you are going through. Chronic pain is so debilitating. Huge from me to you and I do hope they can help you soon with this problem.

Love,

Laura