This has been a long summer. We moved & we still have a lot to arrange/figure out. Then a few days after my birthday my mouth started hurting. I thought it was a sinus infection, a common occurrence in my life, but the pain got worse and worse. I made an appointment to see my doctor about the sinus infection I was sure was causing the problem. When he walked into the exam room and I was full out crying - my doctor knew it wasn't a sinus infection.
It is Trigeminal Neuralgia. Basically it a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal nerve in your face. There are lots of causes, including Brain Tumors and Multiple Sclerosis, both of which I have family history with. I had and MRI to make sure those conditions were not the cause, results - no brain tumors or MS. The pain can be mentally and or physically incapacitating. The pain is considered to be the worst pain anyone can feel. While I've never had a ton of pain - this is bad.
There aren't a lot of treatments that actually solve the problem, mostly because the causes and location of problems with the nerve vary and many times there isn't anything they can do. Because it's nerve pain, there isn't a magic pill that will stop the pain for very long. Typical treatment is to take a anti-seizure medication, which I began. It takes several weeks for the medication to build up enough in your system.
I basically didn't sleep for two weeks (thank goodness the Olympics were on) until I had reached a dosage in my system that dulled or ended the pain. I can sometimes feel that the nerve is unhappy, but not the pain. I was able to make it through a week of technology training for work, and I've mostly made it through the first week of school. Talking a lot makes it really sore (the first week of school is all about talking) and I can't sing very much or sometimes at all - which is a real problem for me.
I am very blessed that my Doctor knew what Trigeminal Neuralgia is and recognized that it was what was going on. For most people it takes years and several neurologists to get a diagnosis. (I don't think I could have endured that long). It is something that can go away for 10 years and then return, get worse, disappear forever. I'm hoping it will eventually go away or that should it get worse a neurologist will be able to pin point the exact location of the problem and that the problem is able to be corrected with surgery.
Along with this I am teaching an extra period this year - all 9th graders all day. The extra money will finance my trip to New Zealand next year, a new windshield, tires, and brakes for my car and pay a few things off. But it's going to be a challenge.
Endurance is the name of the game this year.
Melody
