Chronic Neuropathic Facial Pain/Atypical Facial Pain

Hi,
As you must be already aware that Trigeminal neuralgia is very difficult to cure, specially the atypical one. You have undergone most of the treatment options already. In nerve mapping the trigeminal nerve is separated at the level of the spinal cord and then it is disabled electrophysiologically. This preocedure is being carried out at very few medical centres. The results are encouraging but not 100%.
I would like to sugget you another option. Have you thought about alternative medicine like Homeopathy? Alternative modes of treatment have a cure for lot of diseases that cannot be cured by allopathy. My wife had a very painful condition - Sacroileitis which had no permanent treatment in Allopathy. She took up Ayurvedic treatment and then Homeopathic treatment. Now she am 99% allright and is leading a normal life. Incidently I found a website which can help.

For more information see here...

Hope this information helps you.

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Regards
Dr. Gupta

In your opinion is this a disabling disorder without permanent treatment. I have been told basically that I am out of options. But is there a procedure or test that can identify what is causing my pain? They are telling me that I do not have Trigeminal Neuralgia, they are telling me that my symptoms are similiar but because of my age (38) that it is rare, also my pain is vice gripping, pulling pain and radiating pain constantly 24/7. They say with Trigeminal Neuralgia it comes and goes. Are you in the Neurological Profession?

What other nerve medication would you suggest? I have been offered Moriphine patches but have not accepted them. I do not want to get addicted to pain medications, also Dr's have told me that normal pain meds do not respond well to nerve pain.

I am on disability now from my employer but have lost my job due to FMLA running out, I just want to be normal again and to work and not rely on a medical team accepting my claim in order to receive money to support me.

no I have not tried any Homepathic methods, I do not know about them nor where I would begin.

Teresa

Hi,
As you are describing your symptoms are not fitting typically into Trigeminal neuralgi, but are mostly similar. Atypical trigeminal neuralgia is mostly seen in older age group, but it has been rarely seen in younger age also. The pain is usually episodic - can be 1-2 episodes or 15-20 episodes per day. Also the pain is usually on one dise of the face in Trigeminal neuralgia. As I said you seem most likely to be having a varient of Atypical trigeminal neuralgia. The method to diagnose it is by doing imaging studies of the brain (e.g MRI, contract CT scan etc) to rule out any tumor, aneurysm, multiple sclerosis or abnormal path of Superior cerbellar artery. These are the common detectable causes of Trigeminal neuralgi. I am sure you neurologist might have already investigated you in detail. Most of the treatment modalities have already been given to you, with minimal or no response as you say. You can try nerve mapping as another option. But I would suggest you to discuss the chances of sucess in your case with your doctor. The reason being that this procedure is done at the spinal cord level, which is a pretty vital area.
To answer your question, no I am not a neurologist per say. I am a Pediatrician with a fellowship in Pediatric neurology.
I can understand that at such a young age you want to back into normal active life. That is the reason I suggsted to you alternative medicine. I have seen my wife in almost the same condition as you, and as I said she is back to her normal routine. It took her an year, but she kept the patience and continued her treatment.

Did you read the link I sent you. A patient similar to you condition was getting homeopathic treatment and responded. You can write to the doctors on that website for an oopinion. Or better would be if you can locate an Homeopath locally and get treated.
I will send you the link again

http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/30356/

http://www.abchomeopathy.com/go.php

Hope this helps you

Please ACCEPT the reply (by pressing the GREEN accept button), and give a BONUS if it was useful. If you need more information, just let me know.
Regards
Dr. Gupta

I have had the MRI and the CT and nothing, My pain is constant 24 hrs a day and this is why my Dr is saying that it is Atypical Facial Pain and that is what is written in my medical records. I did look a the website that you sent to me but nothing shows for Atypical Facial Pain, which my Dr is saying is totally different, if I did have Trigeminal neuralgia then I could be a candidate for the Gamma Knife procedure, I saw a neurosurgeon and he said that it would not work for me.

So you do not have any other ideas on medications that I can try that you think may be of help other than the homepathic, I just do not know about what to try, and then mixing with my current medication. I live in the Triad area of North Carolina and I do not know if there is anyone in our area that could help me with the homepathic remedies.

Do you currently treat anyone with this disorder and have there been any with treatment success... I am looking for another method in the medical field, some sort of pain mangement help. Someone that treats many patients with what I have, and when you go to a Dr and they seem to know what you have and spill off several options then you know you have found the right one, so far I haven't had any luck at all.

That is why I am here looking for additional help.

Hi,
As I already discussed, you have mostly tried all the treatment options. I could not locate any alternative medicine clinic with a online address in NC. But there is a pain clinic and neurologist clinic who deal with the kind of problem you have. For more information on them read here...
Hope this helps you.

Please ACCEPT the reply (by pressing the GREEN accept button), and give a BONUS if it was useful. If you need more information, just let me know.
Regards
Dr. Gupta

That is in cleveland...I am in NC, yes you said that I was out of options at this point, well I know that there are more options, that is why I am on here. Many people have other options and not only homepathic, I am not truly 100% on the same page about that. So the informationt that you have offered is what I already know. You also kept mentioning that I have ATN, I have Atypical Facial Pain which is totally different. If I had trigeminal Neuralgia there are more options as far as treatment goes. I am not looking for a miracle, but I know that there is something else.

Relist: I prefer a second opinion.
Any other options, these options I have been told by my own neurologist.

Thanks,