Trigeminal Neuralgia

If you follow me on Facebook you might remember my whining like a baby complaining about a  toothache on Christmas Eve.  Well after a very intense week, a tooth extraction, and a few other dentist appointments I was still in excruciating, ‘Where am I? Who am I?’ pain.  It’s been hard for me  to get anything done and there’s just so much I’m wanting and excited about doing!

This morning I went to see the dentist…again.  He took more x-rays, did more tests, and finally threw up his hands and referred me to an endodontist in the hopes that he’d know what was the cause of my pain.  But instead of making that call I decided to see my regular doctor in the hopes that this was a sinus infection that'd gone terribly wrong and was just being overlooked.  Luckily I was able to get in just a couple of hours after leaving the dentist. 

In between appointments I dreamed of getting a super antibiotic shot that’d free me of the pain within a few hours.  You can imagine my disappointment and heartbreak when my tears of frustration were comforted with a diagnosis of Trigeminal neuralgia.  Sure I felt as if my pain had been validated, but if you follow the link and read the treatment you’ll know there isn’t a quick fix. 

For the first time in my life I’ve got four prescriptions…four different pills to take throughout the day.  I realize this probably isn’t a big deal to some but it freaks me out a bit.  I’m also worried at the thought of this turning into a chronic problem.  Ugh. 

Last night I read a post from a fellow TCC blogger about Courage and today I saw a poster in one of the offices emblazed with that same word.  It may not be the word for my year but it is certainly the word for this week.  I’m trying, I promise, to summon up just a bit more courage to get through this and give these anticonvulsants a chance to tell my brain to ignore the pain.

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