Sinusitis And Trigeminal Neuralgia Posted: 12-15-04 09:44am
My story is a bit complex and I could use
any suggestion. When I was 10 years old I
suffered from acute sinusitis in my
right-frontal sinus, which was treated
with an operation. The operation included
entering the sinus from outside, by
breaking the bone below my eye brow, and
inserting a drain which was left there for
a month and a half. For the following few
years I haven’t suffered from sinusitis,
until I reached the age of 18, when the
sinusitis reappeared. I had to undergo
another surgery, and the doctor was unable
to use only endoscopic entry to the sinus,
since many of the bones of the sinus have
been destroyed in the 1st operation. So
the 2nd operation was the same as the
first one. 2-3 months after the 2nd
operation I re-experienced severe
headaches. I went through thorough
examinations and the sinuses turned out to
be clean. Eventually I was diagnosed by a
doctor at a pain clinic as suffering from
trigeminal neuralgia (probably caused in
one of the surgeries, the neuralgia
started in the branch located near the eye
but has spread to all 3 branches). I was
treated with many drugs (depalept,
elatrol, elatrolet), I was injected with
steroids to my face and to the back of my
neck and I tried alternative treatments,
with no help whatsoever. I could live
with the seizures I experienced daily, no
matter how painful they were, until last
year, when my sinusitis re-appeared again.
With my sinusitis attacks I had seizures
of pain lasting several hours, causing me
to almost faint. I met with a
nose-ear-throat doctor who decided to
operate on me once again. He said that he
doesn’t think that I have a trigeminal
neuralgia and that all the pain is caused
by the sinusitis, so taking care of the
sinusitis would take care of the pain as
well. I had the surgery done almost 3
months ago. The operation was different
from the previous two in that the doctor
had entered the sinus from a different
location (he broke the bone above my
eyebrow) and in that that this time he
left the drain inside, intending to leave
it there for a year. 3 days ago the drain
came out (as the doctor said it might),
and since i’m experiencing a relapse, I
suffer from severe pain (though i’ve been
suffering from pain all the time, even
after the last operation) and I feel my
sinuses are stuffed again. The doctor is
thinking of putting me through another
operation.
I will be so thankful if anyone could
suggest anything to me. I really feel
like there is no hope and that i’m doomed
to living with daily pain and an operation
every few years.
I should also mention that no pain
relieving medicine helps my pain, besides
morphine, which I hardly take.
Thanks,
roy
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bozena427
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 12 Sep 2008 Posts: 12 Location: , Europe
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Posted: 09-15-08 05:23am
Hello Roy,
I have the same problems as you do:
Sinusitis max. and Trigeminal Neuralgia.
My TN is atypical what means I have to
find the cause for Neuralgia.
I had operation of Septi Nasi Deviatio and
after that was much worse.
In my case pains are in the eyes, jaw,
face and all right side from the top of
the head until right shoulder’s joint.
What is good for you: first of all to have
so many operations is not good (why your
doctor doesn't send you somewhere else?).
You should make CT scan or MRI of your
head and neck. TN comes from the head
(some blood vessel can press on the nerve)
and sinusitis from the neck or neck
muscles.
Change the doctor, if is possible.
About painkillers: try to get muscle
relaxant tablets.