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What Causes Shocking Pain In The Face While On Medication For Trigeminal Neuralgia?
Question: Medication for trigeminal neuralgia , now taking cymbalta. Right side of face shocking when dentist removed teeth 2 years ago. Still bad shocks.
Brief Answer:
if no relief with cymbalta, there are other options
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
Shocking pain is usually related to nerve disease as you would know which can also present as burning or tingling or sticking or numbness etc.
If the pain first started when the teeth were removed and you had no symptoms before that point, then it is possible that there may have been nerve damage done at that time.
There are different types of nerve injury: (1)neuropraxia- temporary interruption of nerve messages, may be compression of a nerve for example
(2)axonotmesis- may be damage to one of the outer coverings of the nerves but this can repair itself though this can take weeks to months. Rarely longer than this.
(3)neurotmesis- total disruption of the nerve, nerve totally severed. Repair will not occur on its own, in early stages surgery can be done to repair the nerve.
It is also possible that the onset was coincidental and you were developing trigeminal neuralgia which is a long term nerve disease .
Trigeminal neuralgia can be due to poor blood supply to a nerve, a mass affecting a nerve, lymes disease, MS, sarcoidosis.
Dental- adjacent dental fillings of different metals have been shown to trigger the condition
Cymbalta is appropriate for nerve pain such as the shocks. If it is not working there are other meds that can be tried such as tegretol, lyrica, gabapentin, phenytoin ,amitriptyline
There are also surgical options available if medication is not enough
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
if no relief with cymbalta, there are other options
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
Shocking pain is usually related to nerve disease as you would know which can also present as burning or tingling or sticking or numbness etc.
If the pain first started when the teeth were removed and you had no symptoms before that point, then it is possible that there may have been nerve damage done at that time.
There are different types of nerve injury: (1)neuropraxia- temporary interruption of nerve messages, may be compression of a nerve for example
(2)axonotmesis- may be damage to one of the outer coverings of the nerves but this can repair itself though this can take weeks to months. Rarely longer than this.
(3)neurotmesis- total disruption of the nerve, nerve totally severed. Repair will not occur on its own, in early stages surgery can be done to repair the nerve.
It is also possible that the onset was coincidental and you were developing trigeminal neuralgia which is a long term nerve disease .
Trigeminal neuralgia can be due to poor blood supply to a nerve, a mass affecting a nerve, lymes disease, MS, sarcoidosis.
Dental- adjacent dental fillings of different metals have been shown to trigger the condition
Cymbalta is appropriate for nerve pain such as the shocks. If it is not working there are other meds that can be tried such as tegretol, lyrica, gabapentin, phenytoin ,amitriptyline
There are also surgical options available if medication is not enough
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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