Scott13

Health Interests

New to ongoing pain... may not be chronic pain... Currently learning a lot about about various conditions such as Trigenimal and Glossopharyngeal neuralgia,  some about Fibromyalgia,  TMJ and others.

Drugs I am Taking

Scott13 has not shared any drug information.

About Me

I was born on a Friday 13th .. LOL.
But I dont see it as a bad thing. I do see it as living a life more extraodinary than average. ;-)

When I was 7, my best friend and I were little entrepreneurs and folded towels at the local beauty salon for money. We took our money and hopped on the bus and went to downtown Dallas and played all day (back when it was safe).

I still remember it was around 8:00 or so and we were on our way home and the bus driver asked us if we were Scott and his friend, because our parents had everyone looking for us. Needless to say I was grounded from my friend for a couple of months.

I remember when I first met Shelby, we were 14 and in highschool. We became good friends in school, although we never dated. We were 19 when I went to her wedding. I would have never believed 10 and a half years later our lives would intersect. We were both single and had our first encounter as a lunch date.

We dated for over 4 years before we got married. I have a lovely step-daughter and 2 really cool "indoor" cats. Shelby has always been my ROCK through thick and thin. There is something true in women being mentally strong as she has the patience of Job and the strength of Hercules and she truly keeps me grounded.

Currently I am a product specialist for a Point of Sale and Supply Chain software company that has a global presence. Our global head quarters is in Israel and last year I got to go there for our company strategy conference. Out of over 1600 employees I was one of the top 3 out of 6 people who won the distinquished service award.

I've shared this personal information not to boast, but to provide some input on who I am as a person. I am a sensitive man who is also focused and driven. I am a self starter and try to stay in touch with not only my reality, but reality in general. Below is my story on how I'm being introduced to ongoing pain.

I feel it is important to also express my appreciation to this website and the wonderful and understanding people who reach out to others. I truly pray that one day a cure will be found for all pain and that until then that the pain may atleast be managed and minimal.

My story starts here...

As for me and my situation it is far from textbook.

I am a 42 year old, physically healthy man, other than this pain issue. Around February of last year (2005) I saw my primary care physician for ear pain. We went through a battery of treatments such as antibiotics (z-packs; levaquin), Steroids (cortisone and prednisone) shots etc.. and finally after about 6 weeks, the pain went away.

This year around the same time the same thing started up, however the pain would traverse back and forth randomly between my ears. We began the same thing all over, except this time after a couple of weeks with poor results, he referred me to an ENT.

The ENT could not find any signs of infection from the first exam so she scheduled a CT scan. From the CT scan all she found was a cyst in my left sinus and a lot of blockage. I opted for the sinus surgery as I have always had bad sinus problems and I went in knowing there was no guarantee it would relieve the ear pain but it would relieve pressure from my ears.

The surgery went off without any complications, but the random ear pain continued long after my recovery. It seems as though my problem is evolving as my top and bottom molars, my jaws and behind my eyes have added to the random pain I'm experiencing. At times I experience the following in any random order and it can effect the left or right side: Top and bottom molars, back jaw, deep inner ear and behind the eyes.

Also, I never really experience any head pain. If I were to describe how my symptoms present themselves I would say this: The randomness of my pain is as if I were to come over and stomp real hard on your foot and stand there for a few seconds (This would be the acute pain). Then in seconds sometimes minutes or hours later come back while your foot is sore and stomp real hard on your foot again and stand there a few seconds before I step off. Its after these shooting pains, then I get this dull, sore and aching pain (This would be the chronic pain).

Because of the ongoing condition, my doctor ordered another CT scan(with IV) in hopes of finding a reason, but there were no visible signs. I was referred to an ENT specialist known as a Neuro-otologist at the University Hospital. The neuro-otologist examined me ordered major blood work and found nothing as well so he ordered an MRI (with IV) and again we found nothing.

Diagnosing Glossopharyngeal neuralgia, he referred me to a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon tried prescribing Tegretol. We tried it at 200 mg twice daily and I could increase another 200 mg every 3 to 4 days if there was still pain. Well it didn't seem to improve matters so now he has me taking Neurontin.

Currently I'm taking 300 mg 3 times daily and I can increase 300 mg after every 3 to 4 days if there is still pain.

As a foot note:

Currently to date I have had the following examinations:
Full blood work labs, 2 CT scans (with IV), 1 MRI (with IV), Full panoramic dental x-rays, 3 TMJ exams.

I have also revisited the ENT who performed the sinus surgery and strangely there are no signs for this problem.

Also, unlike typical neuralgias, I can not induce the pain I experience. I even tried hot and cold fluids and foods and nothing seems to trigger it except what ever is causing the problem.

I will be seeing a Neurologist who specializes in Pain Management for Glossopharyngeal and Trigeminal neuralgia.

In short over the past 3 months I've been having to manage my pain with Lortab 7.5's as needed. Some days I get by with 2 to 4 a day, sometime as little as 1 or none. There was one day it took 5 within a 4 hour period to bring relief. I get to where there are days I'd rather go through the pain than feel medicated and so I just cope with it. Then there are days when I get to my coping threshold and take the pain medication.

I've searched high and low on the net to find anything that resembles my situation and have yet to find anything. With this said, I am open to anyone's advise on speculative diagnosis, doctors, forums or websites that you feel may help my challenging situation.

Thanks in advance and God bless you!

Scott