Little victories

Hi guys,

Sorry it's been so long since I've written something here, but now I have a good reason to do so.
You all know that I have this thing called trigeminal neuralgia and that I've been on medication for that for a little over 2 years now. Well, since December I've been pain free (first little victory) and that means I can start reducing the medication (second little victory)! I started reducing last week Sunday, Feb. 23rd. A few days later my left ear started to hurt again. The nerve is situated a little underneath the ear, so I thought I was going to have fits again. Yesterday I gathered up all my courage and went to my GP. I told him I was hoping to have otitis and yes, he confirmed me it is otitis (little victory number 3). I seriously have never been happier with otitis. Okay, it hurts a bit and with the drops it feels like my head is under water the whole time, but hey, that nothing compared to the pain of the trigeminal neuralgia fits!!! I feel like I could take on the world right now! :)
Now my GP made a whole 'reducing plan' for the next few months and I sure hope that will work out! Since I'll be in Sicily from March 26th until September 30th it will be quite the challenge to keep the reducing plan working, but I have faith in it and I have to believe it'll go well. Please keep your fingers crossed!

Randy Houser - Top of the world (from YouTube)

 

Ever wanted to bang your head against the wall?

Well, I have...
Especially the last few days since my trigeminal neuralgia is completely out of control....

If you're not familiar with trigeminal neuralgia I'll explain a bit what it feels like. Like a burning match is held closely to your face, like thousands of needles are stuck in your face, like a toothache that won't just pass by, like your eye is about to burst, and I can go on and on and on about it.
It's really painful and it get's you completely out of focus. Even laughing, eating, brushing my teeth and speaking hurt...
Some doctors say it's like a combination of migraines and epilepsy.

Monday I went back to my general physician, because I couldn't bare the pain any longer. He gave me the 'bad' pills, like I like to call them, there's some evil written on the leaflet, and of course that worked like a charm: knocked out for the next 48 hours. But seriously knocked out, sleeping, eating, sleeping, drinking, sleeping, eating, sleeping, watch some tv, sleeping again. And so it went on and on.

Tuesday I went to see my neurologist who could only tell me that he didn't see on the scan that the nerve was damaged which was good news, because that could lead to other very bad diseases as MS and stuff. No tumors, brain is okay. Now then that means the trigeminal neuralgia doesn't really has a cause, which apparently happens more often to young women. I got a new type of medication, Orap Forte, and that is meant to be very good for the pains caused by the tn. Also this pill knocked me out, but less severe than the other did. I feel a bit shaky and all, but I guess that will pass by (or at least I hope so).

Now we're Wednesday already and I haven't gone to work at all this week, which makes me feel pretty guilty for those who have to cover for me. Doctor gave me a whole week of sick leave, because the medication gets me really out of concentration. It wouldn't be wise to drive a car or sit behind a computer for the whole day. This blog in fact is my first time behind the computer for longer then sending an e-mail to my boss since Saturday.

I actually hope to raise some kind of awareness with this blog, because not everyone wants to understand this disease and the pain it causes.

Thanks for reading.



P.S.: If you want to learn more: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001751/