AboutTina Expertise I can help on all aspects of the condition, treatment, support. I cannot diagnose but only give my personal expertise, and refer you to others who can help. I am in touch with doctors, therapists, and professionals on a regular basis. I can help with disability issues pertaining to lymphedema or cancer.
Experience 13 year cancer survivor, Lymphland Support group owner, Owner of Lymphland.com website, writer for Butterfly Gazette, forums coordinator for ELymphNotes online lymphedema magazine, patient and advocate for 10 years, Yahoo answers advanced level answerer.
Organizations Lymphland Support Group Owner, Lymphland.com website owner, National Lymphedema Network member, American Society of Lymphology member, ELymphNotes forums coordinator and writer, member of many online support groups. Rainbow Bridge Pet Loss Grief Counselor, former bank loan rep, pharmacy ass't
Education/Credentials college graduate, volunteer in pet loss grief counselling.
Expert: Tina Date: 3/8/2008 Subject: head,facial, eye and ear pain
Question Here's my issue -- I have been in terrible eye,ear and facial pain for over 6 years now. I can't work and my life has ground to a halt. It started in 2001 with a sinus infection. I had sinus surgery in November of that year due to multiple sinus infections and was pain free for about 2 weeks. Then the pain came back. It started with the headaches across the whole of my forehead. Since that time, I have has problems with fluorescent light (that has dissipated), tracking movement on a t.v., movie or computer (I can't do any of these any more) as well as reading books (I can only read lare print books now). I have sharp ear pain, especially when there is loud bass noise or vibration (like from helicopters, lawn mowers, etc.) and the phone can also be an issue. My facial muscles can go into spasm, causing a greater amount of pain in my face and jaw. I cannot open my mouth fully ( I have to have sedation dentistry due to the pain caused by having to have my mouth open for so long). I do have some degerative disks in my neck, but they have not panned out as a cause. We have gone through multiple neurologists, neuroopthamologists, ENT's and too many doctors to name. We have hit a dead end. Disgnoses like trigeminal neuralgia, vestibular apparatus issues, Lyme disease (test was negative), TMJ all have not panned out. While I know that there is an emotional component to this (9/11 had a big impact on me -- I was from New York and my brother still lives there. Plus I had some emotional losses around that time), I can't believe that all of this is due to emotional causes. I manage the pain the best I can, but being on Percocets and being dependent on others is not my idea of living I can't work or live my life and I am looking for answers.
Answer Hi Jennifer,
I'm from NY too, it was a very traumatic experience to see the planes hitting the towers and the end results. Very saddening as well.
It could be you have several different things going on and that's what is baffling doctors. Do you wear glasses? The type of headaches you describe sound like a mix of migraines, eye strain, TMJ, and sinus, the same with sounds, sensitivity to sounds goes hand in hand with migraines.
The discs you have in your neck could be putting pressure on the nerves and causing both the jaw symptoms and headaches. Stress and emotional trauma can worsen them as well.
Tell me more of your history, what types of doctors have you seen? Have you been to a rheumatologist or neurologist? What specific tests have they run?
Sometimes doctors need to look outside the box too and realize that each person is an individual and what may not sound like a problem in one person could be a big problem in another.
Sometimes the first symptoms of a condition might not show anything, as with diabetics, my mother, for example, her first diabetes symptom was tiredness, that's a very common symptom for many things, and her diabetes was not found until she passed out in a store. So you have to keep an open mind, think of all possibilities and connect the dots.
Even food allergies can cause the headaches you describe, dental problems, scar tissue from the sinus surgery, ect so tell me more history.
