In the early months of 2019, I started to have pain in the right side of my lower jaw when I brushed my teeth. At first, it only lasted a few seconds. Then it happened more often, the pain increased, feeling like electrical shocks. I decided to see a dentist even though I had no dental insurance. Despite taking X-rays and checking for cancer (which was negative), the dentist didn’t see anything, yet he told me I needed a new crown, because there may be a cavity under the crown I already had. Sixteen hundred dollars later, there was no cavity, and my problem worsened.  

I made an appointment with my father’s dentist for a second opinion. Again, more X-rays, no visible issues, but recommended I wear a mouth guard at night, because I was grinding my teeth ($450 after discount). I wore the mouth guard for a while, but it didn’t help. There was a bump in my lower lip near the site of my pain that would swell up at times, was painful to the touch, which started a pain episode. The dentist said it was a mucocele (a benign, fluid-filled cyst that forms in the oral cavity or other mucous membranes) and suggested I should think about having it removed. I was at the point of wanting to have him pull my teeth where the pain generated; he refused, thank goodness. 

At this point I was afraid to drive because I had to pull over during an episode. Drinking anything cold, coughing, chewing, washing my face, brushing my teeth was unbearable. I would hurry and brush my teeth during an episode so that I didn’t have to suffer twice. 

I went to my Primary Care doctor because there were also small bumps in my mouth around the area of pain. I thought they might be canker sores. Negative. He asked if I wanted to have the mucocele removed and if I wanted to be seen by an otolaryngologist. He also told me, after some blood tests, that I had a vitamin D3 deficiency and had me start taking 50,000iu of vitamin D3, one every 7 days. 

I made an appointment with an otolaryngologist. He ordered a CT scan of my head and neck. Diagnosis: “may be a mucocele vascular malformation but cannot exclude salivary tumor or other cancers given patient’s history.” He made the appointment for surgery and removed it.  Again, that didn’t stop my episodes of pain.  

Now the episodes are increasing, and the pain is getting worse. I’m crying in pain constantly. I made an appointment with a periodontist. Again, X-rays showing no visible issue; he offered no suggestion or diagnosis. The pain continued and so did my tears.  

I went to another periodontist. More X-rays. She said I might have a hairline crack in my tooth and needed a root canal and sent me upstairs to the endodontist. He wouldn’t use the X-rays I just had downstairs and took more but didn’t charge me. He said I didn’t have a hairline crack, nor did I need a root canal! No suggestions or diagnosis. 

September 29, 2020, I received a call from the first periodontist’s office and was told the doctor went back to his dental books and believed I had trigeminal neuralgia (TN), and I should see a neurologist. I made the appointment and was given an MRI. Finally, on January 27, 2021, I found out the cause of all my pain and tears: trigeminal neuralgia. The doctor started me on Carbamazepine 300mg twice a day. After several months of taking these pills, I began to experience the side effects like always being tired, having a hard time finding words, and my memory was getting bad.   

Around March of 2023, I started having episodes again. The pills were no longer providing relief. The pain was so bad that it lasted up to an hour and 15 minutes at one point, now with a burning sensation. I was on my knees praying to God to please take this horrible pain away. My neurologist started me on 450mg three times a day. I was like a zombie for three months. I spoke with the neurologist, and he agreed that medicine was no longer working, and I should think about surgery.  

I started my search for a neurosurgeon that specialized in TN. I found two. One at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and one in Arizona. Since I have family in Arizona, I made an appointment with Dr. Zimmerman, a renowned surgeon in his field. I researched the surgeries and decided that Microvascular Decompression (MVD) was the best for me. I flew to Arizona on July 30, 2024, and had a consultation with Dr. Zimmerman. He and his nurse, Mary, were wonderful. He put me at ease, explained, and showed me a video of the actual surgery and agreed that was the surgery for me. The entire experience at Mayo was reassuring, comforting, and soothing. I was given the date for my surgery — October 18, 2024. It was successful! I was in the hospital for two days and flew home October 22, 2024. I was finally pain free on November 4.

Thank God for all my prayer warriors, Dr. Zimmerman, and my son.  He was with me every step of the way. The only residual from surgery is sensitivity to loud sounds and noises. Dr. Zimmerman said that is normal and it will subside. I bought some noise-cancelling headphones that work just fine.