ER
finally confirmed what I have suspected for a while - I have
Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN). And it is probably directly caused by my
Sjögren's Syndrome.
They
gave me a new medication that tries to target TN nerve pain, and it was
finally able to break through the agony late last night/early this
morning.
I went to bed with
the lower left side of my face swelling ( inflammation related ), and
when I woke up today the entire left side of my face was swollen and eye
watering from the puffy around it, making it hard to see out that
side. Using an ice pack on it, so will see if that helps reduce the
swelling.
Otherwise I am stable, still in pain but new med is helping. Follow up with primary doc and Neurology Monday. I am a zombie, will be while getting used to this new med.
Recap on what led to this point:
I
was in so much pain, I hadn't been able to sleep for days ( worse than
normal ) because the pain always gets insanely worse at night. I have
an extremely high tolerance for pain these days, and my Gaba med
normally takes enough edge off that I can "ignore" it ( just suffer
through it ). On the second day it was getting to where I couldn't
tolerate it anymore. Aunt tried to help by getting me all sorts of
ice/heat packs and OTC stuff to dull pain. It got so bad that
night/early morning that I almost called an ambulance ( my aunt was
asleep and she can't drive at night so only way I could have got to ER
is that way or call cab and I was worried Medicaid would not cover
ambulance ride and had no way to verify at 2am ). It was weekend, no
way to speak with Medicaid people to see what was covered, I just
decided to suffer through it.
On the third day of insane pain I went through my entire daily dose of Gaba in 3.5hrs and it did nothing. I knew it would only get worse again come evening and I didn't think I could deal with it again without wanting to destroy something from how much it hurt. For pain to hurt me bad enough to make me give in and go to the hospital or ER on a weekend, you know it is seriously bad. So neighbor took me that evening since aunt can't drive at night ( thanks again so much! ) and dropped me off.
The EJGH staff was AMAZING. First person we were met with was security, and he stopped me when he saw Ember.... I was seriously ready to destroy someone/something at that point from the severe pain and I was having worried flashbacks of the horrible experience I had several years ago with the security douchebag at LSU hospital ER trying to deny me access if I didn't show him "proof" Ember was a real service dog ( this is against the law ). Thank the gods, this lovely gentleman was far better trained and considerate. He noticed her vest and the patches clearly defining what she was, smiled and said nevermind and told me to go ahead. I heard other hospital staff whispering as we wandered past, all saying "its a service dog" to each other, sounding as relieved she was the real deal as I felt that they recognized what Ember was. They were tons more professional and knowledgeable. That's why I chose to use EJGH general practice doctors for my care, and their conduct in the ER only reaffirms I made the right choice.
On the third day of insane pain I went through my entire daily dose of Gaba in 3.5hrs and it did nothing. I knew it would only get worse again come evening and I didn't think I could deal with it again without wanting to destroy something from how much it hurt. For pain to hurt me bad enough to make me give in and go to the hospital or ER on a weekend, you know it is seriously bad. So neighbor took me that evening since aunt can't drive at night ( thanks again so much! ) and dropped me off.
The EJGH staff was AMAZING. First person we were met with was security, and he stopped me when he saw Ember.... I was seriously ready to destroy someone/something at that point from the severe pain and I was having worried flashbacks of the horrible experience I had several years ago with the security douchebag at LSU hospital ER trying to deny me access if I didn't show him "proof" Ember was a real service dog ( this is against the law ). Thank the gods, this lovely gentleman was far better trained and considerate. He noticed her vest and the patches clearly defining what she was, smiled and said nevermind and told me to go ahead. I heard other hospital staff whispering as we wandered past, all saying "its a service dog" to each other, sounding as relieved she was the real deal as I felt that they recognized what Ember was. They were tons more professional and knowledgeable. That's why I chose to use EJGH general practice doctors for my care, and their conduct in the ER only reaffirms I made the right choice.
Compared to the LSU
ER horror, getting in to the EJGH ER was quick and rather painless. I
was worried it would be crowded on a Saturday evening, and while there
were enough other people, the staff had a nice system set up for intake
and directing patients. They brought me to an exam room in a wheelchair
to avoid me going full syncope due to the pain I was in, worried to make
me walk that far down the hallways. I was thankful for that. Ember
got to show off what a well trained dog she was and that made her
happy. She's been so worried over me the past few days.
The
nurse helped me into the hospital bed and Ember took her place beside
it to wait. I got to watch some HGTV while waiting for the doctor. We
don't have live cable anymore so it was a treat to watch. The wait for
the doctor was brief. She went over my history and current symptoms, I
explained I had experienced this problem numerous times before but this
was about the worst it had ever been. After a quick examination she
agreed based on my history that
Trigeminal Neuralgia was most likely responsible, probably directly caused by my Sjögren's causing irritation/swelling/pressure against the nerve bundles somehow. She wrote me a new prescription to try Carbamazepine, got an additional referral to Neurology for me, told me to follow up with my primary Monday, and that was that. They discharged me with paperwork and took me to wait for a cab in the lobby, and were kind enough to make the call for me and inform them I had my service dog with me.
Trigeminal Neuralgia was most likely responsible, probably directly caused by my Sjögren's causing irritation/swelling/pressure against the nerve bundles somehow. She wrote me a new prescription to try Carbamazepine, got an additional referral to Neurology for me, told me to follow up with my primary Monday, and that was that. They discharged me with paperwork and took me to wait for a cab in the lobby, and were kind enough to make the call for me and inform them I had my service dog with me.
It
was while waiting I noticed some tightness in my face on the left side,
the effected side. I was still in a ton of pain and rather out of it,
but realized after poking at it gently that it felt like swelling, and
not realizing it was there before I got a nurse to ask the doctor.
Unfortunately since they had already discharged me, it meant I would
have had to have gone through the whole intake process again, and my cab
driver showed up at that time. Not wanting the poor gentleman to wait
or have come out to get me for nothing, I decided it was probably from
my
Sjögren's attacking the glands or something. I have had milder swelling where the salivary glands are before, figured that was it and decided it wasn't worth the trouble to wait around for them to likely not do anything else for me anyway. Couldn't be medication related because I hadn't started the new medicine yet, so clearly it was inflammation. I figured if it got worse, I could go back.
The cab driver was very nice and considerate, thought Ember was just amazing. He called her a Rougarou ( Louisiana folklore / French for Werewolf ) when we first got in and told his dispatch he had "Miss Brittney and her Rougarou". That made me all sorts of happy and geeky, and when I responded showing I knew what the term meant, he was just as delighted. It was a pleasant drive home with good conversation, as much as I was limited to talk at the time. Much thanks to Metry Cab and Mr. Jim!
Sjögren's attacking the glands or something. I have had milder swelling where the salivary glands are before, figured that was it and decided it wasn't worth the trouble to wait around for them to likely not do anything else for me anyway. Couldn't be medication related because I hadn't started the new medicine yet, so clearly it was inflammation. I figured if it got worse, I could go back.
The cab driver was very nice and considerate, thought Ember was just amazing. He called her a Rougarou ( Louisiana folklore / French for Werewolf ) when we first got in and told his dispatch he had "Miss Brittney and her Rougarou". That made me all sorts of happy and geeky, and when I responded showing I knew what the term meant, he was just as delighted. It was a pleasant drive home with good conversation, as much as I was limited to talk at the time. Much thanks to Metry Cab and Mr. Jim!
My
aunt was able to drive me to the 24-hour pharmacy just down the block,
since it wasn't too far and well lit with street lights. Had to wait forever for the new med to be filled. Finally got home. Took meds. Became a zombie. Finally got some rest. Took me way too long to write this so it makes sense. The end.
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