Gotta learn as you go...

As with everything else in life, having Trigeminal Neuralgia is a learn as you go kind of thing. Apparently there are some super fun triggers for the stupid thing. It is always painful but some things REALLY set it off and make me feel like when the dentist hits a nerve when he's fixing your tooth that EXTREME pain lasts for HOURS. So far I've learned that drinking, eating, heat, cold, chewing gum, talking on the phone, and touch are my triggers. Drinking cold or hot stuff on that side of my mouth or chewing food, especially hot or cold stuff on that side of my mouth, or rinsing my mouth out with cold water after brushing my teeth just send me to the moon! Wearing my cute little adorable hat I showed you all in August just sets it right off because touch is NOT good for the stupid thing.  :(  Being out in the cold air is NOT good. :(  I love winter! :(   Waking up on that side of my body is incredibly painful. Apparently it's because of that touch thing again. I TRY to sleep on my left side but HELLO I'm a crazy sleeper! Like I can control what side I'm sleeping on. It totally sucks waking up like that! I am convinced that that is where that saying, "She woke up on the wrong side of the bed" came from! I think that when I hold the cell phone on the right side of my face when I talk it sets it off. It's either the heat from the phone or the touch of the phone on my face or both. I have noticed some of these triggers for the last year or in some cases, 2 or 3 years but I just thought they were teeth problems. I was accepted by University of Utah Hospital's Neurosurgery clinic for treatment I just have to wait til June to be seen. I am on a cancellation list so I'm praying that I move up quickly so I can see if I qualify for the treatments they have for TN. I'm trying to remain as positive as I can about it all but I'm really irritated with the stupid problem! The medication I'm on hasn't helped the pain at all but it has helped some of my residual symptoms, like, I don't feel so dizzy or nauseous most days. Which is a nice improvement I must say! I have more and more good days which is great. Still lots of bad days but improvement is always good! I'm up to 5 pills a day. I start 6 a day tomorrow and have to do that for a week to make sure it isn't helping the pain. If it still doesn't then I have to switch medication and this process continues until I finally find one that actually treats the nerve. I really hate taking medication! I really do! But hopefully it eventually helps! Then I would be cool with it! Sometimes I wish I could put ice on it or a heating pad or something but hot and cold make it worse so...Anyhoo, just thought I'd give a little update.