jenlw
11-08-2006, 05:13 AM
Hi all.
well about 3 months ago i had cryosurgery of the left infraorbital nerve (part of the trigeminal nerve). This is where they make an incision inside your mouth and use a cryoprobe to freeze directly on your nerve. They knock you out for this and it takes about an hour. It's meant to last about 12 months. It's one of the less serious surgical options for treatment of tn. For me it only lasted about 6 weeks as my nerve grew back extra fast.
I had it done again yesterday (Tuesday) and this time they also injected Glycerol into the ends of my nerve to help kill it off for longer. At the moment it has worked (it just makes your face numb like when you have a berve block so it takes a bit to get used to). The recovery period is about a week except last time it was about 3 weeks as the incision inside my mouth got infected and it took ages to go away! The main side effects are just bruising and sweeling and a bit of difficulty eating for the first couple of weeks but you get used to it and it's so much easier when the stitches are out as you can open your mouth a bit wider! I haven't really been able to find much info about it on the net, has anyone heard much about it or has anyone else had this done before?
I think they will only try it depending on what part of you trigeminal nerve is affected, for me they didn't find a compression so they decided to try this. I think the next option for me if it doesn't really work again is stronger meds (I'm already on 3600mg neurontin and 600mg Epilum) when i really want to get off them or otherwise a different surgical option like balloon compression or ganglionectomy.
I am just praying that this works as I have just recently started a new job and the people are awesome to work for, I just don't want to stuff it up with them or loose it due to this darn pain like my last job!
I'm not sure how much help i can offer about cryosurgery but if anyone has any questions don't hesitate to ask and i'll do my best to answer it as good as i can for you :) If you want a pictue of the side effects and i'll try to get one of the stitches i'd be more than happy to send it to you (although they are nowhere bear as interesting as Ella's MVD pictures they are something a bit different!
well about 3 months ago i had cryosurgery of the left infraorbital nerve (part of the trigeminal nerve). This is where they make an incision inside your mouth and use a cryoprobe to freeze directly on your nerve. They knock you out for this and it takes about an hour. It's meant to last about 12 months. It's one of the less serious surgical options for treatment of tn. For me it only lasted about 6 weeks as my nerve grew back extra fast.
I had it done again yesterday (Tuesday) and this time they also injected Glycerol into the ends of my nerve to help kill it off for longer. At the moment it has worked (it just makes your face numb like when you have a berve block so it takes a bit to get used to). The recovery period is about a week except last time it was about 3 weeks as the incision inside my mouth got infected and it took ages to go away! The main side effects are just bruising and sweeling and a bit of difficulty eating for the first couple of weeks but you get used to it and it's so much easier when the stitches are out as you can open your mouth a bit wider! I haven't really been able to find much info about it on the net, has anyone heard much about it or has anyone else had this done before?
I think they will only try it depending on what part of you trigeminal nerve is affected, for me they didn't find a compression so they decided to try this. I think the next option for me if it doesn't really work again is stronger meds (I'm already on 3600mg neurontin and 600mg Epilum) when i really want to get off them or otherwise a different surgical option like balloon compression or ganglionectomy.
I am just praying that this works as I have just recently started a new job and the people are awesome to work for, I just don't want to stuff it up with them or loose it due to this darn pain like my last job!
I'm not sure how much help i can offer about cryosurgery but if anyone has any questions don't hesitate to ask and i'll do my best to answer it as good as i can for you :) If you want a pictue of the side effects and i'll try to get one of the stitches i'd be more than happy to send it to you (although they are nowhere bear as interesting as Ella's MVD pictures they are something a bit different!