Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block - others experience?

[Grant]

It is great that the forum is back - I am very grateful indeed.

So far, I have been on Trileptal (terrible side effects), Tegretol (even worse side effects!) and Keppra (now on 4000mg daily) with steroids for really bad attacks. I am not being zapped too much at the moment as my Keppra was increased after the last bad attack but still can't clean my teeth properly and have problems eating.

My next step on my path to recovery (I hope) is a Ganglion block - I just wonder if others have had experience of this and if it helped.

Thanks and best wishes to all,

Grant

[TrainwreckSurvivor]

I've had over a dozen block-stellate, spheno and a few others. None of them worked for me. However, I have atypical facial neuralgia and have had over 47 surgical procedures done on my face so it's not surprising that they didn't work. My surgeon has had many people who got 3-12 months of pain relief with one injection. The nice thing about the blocks is that, if sucessful, they can be repeated numerous times. It gives the body a "break from the pain" and give the brain a chance to stop "mapping" the old pain circuts. If you feel confident with your surgeon then I would say go for it...if it works Yahoo, if not, try something else. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
~Katie

[Grant]

Thanks very much for the information. I'll post an update once I have it done.

Grant

[Grant]

I had the ganglion block yesterday afternoon. It worked well for as long as it took me to walk from the doctor's office to the car. Within a few minutes I was starting to get gently zapped again. Think I just need to put this down to experience.

At least I now know that with a little bit of effort, I can fit three Q-tips up my left nostril at the same time! It is hardly a party trick and I am thankful that I was looking for a way of eliminating the residual pain - an increased dose of Keppra seems to have knocked most of it on the head.

Fingers crossed that I will not get another bad attack for a while - I am not sure just how high a dose of Keppra I can have. I am on 4000mg per day so I suspect I can't go much higher. Fingers crossed.

Cheers,

Grant