Root canal May 2022

This year I had the pleasure to talk at the FPA National Conference which I strongly recommend anyone with face pain attend. It was a virtual conference over 2 days and had a chance to listen to a number of doctors on various topics. I spoke about what has worked for me in my battle. Please visit the home page for the video.

This year has been good with my trigeminal nerve. After reading from a neurosurgeon about how Tegretol can increase my odds for dementia later in life, I have decreased my Tegretol down from 800 to 500mg per day. And so far, all has been good.  See your doctor if you can decrease your dosage too. 

I had 2 root canals 2 weeks ago and that went very well. What I do, per advice from other TN warriors, is increase my Tegretol 200 mg a couple days prior to the procedure. For post recovery, I take Flexeril at bedtime and put a 5% lidocaine patch on the area of the root canal and on my TN nerve area that can make it "ache". I did that for a couple of nights, and all came out good.  Also, the Endodontist did not give me a full dose of epinephrine per dental guidelines established by Neurosurgeon Dr. Mark Linskey for trigeminal patients. What we did was half epinephrine and half lidocaine and that worked perfect. I had tried all lidocaine previously, but the Endodontist had a hard time getting the root area numb enough. Ideally, you want to do all Lidocaine because epinephrine raises blood pressure which increases TN pain.  Keep in mind, I am not a doctor, and you should consult yours before making any decisions. 
I also saw my upper cervical chiropractor after as well because the dentist chair makes my neck feel horrible. And sure enough, I was out of alignment, and he fixed that. 

I hope this helps you if you are in the same situation.