I hear you! Reactive arthritis caused severe back pain but it wasn't my worst pain ever. Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) gave me my perspective on what severe pain was. I called TN "facial electrocution." I couldn't even answer the pain scale question when TN flared. My wife had to explain to the emergency room doctors why I couldn't answer any questions. Trying to speak only increased the voltage applied to my face

I tried to manage TN with prednisone. A neurologist said prednisone wasn't used as a treatment for TN so I decided to treat myself. I called TN my "inflammation alarm."

I felt vindicated when the neurosurgeon said prednisone was probably helping the inflammation and swelling that was happening in an area near my brain stem.