Nerve damage

After extensive TORS surgery in throat and removal of 18 lymph nodes my husband has pain in his jaw that is off the scale...almost constant. Pain pills do nothing. No one gas addressed if so far. He hasn't started chemo and radiation yet and I fear it will get worse. Wondering if at some point they can just deaden that nerve to stop the pain.

Hi Phyllisg. I'm sorry that your husband is having so much pain. It is probably best to seek out his surgeon for specific pain management. If not the surgeon, then his primary care physician. With modern medicine I see no reason that any pain cannot be managed at least to some comfortable degree. You should start by asking. Over the counter pain meds are not really much help when it comes to surgical pain.

Hi Scooter4. I had nerve pain primarily neck and arms and often time heart-stopping which lasted literally seven years. It did get better after a year or so but there were times that I would wince in pain mid-conversation with someone, much to their concern. As long as it isn't constant pain, it becomes manageable. I hope yours is not of the constant variety.

Thank you. He is on a low dose of gabapentin (300 mg twice a day) from his pain management doctor. I think increasing the dose may help. We see him next week. I have always heard that there is no reason in this day and age for someone to be in constant pain.

Hey Bill
I keep telling myself that these firings of nerves as I call it are a sign of them coming to life and normalcy will return. Am I kidding myself? Things seem to be getting worse, which I never thought possible

lilyann here,
ever since i had the thyroid biopsy in november of 2022, i have had this strangulation feeling on the right side of my throat which has since continued even after my 2 surgeries for the removal of the thyroid. the right side was a radical dissection, with 11 of the 18 lymph nodes cancerous. that was january of 2023 and the left side on march 2023. the feeling is still there as if someone has their hands on my throat squeezing 24/7. i have read some where about a drug for nerve pain. "PRAGABIN" that's all i know. so maybe you could check in on that. wishing everyone wellness and happiness. god bless

Thank you! I will try that. Yes I feel like I am wearing a huge dog collar and unfortunately one doc said that that sensation will probably not go away

scooter4, yes, exactly. the huge dog collar, so i am surprized that your one doc said that sensation will probably not go away. i haven't had any tell me anything. except the surgeon that said he had a big dog and he understood. no, they don't understand. so with me being out of surgery for over a year. i'm not surprised. oh, i was given 6-10 months to live anyway. i have the aggressive papillary thyroid cancer. that lump was 3.7, i ignored it in 2020 when it was 2.4. oh, i forgot to tell you too, i went hoarse after that biopsy too. so then i was told by one surgeon that would not do the surgery that he believed the cancer already got to my vocal chords. ok, so then he send me off to another surgeon, so this surgeon says: it will take 2 surgeries to repair your vocal chords. well, after the first surgery he was surprized i could still speak and made a big deal of it and then when i seen him after the second surgery and could only whisper, he sure did act strange and would you believe he wanted me to come all the way into downtown atlanta to take speech therapy. so the visit short and him acting strange, i never did go back for a follow up visit, my endocrinologist had me go to see a radiologist and then an oncologist . so here i am i went out to do my plants, mind you i tire out but just couldn't wait to get outside and have been all these nice days and lovin it. so god bless you and let me know how that medicine is working for you as i just might need to get some myself as it seems like my neck pain wants to increase. wish you the best.

scooter 4, i forgot to tell you that he told me that my voice problem is "permanent". again. take care lilyann

I do hope in the long run these issues you have will go away. For me it seems that by the time I finally was getting used to living with the nerve aggravation it all finally subsided.
Now, because I'm a guy and men generally are not wired correctly, I decided to get back to playing the Bugle after a twenty year absence. More to the point it was after my mandible was rebuilt three years ago that I thought I could do this. Instantly I was met with old nerve pain on the lips, cheeks, and neck. After about a year currently the nerve pain has more or less gone away even though I can only play three notes so far. I need five for Taps and six for Reveille but I keep at it and the pain has now gone away. Not sure if the nerve damage to my mouth will ever allow me to play well again. It's good exercise and there is some merit to fighting pain with pain.
Not sure if I am telling you anything meaningful here. Perhaps just hope that in time this may all get better. In the mean time it is okay to cry into your pillow at night as I did many times. Just don't give up trying.