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@lisa2022 Hi Lisa. Have you been seen at Mayo as a patient? I saw in your other comments something about a neurologist. One question I have is what is the condition of your cervical spine that is causing the pain and leading to the ablations?
I have had similar symptoms with pain on the back of my head, and misalignment of my jaw with jaw or face pain at times. That has happened when my upper cervical vertebrae were twisted or tilted by muscle spasms. There are so many muscles attached to the vertebrae, that twisting them will stretch one side and cause pain up the back side of my head. I also have thoracic outlet syndrome and one side of my neck is tighter than the other and probably causes the independent rotation of the vertebrae. I had vertigo a few times. I had a compressed spinal cord because of a collapsed C5/C6 disc and bone spurs that were pressing into it, and I had spine decompression surgery at Mayo. I still work on the TOS in physical therapy.
From what you describe with increased pain when laying on either side, it may be that your neck is not fully supported and not in line with the body. If there are narrowed spaces around the nerve roots, side bending could bring on pain. I did experience that because my disc had collapsed 50%, and if I bent my neck to the side, the bone contacted the nerve exiting at that level and brought on very sharp pains. If your jaw is out of alignment. it can cause pain because it can compress the very small spaces where nerves travel between the angle of the jaw and your ear. Having cervical vertebrae moving around, and a misaligned jaw will throw everything off and I have dealt with that in physical therapy.
Can you give me some more information about cervical spine issues? Do you have recent imaging and a diagnosis of a structural spine issue?
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Hello and thank you for your reply. I saw a cervical spine doctor... ( who gave me very little time, basically a quick glance at my MRI) He said I should have a nerve ablation, because of the pain in the back of my head. The pain guy was not confident that it would help me, but thought it may be worth a try. I have two problems, although I believe they are related to each other. My first experience was 5 years ago, with teeth aching and face pain. It lasted for about 8 months and went away. But I also had headaches which I did not associate with the face pain. I have had several bouts of this and the last started in July of 2021 and progressed to the back of my head having pain, not even a pillow could touch it. ( Occipital neuralgia) most of the pain is on my right side, I cannot lay on my right side, but even laying on my left side causes my right side to hurt. Now, I'm also starting to "trigger" pain by hard chewing or cold food... so I now avoid chewing food on the right side. It's horrible.. I don't sleep well.. I did see THREE different neurologist. They all want to just give you anticonvulsants, no one wants to figure out WHY or WHAT is causing the pain, they just want to drug you. I know the drugs fail over time and they have bad side effects. I am 58, and plan on living at least 25 more years, I can't see myself on seizure medication for nearly 30 years, I work, I drive and I have to be high functioning. I have had two of the doctors tell me I have TN, and TN is closely connected to the cervical spine nerves. I have "moderate" disc degeneration in c4,c5, c6 and osteophytes on the Vertebrae. I do feel like my jaw is sore most of the time ( right side) , however, I do not have TMJ, I don't grind my teeth... I'm sure most of this has to do with my neck, but no one is helping me solve the problem. I have had numerous images taken on my brain and cervical spine. Any suggestions?