Facial/temporal and ear spasms, tinnitus, vertigo, pain. Please help

@windyshores-

What was the cause of your occipital neuralgia (tight occipital muscles pulling aggravation of nerves)?

Was this from tight neck muscles? Repeated tension on the neck shoulder muscles?

I am still not sure. I have cervical stenosis, myelopathy that means communication of pain from neck to shoulder and arm, radiculopathy, paresthesias, spinal cord damage (Babinski reflex is positive) lupus and probabl scleroderma, 7 spinal fractures. "central " (meaning from brain) vertigo, central migraine and pain centralization syndrome. You can choose, I can't.

The trigeminal and occipital neuralgia are mainly triggered by certain frequencies of noise. The auditory system, facial/trigeminal/occipital nerves, cervical area, and brain/brain stem are all connected and interact in ways that are complex.

I am not especially stressed or anxious.

@windyshores -

That is a lot to deal with and I’m sorry for your complex situation.

What came on first out of all of that? How did you obtain 7 spinal fractures?

Hoping nerve blocks will help, trying to avoid surgery, already had neck surgery years ago, 2 rods, 6screws and 2 plates.

My typos drive me crazy. Can you let me know if the nerve block helps? And if it is lidocaine? I am convinced my neuro nurse hit something. I think that ultrasound guidance should have been used for my neck. I hope it works for you!

@seekinginfo I had cancer treatment that eliminated estrogen from my body. My doctors did not do the usual infusion of bone meds because they were nervous about my kidney disease and atrial fibrillation. Net result was osteoporosis and 3 lumbar fractures w/out trauma. The others were long ago from a traumatic fall. I am 10 years out from a nasty cancer so no regrets.

I think it would be good to read over your post about poor self-care and bad habits. Health issues are complex and there is enough victim-blaming from the medical establishment already! I know your intentions are good but your posts echo what many of us sufferers hear from family members!

@windyshores -

What a journey and I give you so much credit for your ability to recover and navigate through it all. It takes a lot of strength and resilience and I’m sure you are now much more stronger than most, just from your personal experience.

Typically when I respond on here I am only replying to the original poster based off of the details they provide.

When someone else replies, in which you did and disagreed, I then ask more questions to better understand before I reply. So I’m glad you responded and shared some of your experience as everyone is indeed different.

Original poster openly admitted they were in a “state of distress” and been to “every doctor”
Also shared a “vice grip” just above ear(s) and overtime radiate to nose and jaw”.

In going off of exactly what was posted- and even stating been cleared by all doctors.

What the poster is describing is a very common and typical pain pattern of the massetter/jaw/neck. This usually accumulates/builds for a while until it hits the face, ears, nose area is what sends people to the doctors and they often don’t correlate it being brought on by shoulder/neck tightness. The masseter/jaw muscles are just about the strongest in the body and once they hit the temporalis, that’s when the vice grip starts. The tightness into the ears can cause the pain sensitivity/tinnitus etc…

Regular medical doctors in clinic rarely discuss musculature causes for any pain from the neck up. ENTs are surgeons. A good Neuro whom specializes in migraine type headaches is usually the person to start with. As well as a PT overall holistic doctor whom is willing to look at everything in total. See a specialist and they will only focus on their one area of body, while not discussing anything else. Hence the ENT surgeons for tinnitus.

While I never respond to anyone that it is “just” stress or anxiety/tension, because those feeling are indeed very real and cause very real physical sensations and symptoms. All while doctor hopping adds to the distress and worry that it could be something bigger than it is.

The original poster also stated she has a 4yo, which in sure contributes to more when already feeling off and in distress.

Simply put, I do believe there are people out there that have officially been ruled out appropriately by physicians and just don’t truly understand the magnitude of what types of external things/behaviors can absolutely cause physical sensations/symptoms.

Until all gets fully addressed there is not a way to determine what is what.

That’s all my implying ever is, is for those who seem like they are not understanding all together that stress isn’t just “stress” it is very true and real to the body.

I am of the belief that stress/inflammation is the root cause of all illness.
Mind/Body go together, always.