Lingual Nerve Injury - week 2

Progress so far this week
Tuesday 29/9/09
Pain rating today = 7 down to 6 then up to 7.5
Pain is now affecting less of my tongue - it's no longer on the tip, just the side (so about 50% less area now affected.
Some facial tingling. No idea what this is.

The pattern I notice is that the pain is least in the morning, then in the evening it increases in intensity. That's happened again today but it's affecting less of my tongue.

Right now I'm going back into the garden to do more hard work and ignore the pain!

Mood = positive




Wednesday 30/9/09
Pain rating: 6.5
Pain still only affecting the outer part of my tongue.
No facial tingling left. Some odd sensation in my upper lip.
Pain seems to ratchet up then go down then ratchet up again in a cycle but each cycle it's a bit better.
I think it's definitely improving. By the end of the day it was probably 50% of what it was originally

Thursday 1/10/09
Woke up to pain and tingling in my lips and face. Felt like a huge setback, but have decided not to be bothered, just to get on with it. Seems to be getting a little better as the day goes on. by the afternoon it was as good as yesterday, so I'd say it's about 50% better.

The only downside is now my lips are a bit sore and tingly, but not intolerably so.


Friday 2/10/09
Pain rating: 6
A bit of a plateau so far today. About the same as yesterday.

Saturday 3/10/09
Pain rating: 3 - 4
Substantial improvement. No bouts of spiking, stabbing pain. Constant tingle, but it's much less pronounced. I often don't notice it.

Sunday 4/10/09
Pain rating: 1
Really barely painful today. tongue still tingling and buzzing but not in a way that's painful.
I'd say I'm 70% recovered.

An anaesthetist I know recommends:

1. Don't focus on the pain. it will makes it worse and increases the chance of chronic pain. She calls it "wind up" - you become more and more sensitive to the pain

This is working for me. When I'm out in the garden or doing exercise, I think about it less and the pain decreases.

2. Get some good pain medications. Normal ones like ibruprofen, asprin etc won't work. You need ones for neuropathy, so go to the GP and if that fails, a specialist (neurologist or maxillofacial surgeon).

Lingual Nerve Injury - week 1

I'm writing this for all the people currently reading horror stories about lingual nerve injuries. I'm also writing it for me to stay positive while I'm hoping to heal.

I know there's lots of information out there, so I'll provide some links to that later in this blog.

I haven't recovered yet, I'm day 6 from the injury. I'm going to post my progress and if you want to follow it, I'll keep you posted - for better or worse. Here is the progress so far:

Tuesday 22/9/09
Root canal at 9.00am
tongue still numb in the evening

Wednesday 23/9/09
Tongue still numb.
Endodontist’s secretary called to see how I was doing, said my tongue was still numb, she brushed it off as nothing.
Evening – can only just feel it if I bite into the tongue.

Thursday 24/9/09
Numbness largely gone but replaced by burning sensation. All in right side of tongue at the front.

Pain rating 6.5

Friday 25/9/09
Essentially the same. Called endodontist (unless that was Thursday) and they are away. Receptionist clearly has no idea what it is and tells me not to worry, suggesting take pain killers (?). No help whatsoever.
Call dentist. First dentist says just use a hot compress and should go away. Doesn’t appear to know what it is. I say I might need steroids and press her. She says she and DM will research it. He calls back at 4.30pm and suggests its damage to lingual nerve, should clear up, will take time. If it doesn’t get back to them. Not much can be done. Suggests a hot compress to keep blood flow up.
Start taking B vitamins (Berocca), multivitamin and arnica.

Pain rating: 7

Saturday 26/9/09
Feels better in the morning, mostly burning at the front of the tongue only. As day progresses returns to normal. Afternoon – some tingling/burning at the right corner of lips. This is new sensation. Slightly altered sensation just below (above chin).
Burning, tingling, metallic tasting. Pain increasing.
Lip tingling went away and pain decreased. Then came back across top lip, more on right side but also a little on the left. Accompanied by increase in pain.
Have sense of taste. Can feel teeth. Some pain in back of throat.

Pain rating: 7.5

Sunday 27/9/09
Awoke with burning pain on tongue and tingling over right half of lips – upper and lower. Throughout the day tongue remained the same (including burning underneath and in throat) but lip tingling came and went.
By evening, the tingling was spread across both lips and partial across right cheek. Using hot compress for a few hours. Pain resolves quite a bit while using it but returns once stop.

Pain rating: 8.5

Monday 28/9/09
Woke up, only the right side of the tongue is burning. Pain increasing over the day. With pain increase coming right side facial tingling. Pain increases with stress levels. Pain decreased this afternoon to the lowest yet.

Pain rating: 6

So my current recommendation is - stay calm. The more I think about it, the worse it gets so stressing seems like the wrong thing to do.

Exercising also seems to help. It is less painful and stays that way for a while afterwards.

I'm now going to focus on seeing how much I can ignore it for the rest of the day.

I'd recommend these blogs for anyone looking for more information:
NumbNoMore (recovery story plus treatment options)
Sword or Scalpel (successful recovery story)

Also try here for a wealth of information
Lingual Nerve Injury