Six months post CK facial numbness

[JLR]

Hello All, I have been experiencing right sided facial numbness,  actually it feels like a novacaine wearing off.. kind of numb with pins and needles. The weird thing is my mouth but just the right side of it..putting lip liner on..well..its just crazy..half I feel and the other I have to follow the lines pretty well as there is little feeling if any there.  Is it damage to the facial nerve from the CK or is the AN leaning on that nerve? or is this just part of the healing of the CK.  This week I have my 6 month follow-up MRI.  Thanks very much in advance for all your wise medical opinions. Joan

[mk]

Numbness indicates that the trigeminal nerve (5th nerve) is affected. The trigeminal nerve is a sensory nerve, with three branches. It is different from the facial nerve (7th nerve), which is mainly a motor nerve. The symptoms you have mentioned would indicate that the AN is touching the nerve, which usually happens with larger tumors, or that the radiation somehow has affected it. Hopefully the symptoms are mild and transient. Your follow-up MRI should provide some answers.

Marianna

[Jim Scott]

Joan ~

Marianna is correct.  Radiation treatment usually generates swelling of the irradiated tumor and this can cause it to impact the nearby trigeminal nerves(s).  The numbness is, therefore, not unusual at 6 months post-treatment.  It should be temporary.  However, only your doctor (and an MRI can verify this).

Jim

[JLR]

Thanks for all the info. It is reassuring knowing that it is not unusual to have this numbness at the 6 month mark.  Perhaps the doctor will prescribe a short dose med-pak to relieve the swelling. Tomorrow is my 6 month follow up MRI. Next week follow-up appt with doctor.  Thank you, Joan

[Vivian B.]

Hello,


I also had numbness during the first 6 months after GK. It's a combination of both the nerves being affected from the radiation and the actual pressure of the tumor. The good thing is with the facial nerve is that it tends to gain function as time passes. You may still feel some numbness overtime but it gets better.

Vivian

[JLR]

Thanks! The one good thing is there is no pain! Do we all know how long it takes to be fully recovered from the radiation and know that the AN is gone or at least has receded? with no numbness and just being normal..or with the CK or GK are we always going to have some kind of lingering effect of it all. I know there are alumni of the procedures out there who could shed some light on this. Again, my thanks.  Joan

[carter]

different people have different issues - from bad to none in degree.

i am at 2.5 years.

teh tumor appears to be "dieing".   different mri's show same size to slightly smaller.

i have balance issues - wonky head - headaches - lost the majority of the hearing / understanding in the AN ear -and a numbness / tingling on my face.  the tingling has been there for 1.5 plus years.  mine is not swelling - it is radiaiton damage.  i do nto know how frequent this happens - but it does happen. 

nuerosurgeon, radiological onocologist, dentist, and general practioner have all seen - tested - and said yep - nerve damage.  it may get better?  it may not?

for you - i can't tell ....

i read these words many months ago - welcome to your new reality!  and these words hold very true ..... 

i hope yours is only swelling.


if it is not --- look at teh positive - a teeth cleaning is a breeze on half of your mouth.

carter

[JLR]

Hello All, Had my 6 month follow-up visit with doctor. After reviewing the MRI, the tumor has swelled just 3mm, and has black spots indicating necrosis! Still have the numbness but I am now on a Medrol dose pak and hopefully it will help the swelling and the numbness. All in all my doctor was pleased with my progress and will want to see me again in 4 months with another follow up MRI. I'm hoping the AN will be the same or smaller and not increased in size.  Enjoy the holiday weekend, Joan

[Tumbleweed]

Hi, Joan:

This is really "fringe" advice, so take it with a truckload of salt. Hopefully it will help you should you decide to try it:

Years ago, I had an accident that caused nerve damage in one of my legs. I had no feeling whatsoever in 1/4 of that leg for six months. I did 150 hours of research in AMA Journals on the nervous system and found out that garlic (and, to a lesser extent, onions) have an inherent "X factor" that causes the respiration rate of cells in your body to increase, regardless of blood circulation. Knowing that oxygen (read: respiration) regenerates nerves, I ate an entire bulb (not a clove, but the entire bulb) of raw garlic every day for 14 days. It was tough to do, and I smelled terrible, but it completely healed the nerve in my leg (complete return of function, no tingling or loss of sensation whatsoever) in 10 days. Years later, I had much more minor numbness in another nerve. Eating raw garlic again reversed the numbness completely, this time in about 4 days.

Here's the potential problem: if garlic can regenerate nerves, I would think it might also reverse damage to the tumor (which is aberrant nerve tissue), making it also regenerate. And garlic won't likely help your trigeminal nerve if your related symptoms are due to mechanical pressure (from the tumor) on the nerve (blocking signal flow) instead of cell damage from radiation or the tumor.

Anyway, you're not likely to get any useful feedback from your doctors about the benefits of eating raw garlic. The reference about garlic and onions which I read was only one obscure paragraph tucked away in volumes of AMA Journals. I've never seen any reference to this X factor in any natural-health publications, either. This is simply a folk remedy with no confirmed direct health benefit in Western medicine. So, whether or not to try the raw-garlic regimen is a decision you'll have to make alone. But if your numbness and tingling sensations persist after doing the steroid course, it might be worth trying.

Best wishes,
TW