Pain Management Community

I am new on this board and actually doing research for my dad. After going to the doctors office and specialists without receiving any answers, I am hoping someone out there has some info that we havent found yet.

My dad is 56 and was in perfect health 3 years ago. He was atheletic and very active. He had a respiratory infection, went to the doctor and seemed to be getting better except for keeping a cough.

Soon after that, he noticed a circular numb spot on his cheek roughly the size of a nickel. He said it was numb through and through.

Over the next few weeks, the numbness increased and he developed a number of symptoms: excessive saliva, cough and he developed thrush. After many trips to the doctor, the thrush finally cleared mostly on its own, but he still had the cough and saliva.

Over the next few months, the numbness started migrating around his face until half of his face was numb through and through. When I say through and through I mean half his tounge, gums, one eye, ear, scalp everything. He began having trouble eating as he could not feel his food on the one side and would cause him to chew his jaw and tongue on the numb side. He started having shock-like pains on the numb side around this time so he had an mri done which showed inflammation on one side of the trigiminal nerve.

During this, he started having trouble with his blood pressure. It stopped regulating itself from sitting to standing positions and this caused him to pass out driving on morning on the way to work.

Over the next month or so, the numbness continued around in a clockwise motion until his entire head became numb. he had a second mri done which now showed inflamation on both sides of the trigiminal nerve and he now experiences the shock pain on both sides of his face. Except for the pain and numbing sensation, he has no feeling above the neck through and through. He has lost down to 120lbs.

He passed out a work last year and began short term disability which transitioned to long term disability earlier this year.

He has to continually drink fluid because he has lost the sense of swallowing saliva and he will drool without knowing. His nose will run, and he can not tell. He has trouble taking meds and eating because he can not tell if he has swallowed his food. He has gotten choked on food still in his throat before and is now on almost all liquid diet.

He is now completely disabled. We have been to every specialist in town and traveled to a specialty hospital out of town with littlt help.

he has been diagnosed by 1 doctor with trigiminal neuralgia but they state this is a secondary diagnosis to an unknown problem.

Also, one more thing worth noting is that he has developed reflux during this and now also has barretts esophagus. It is almost like the stomach sphincter has weakened. if he leans over after drinking, the liquid will come out through is mouth and/or nose just like turning a glass over.

I greatly appreciate you reading our story and hope someone out there can give us direction so I can help my dad have a better quality of life

By the way, he has been checked for: MS, Toxins/Poisons, HIV, Cancer, sjogrens, limes and all te usuals.

He has had: spinal taps, mri, ct and countless bloodwork.