I have asked the neurologist if he can include mri neck too. So i thought it would be better to see soft tissues of neck too. I hope mri of brain doesn’t cover jaw under ear and neck. So I asked him and he replied as,
MRI brain looks at the region around the ear as well. The neck MRI studies are ordered by ENT as they are the specialists in the non-neuro head/neck areas. They would know specifically what test to order in that region.
So, i can’t rely on him for the neck mri. My main pain area is lower jaw under ear and neck. So, i don’t know if it’s neuralgia or any pinched nerves. Does mri brain help in my case?
I know I am in such a confused state right now. I am going one by one though. Since it’s year end , I am just considering the price too. Along with this, I have to make some decisions for my tooth too. My dentist still believe extraction of that tooth might help me. But he is not very certain about it.
I am seeing a neuro and tmj oral surgeon next week.my dentist referred me to him. He see both nerve injury and tmj pain patients. So I hope he will be able to help me.
I am deciding upon either of the scan to do before 31st. Don’t know which one will help me. Thanks all for reading this. I am so confused and frustrated and desperated for answers.
Thanks @Jules.
I am suspecting nerve issue or the eagles. Nerve issue or neuralgia has to be ruled out too. Many providers said that to me. None of them said about eagles.
I am wondering if CT scan will show anything related to nerves or muscles? Atleast a bit of information about nerves?
CT scan w/ contrast will show bones & soft tissues like muscles & blood vessels & other connective tissues but probably not nerves unless they’re very large.
MRI is magnetic so no radiation & also shows soft tissues but doesn’t show calcified (bones) areas as well. As Snapple2020 has mentioned, there is an MRI that has been developed that specifically looks at nerves but you have to see someone who is both familiar with that type of MRI & has access to a machine that can do that type of MRI.
As far as choosing which one to do this year, you can call to find out which one would be more expensive & have that one done now & save the “less expensive” one for next year. Neither will be inexpensive however.
I’m in Jules’ & Snapples’ camps. Your styloids are slightly elongated & getting the CT will help you move forward in finding out if you have ES or not. Dr. Samji would be a good resource once you have your imaging done.
I thought any mri would show up nerves. Is there a specific MRI to show up only nerves? I didn’t know that… neurologist told me that mri brain will show up the nerves if it’s pinched or compressed. So I thought mri will show up everything along with nerves.
I did contact Dr Samji office today and his assistant told me the same requirements which thedude shared here. She emailed me that they won’t take cbct and only the neck scan without contrast. I think we have to send them the disc in mail. I was assuming that to send the images uploaded in a google drive or any cloud. They told me they need only hard copy. I don’t know how it works if we send the disc in mail. Don’t know how it will reach without damage.
I can get mri only for the brain though. Not for neck. Neuro told me to see an ENT for neck related imaging. Mri is expensive compared to CT. I didnt ask the estimate yet from them.
Ct is cheaper compared to mri. Even if I get the ct, I don’t know how to proceed with eagles diagnosis. No provider in hand to see the findings. Relying completely on the
CT radiologistt findings as of now.
I have multiple things going on at the same time. My dentist called me today to check when I am ready to do the Extraction. He want me to try the tooth extraction and see if it helps with my symptoms. He told me today that don’t do unnecessary medical imaging until we sort/ cross this tooth out.
I am so confused and frustrated. Difficult to take decisions.
I don’t think that getting a diagnosis or either ES or neuralgia will make any difference to you- as ES is a known cause of neuralgia. Just getting neuralgia diagnosed won’t rule out ES; there are nerve pain meds which can help, & would be useful for you to try (if your PCP was more helpful I’d say ask her to prescribe you some in the mean time, you don’t have to see a Neuro for that) But it won’t be treating the cause if it is compression by the styloids that’s causing the pain. Of course, there are other causes of neuralgia, but given that there looks like a possibility of ES from looking at your scans you’ve posted, I would’ve thought it would be best to get the CT looked at first.
Thank you @Jules. Appreciate it.
My PCP prescribed cymbalta for me. Started taking it this week. I hope it’s a nerve medicine.
I do understand that mri brain will not show anything related to neck or eagles. Neuro is not very helpful though.
I have ct order. But I am so concerned about the radiation exposure. I have taken many dental ct and x-rays since June. Don’t know if all those get into count for radiation exposure.
I asked my PCP about it and no response from her. I think she is pissed off with me. I don’t know if I should go with mri or ct or this tooth extraction first.
Thanks @Jules. I was taking carbamazepine before this and that doesn’t make any difference. Neuro prescribed that.
So my PCP gave me cymbalta to try.
So, do you mean getting diagnosed for the neuralgia with an mri doesn’t make any difference? I didn’t get that part. I am thinking that Getting diagnosed with any imaging either mri or ct will help me before going for this tooth extraction.
I am still waiting for the response from my PCP for the radiation exposure. I asked her if I should wait for few more days to get it done. She told me last week that , she will recommend me to go with CT first and mri next if required. She said since ct is for neck , it would be better to do first and Mri is for brain. So she said she will recommend to try that next.
I think what Jules was saying is that getting the MRI first & confirming you have neuralgia won’t really help you. A CT will show if you have ES which would be the cause of neuralgia. You want to find the cause of the problem so you can eliminate the cause. That will help your symptoms go away.
In case your doctor doesn’t give you an answer about the x-ray exposure, here’s a link to an article that will be helpful to you. The decision is ultimately yours about which scan to have first or at all.
Thanks @Isaiah_40_31. Appreciate it.
I couldn’t open the link. It says to sign up. I don’t have subscription for this harvard health.
My PCP didn’t respond back to me about the radiation. I do Google search about it and it says the radiation counts if multiple CT scans taken in an year.
I don’t know if I am getting scared about this radiation so much . I am 35yrs old. I also read that age is a factor too.
I am planning to get this ct done. Though mri doesn’t have any radiation and it’s expensive compared to CT. But the neuro didn’t add mri neck to it. I want to know what’s happening in the jaw and neck. So ct should help me. Hope so.
Am I thinking too much about this radiation stuff? I feel like I am being panicking since been going around to doctors and tired and frustrated.
No, they schedule you in whatever time so as far as I’m aware it doesn’t matter. Eating is fine as they put the contrast into your bloodstream, it’s nothing to worry about.
Anyone have any information about the radiation doses link? I couldn’t open the one which @Isaiah_40_31 shared.
I am still concerned a little about the radiation exposure with this CT since I had 3 dental ct so far.
I wouldn’t worry to much about radiation. Of course x-rays are a litte bit intimidating because of its mysterious power, invisibility and its unknown. I’m hoping the following article helps to get rid of your worries.
(A CBCT is about 0.1 - 0.2 mSv or 100 - 200 ųSv.
Isn’t there a dose report in your documents?
The CT neck will cause about 1.5 - 2 mSv.)
I can say from my own experience that you can save yourself an MRI. It is not suitable for diagnosing ES. The interesting nerves cannot be seen on my MRI scans. At most, a special MRI for the cranial nerves, as already mentioned here, would be useful. However, this will hardly be possible without contrast media. I would save myself that if your CT and the symptoms point to ES.
When I see your CBCT images, I think that ES is unfortunately likely.
Here is the typed out link for the article I sent. Curious it wouldn’t open for you. I use Safari & Chrome for my browsers & some websites won’t open in Safari but all of them seem to in Chrome. You might want to try a different browser if the link doesn’t work in the one you use. Copy & paste the info below into your search window on whichever browser you use & hit return. The site should come up.
I got an appointment for today afternoon for CT. I just called them this morning and no slots for this year except one on 31st. They called me back after few minutes and said one slot opened up for this afternoon. So I took it. I don’t know if I should not eat anything before the contrast. It’s iv contrast. They said it will flush out of the system within a day or two. I don’t know if I can ask my PCP to take off the contrast. She has been so helpful to do this ct scan and to include eagles evaluation…I don’t know if it will be too much to take off the contrast. But I did ask her about the contrast. She said it’s ok to have contrast since my kidney lab work is normal during the physical work. So I didn’t ask her to take off the contrast. Is contrast ct show up anything related to eagles?
Does ct with contrast show up anything for eagles?
I have contacted dr Samji office and they said they won’t take ct scan with contrast:-(
As of now, i just want to get this ct done and get the results.
When I had my CT scan with contrast I was allowed to eat as usual, before and after. It is important to drink a little bit more to get rid of the contrast via your urine.
Good luck.