Trigeminal Neuralgia
You may ask, what is this? Or you may know someone who has suffered from this. It is a rare condition that has been described as, “the worst pain in the world”. Trigeminal Neuralgia is also known as, “tic douloureux“. It is very difficult to understand because people look normal, and like a lot of painful conditions, no one can appreciate how painful something is unless they go through it themselves. Now this is not something you would wish on your worst enemy. Until I had an actual patient with the condition, did I take some extra time to learn more about it.
When I studied chiropractic in university, it was one of the conditions that we learned. We were also told that it wasn’t something we would see every day in practice. While that proved to be the case, it was most important to the patient experiencing the pain of the condition. So I did some extra research myself to best understand and help to manage as best as I could professionally.
The trigeminal nerve is a cranial nerve that is responsible for sensation in the face (sensory) and supplying the jaw muscles used in chewing (motor).
Classic Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) Symptoms:
- Abrupt very sharp pain that comes and goes; not a constant ache.
- 95 to 98% of pain is limited to one side of the face: left nerve affects left side; right nerve affects right side.
- Confined pain to the area distributed by one or more branches of the trigeminal nerve.
- Usually provoked by a light breeze or touch of the face, or a movement such as yawning, talking, eating.
- Runs in cycles usually, and can disappear for weeks, months, even years before returning.
More Than Just The Face…
The pain is excruciating enough, but there are other factors that result from TN:
- Very tiring living with sharp and chronic pain
- Strain on emotions
- Stressful to the point of anxiety
- Strain on families and relationships
- Increased levels of frustration
- Anger
- Depression
Other Causes Of Face Pains:
- Trigeminal Neuritis
- Temporal Arteritis
- Cluster Headache
- Facial Migraine
- Myofascial Pain
- Atypical Odontalgia (toothache)
- Sinusitis
- Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Disorder
- Occipital Neuralgia
There is no lab test to diagnose TN, so when seeking treatment the most accurate description of the pain is crucial to come up with the proper diagnosis. It is a team effort – between the patient and the practitioner.
I recommend you educate yourself a bit first – there are books and/or internet articles. Remember there is a lot of information out there, so try not to get too overwhelmed. Pick a few that seem to grab your attention and make sense to you. Doctors aren’t always right, so communication is the key; along with patience and understanding from both the patient and practitioner. This ensures better outcomes.
There are many different treatments including: prescription drugs which are usually very heavy duty narcotics or local anesthetic injections. There is the potential to experience serious side effects due to the strength of the narcotics.
Alternative treatments
These alternatives can be used alone or in combination with more invasive treatment. This is not a comprehensive list:
- Acupuncture
- Hot Pepper Creams
- Magnet Therapy
- Vitamin B12 Treatments
- Nutrition Therapy
- Herbal Therapy
- Low Level Laser Therapy
- Chiropractic Care
Last Resort: Surgery
My professional opinion is that surgery should always be the last resort. As you have read, there are quite a few alternative therapies to try and different medicines to treat TN. A lot of patients have reported combinations work well too, not necessarily just one therapy.
Physical relief is just one way to deal with TN. On the other side of the coin, there are coping strategies to help better tolerate the pain:
- Keep busy – constructive and distracted from the pain
- Positive attitude
- Live in the present
- Treat yourself – don’t forget how to have fun
- Relax
- Visualise
To conclude, here are some day to day tips from TN sufferers to fellow TN sufferers to consider:
- Cover the face when outside
- Cold compresses
- Heat treatments
- Hot creams
- Facial massage
- Massaging the ears
- Flexing the neck
- Clever sleeping strategies
- Get proper rest
- Limit other “stressors” in your life
- Cut out nicotine
- Exercise
- Be your own detective – keep a pain diary