Trigeminal Neuralgia

1. Trigeminal Neuralgia Morganne Brown IT 2010 GSU November 7, 2013

2. What is it? • Sharp, shooting pain that stems from the fifth cranial nerve. • Pain lasts short amounts of time, typically and is said to be the most excruciating pain that exists.

3. Origins of the Disease • Mostly unknown • Some possibilities are: • Aging • Multiple Sclerosis • Traumatic Accidents • For example, a massage client of Laura Abbott, MS, LMT was in a car accident that forced her skull bones against the trigeminal nerve, leading to her experiencing trigeminal neuralgia.

4. Stimulators • The slightest of catalysts can trigger pain from the trigeminal nerve in someone that has trigeminal neuralgia. • Actions/factors such as: • Brushing fingers across face • Talking • Wind • Applying make-up • Eating • Sneezing

5. Ways to Cope • Medication • Surgery • Rhizotomy • This causes facial numbness due to the destruction of some of the nerve fibers • Drugs such as anticonvulsants • Severing of the nerve • Causes the face to droop

6. Statistics • 15,000 new cases/year in the U.S. • Females are more likely to experience it • Nicknamed the “suicide disease” because after 3 years of having it, about 50% of people commit suicide • Patients tend to be over 50 years old

7. Summary • This “suicide disease” is largely a mystery to the scientific world. • Women over 50 who have MS or have been in a traumatic accident are the most likely to get trigeminal neuralgia. • The pain is excruciating and can be stimulated by the simplest brush on the cheek. • It deals with the 5th cranial nerve. • There are several ways to cope with this disease.