The chronic condition causing sudden, intense painful episodes, disrupting your daily activities and lifestyle, mostly on one particular side of your face, can be defined as trigeminal neuralgia pain.
The activities that are termed simple can be a headache for you. Simple activities like smiling, talking, chewing, shaving, and brushing your teeth can cause severe pain. Even if the pain fades away soon, it can be recurring which makes it worse. The pain can be constant if it is not recurring.
Trigeminal neuralgia symptoms
- The tingling or numbness sensation.
- Severe pain with breaks.
- Constant pain.
- Electrical feeling that lasts for a short-term.
Causes of trigeminal neuralgia
- A blood vessel that is exerting pressure on a particular nerve near your brain system.
- The people affected by MS have a chance to develop trigeminal neuralgia.
- Any kind of damage to your trigeminal nerve from facial trauma or oral or sinus surgery or a stroke.
- It can also be caused for no reason at all – idiopathic.
The presence of trigeminal neuralgia in some persons can be attributed to a brain lesion or other problems. Surgery-related injuries, strokes, and facial traumas are all possible causes of trigeminal neuralgia in some circumstances as well.
Treatment for trigeminal neuralgia
1 ) A physical examination of your head and neck area including your TMJ, ears, mouth, and teeth. Your neuralgia specialists will get to know your symptoms and medical history. The diagnosis depends on certain factors such as:
- The nature of the discomfort you are feeling.
- The exact facial spots where you feel pain.
- The simple activities that trigger pain.
2 ) The magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI ) can be used by your doctor to scan potential causes, including MS and brain tumors. If there is a blood vessel pressurizing on the nerve, causing pain, it can be found in the results of the scan.
1 ) Medications
Treating neuralgia pain can include your pain management physicians prescribing certain medications. They can increase or decrease the dosage by taking into consideration the effect it is having on you. Target-based medicines are one of the most commonly utilized treatments to treat the pain associated with trigeminal neuralgia.
⦁ Muscle relaxants
There are certain muscle relaxants that can reduce your pain to a certain extent. When the pain gets unbearable, your doctor may suggest these to calm your muscles.
⦁ Other medications
Other medications used to treat or reduce the pain may include injections. The injections are used to block sensory nerves. Thus, providing relief for a temporary period.
2 ) Surgical Methods
⦁ Balloon compression
Your surgeon may introduce a cannula through your cheek and into your trigeminal nerve to do the procedure. Then, as a continuous process, a catheter with a small balloon through the tube. During the process, the balloon is inflated, compressing the nerves and damaging the pain-causing fibers. The doctor removes the balloon and catheter when the process is done. It can provide relief from 1 to 2 years. Consult the specialist for trigeminal neuralgia surgery in Coimbatore, to get relief from the pain and improve quality of life.
⦁ Glycerol injection
This injection is injected with glycerol by your surgeon into your nerve center. The nerve center is further divided into three branches. This procedure makes sure to selectively cause damage to nerves that pass pain signals to the brain. It can be performed multiple times and can last from 1 to 2 years when done once.
⦁ Radiofrequency lesioning
In this procedure, a needle is inserted through your cheek to the base of your skull. It is used to pass an electrical signal or current to identify the exact pain spot on the trigeminal nerve. The procedure is further continued by applying heat to the pain point and certain nerve fibers get destroyed. This can provide relief from 3 to 4 years. You are expected to feel numbness at the end of this procedure.
⦁ Decompression therapy
This is a more invasive surgical operation than the previous one. It is the most successful of all these procedures. This is the most effective surgery because it can last up to ten years. The aim of this procedure is to provide a permanent solution for a longer-term. If you choose this solution, you have high chances of the trigeminal nerve recovering and returning to a normal, free from pain.
⦁ Stereotactic surgery
This procedure uses a high amount of radiation on the trigeminal nerve, meeting the brain stem. A lesion is formed on the nerve stopping it from sending pain signals to the brain. It can provide relief for about three years.
3 ) Complementary therapies
- Aromatherapy.
- Meditation.
- Low-impact exercise.
- Yoga.
- Vitamin therapy.
- Nutritional therapy.
- Acupuncture.
- Biofeedback.
- Supportive counseling or therapy.
Survival with Trigeminal Neuralgia can be extremely tough, it can highly interfere in daily activities, reaching immediate medical care can help in preventing the condition from progressing further and improves the quality of life. You can always reach out to the best hospitals, to undergo the right trigeminal nerve pain treatment without any complications.
