- THE CONDITION
- it is a kind of facial Pain. It has been described as among the most painful conditions known. Trigeminal neuralgia affects women more often than men, and it's more likely to occur in people who are older than 50. Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensation from your face to your brain.
If you have trigeminal neuralgia, even mild stimulation of your face — such as from brushing your teeth or putting on makeup — may trigger a jolt of excruciating pain. - SYMPTOMS OF TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA
- Trigeminal neuralgia symptoms may include one or more of these patterns
- Episodes of severe, shooting or jabbing facial pain that may feel like an electric shock
- Spontaneous attacks of facial pain or attacks triggered by things such as touching the face, chewing, speaking and brushing teeth
- Bouts of facial pain lasting from a few seconds to several seconds
- Episodes of several attacks lasting days, weeks, months or longer —some people have periods when they experience no pain
- Pain in areas supplied by the trigeminal nerve (nerve branches), including the cheek, jaw, teeth, gums, lips, or less often the eye and forehead
- Pain affecting one side of your face.
- Pain focused in one spot or spread in a wider pattern
- Attacks becoming more frequent and intense over time
- CAUSES OF TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA
- Pressure of a blood vessel on the trigeminal nerve.
- Physical damage to the nerve caused by dental or surgical procedures, injury to the face or infections.
- Over time, changes in the blood vessels of the brain can result in blood vessels rubbing against the Trigeminal Nerve Root.
- Trigeminal neuralgia can occur as a result of aging, or it can be related to multiple sclerosis or a similar disorder that damages the myelin sheath protecting certain nerves
- Pressure of a tumor on the trigeminal nerve (rare)
- TRIGGERS OF TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA
- A variety of triggers may set off the pain of trigeminal neuralgia, including
- Shaving
- Stroking your face
- Eating
- Drinking
- Brushing your teeth
- Talking
- Putting on makeup
- Encountering a breeze
- Smiling
- DIAGNOSIS OF TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA
- A diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia is primarily based on a description of your pain, including the
- Type Pain related to trigeminal neuralgia is sudden, shock-like and brief.
- Location The parts of your face that are affected will tell the doctor if the trigeminal nerve is involved
- TESTS USED TO CONFIRM THE DIAGNOSIS MAY INCLUDE
- A neurological examination. Touching and examining parts of your face can help the doctor determine exactly where the pain is occurring and
- — if you appear to have trigeminal neuralgia
— which branches of the trigeminal nerve may be affected. - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An MRI scan of your head can show if multiple sclerosis is causing trigeminal neuralgia.
- Facial pain can be caused by many different disorders, so an accurate diagnosis is important. The doctor may order additional tests to rule out other conditions.
- TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA TREATMENT
- Trigeminal neuralgia treatment usually starts with medications, and many people require no additional treatment. However, over time, some people with the disorder eventually stop responding to medications, or they experience unpleasant side effects. For those people intervention is required.
- MEDICATIONS
- Medications to lessen or block the pain signals sent to your brain are the most common initial treatment for trigeminal neuralgia.
- ANTICONVULSANTS
- Carbamazepine (Tegretol, Carbatrol, Mazetol) is the drug most commonly prescribed
- — and with the most demonstrated effectiveness
- — for trigeminal neuralgia. Other anticonvulsant drugs used to treat trigeminal neuralgia include oxcarbazepine (Trileptal), lamotrigine (Lamictal), phenytoin (Dilantin, Phenytek) and gabapentin (Neurontin).
- ANTISPASMODIC AGENTS
- Muscle-relaxing agents may be used alone or in combination with carbamazepine or phenytoin. Side effects may include confusion, nausea and drowsiness.
- RADIOFREQUENCY ABLATION OF TRIGEMINAL NERVE
- This procedure selectively destroys nerve fibers associated with pain. we do all this pain procedure very routinely. Our expert hands at Interventional pain & procedure in few minutes and you will become pain free.
This procedure can be done under local anesthesia. After giving local injection on patient cheek, Doctor insert radio frequency needle. Under constant CT Scan Guidance Doctor guides needle in proper direction.
Once need is at proper position(on foramen ovale) on nerve we give radio frequency current for 2 to 3 minutes, Which will destroy the selective sensory fibers of trigeminal nerve.
This procedure will take around 30 minute. Pain relief is immediate after procedure. This procedure is safer than major surgical procedure and gives good pain relief as compare to surgery.
This procedure is an USA,FDA approved procedures.
we do number of patient per month for Radio frequency of trigeminal nerve. Our treatment for trigeminal Neuralgia is without Surgery.