Trigeminal Neuralgia
Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal nerve, which connects your face to your brain and transmits sensation. If you have trigeminal neuralgia, even minor facial stimulation, such as brushing your teeth or applying makeup, can cause intense pain.
You can experience short, mild attacks at first. However, trigeminal neuralgia can worsen with time, resulting in longer, more frequent bouts of excruciating pain. Trigeminal neuralgia is more common in women than in men, and it is more common in people over the age of 50.
Since there are so many treatment options for trigeminal neuralgia, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be in pain for the rest of your life. Medications, injections, and surgery are normally successful in treating trigeminal neuralgia.
Symptoms
One or more of the following patterns may be present in trigeminal neuralgia symptoms:
- 1) Severe, shooting, or jabbing pain, which can feel like an electric shock.
- 2) Pain attacks that occur without indication or are caused by actions such as rubbing the face, chewing, speaking, or brushing one’s teeth.
- 3) Pain bursts that last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes.
- 4) Multiple episodes lasting days, weeks, months, or longer For certain individuals, there are times when they are not in pain.
- 5) A constant aching, burning sensation that can occur before trigeminal neuralgia develops into spasm-like pain.
Causes
trigeminal neuralgia, also called tic douloureux, the trigeminal nerve’s function is disrupted. Usually, the problem is contact between a normal blood vessel in tIn his case, an artery or a vein and the trigeminal nerve at the base of your brain. This contact puts pressure on the nerve and causes it to malfunction.
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. Trigeminal neuralgia can also be caused by a tumor compressing the trigeminal nerve.