Trigeminal neuralgia is a sharp pain that shoots through your face, often during routine activities, due to pressure on the facial nerve that transmits sensation from your face to the brain. According to the Mayo Clinic, trigeminal neuralgia attacks appear sporadically and are usually mild. As time goes on, however, the frequency increases, along with the degree of pain. Women and those over the age of 50 are more inclined than other groups to develop trigeminal neuralgia. Fortunately, current technology offers various treatment options, including medications and surgical techniques.
Instructions
1. Consult your physician if you suspect that you suffer from trigeminal neuralgia. Describe your pain in detail, so that your doctor can determine whether and how the trigeminal nerve is causing the pain. After tests assess whether you suffer from this type of neuralgia, your doctor will discuss various treatment options with you.
2. Consider taking anticonvulsants, which help block the pain signals that are sent from the nerve to the brain, according to the UCLA Medical Center. Other drugs, including muscle relaxers, can also help lessen the pain. Side effects with these drugs can include nausea, drowsiness and dizziness.
3. Discuss the possibility of microvascular decompression with your neurologist. This is a useful treatment, according to the Mayo Clinic, because it involves removing the blood vessels to the nerve, which helps to relieve pain. The doctor will drill a hole, separate any arteries from the nerve and place a pad between the two to keep them apart. This procedure is usually successful, but pain can reoccur in some patients.
4. Investigate the option of a percutaneous stereotactic radiofrequency thermal rhizotomy (PSRTR) procedure. This surgical technique uses an electric shock to numb the pain. The surgeon places a needle into your skull, with an electrode in the middle of it, and guides it until it is next to the nerve. The electric current will damage the nerve fibers that are causing the most pain, until you do not feel it any longer. Facial numbness typically affects most people following a PSRTR procedure.
5. Severing the nerve, via a partial sensory rhizotomy (PSR) procedure, is considered the last resort in stopping the pain. The surgeon completely cuts the trigeminal nerve, causing permanent numbness in your face. Other options are strongly recommended before this procedure is done, as it is irreversible, cautions the Mayo Clinic.
Tags: Mayo Clinic, your face, doctor will, from nerve, nerve causing, pain surgeon, PSRTR procedure