Trigeminal neuralgia attack and its treatment

Trigeminal Neuralgia attack and its treatment

Trigeminal Neuralgia attack can be very severe and frequent as the disease progresses, and its treatment at that point in time may be very frustrating. It is when such attacks become frequent that the patient generally tend to take decisions about getting MVD surgery done. In this video, a patient shares her experience during one such attack and how she suffered through it. She also describes how her life changed for the better after she became pain-free after MVD surgery. Dr Jaydev Panchwagh, an eminent neurosurgeon and an internationally acclaimed one performed this Microvascular Decompression (MVD) surgery on her. Having performed more than 1350 MVD surgeries, at his MVD centre in Pune, India, he has a considerable experience in treating Trigeminal Neuralgia. The MVD centre also caters to international patients and has a support group.

Is Trigeminal Neuralgia serious?

The honest answer is yes and no. By itself it does not harm life, (except in cases of C-P angle Tumor) but the disease itself can be so debilitating, and its medical treatment so very challenging, that the patient often considers ending their life because of the pain and the fear of an upcoming TN attack. Click here to read more about the disease.

Trigeminal Neuralgia (Facial Pain) diagnosis

Electric shock-like pain in any or all of the three divisions of the trigeminal nerve brought about by trigger factors usually establishes the diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia.

Trigeminal neuralgia causes

The pain of trigeminal neuralgia is usually caused by one or more blood vessel compression on the trigeminal nerve or a C-P angle tumor (Cerebellopontine angle tumor). There can of course be other causes. Click here to know more.

Trigeminal Neuralgia attack

The pain in Trigeminal neuralgia manifests as attacks of facial pain generally brought about by trigger factors like talking, brushing teeth, eating etc. The patients experience electric-shock like pain during the trigeminal neuralgia attack. The pain may have different manifestations in different people. click here to know more about Trigeminal neuralgia symptoms.

Trigeminal neuralgia treatment

Though there are many options for treatment of Trigeminal neuralgia including medications, Radiofrequency lesioning (RFLG) etc, Microvascular decompression surgery is the only shot at achieving a possible permanent cure.