My name is Mrs Parbatee Shyama Raghupooth, and I am from Mauritius. I suffered from Trigeminal Neuralgia since June 2018. Then I was started on Tegretol, to which I reacted badly. Afterwards, I was started on Gabapentin, Lyrica, Baclofen and all these were taking away all the joys of my life. In my acute phase, I used to have shots of Pethidine and Morphine; and lately my neurologist advised me to have cyber knife therapy.
Undergoing Microvascular Decompression surgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia: My story
I am Dr Dinesh Kumar Mishra from Gwalior. And I am an associate professor in mathematics. I have been suffering from Trigeminal Neuralgia for the last 3 years.
The pain was in my right side forehead region. specifically, it was in the right side of the eyebrow. It was an electric shock like pain.
Trigeminal neuralgia patient testimonial- Deemawatee Seetohul
My name is Seetohul Deemawatee. I am from Mauritius.
I had Trigeminal Neuralgia, and I suffered from this for nearly 6 years. The pain would aggravate when I swallowed, or talked or drank water or brushed teeth or even when the breeze of the fan used to touch my cheek. The pain was electric shock-like kind of pain. I was recieving medical treatment for my trigeminal neuralgia for many years, but I still had pain.
This is a very popular question in my outpatient clinic”.
Dr Jaydev Panchawagh is a top neurosurgeon (brain and spine surgeon) in Pune, Maharashtra state in India. Here he discusses how Trigeminal Neuralgia or facial pain disease is caused, and its symptoms and its treatment by MVD surgery.
Diagnosis of Trigeminal Neuralgia may not be easy if one has never heard of it. The TN pain is usually like an electric current. It is brought on by brushing teeth or washing face or touching the face, breeze, chewing etc.
Usually in the early stages Trigeminal Neuralgia, pain responds to medication. Sometimes the pain is so severe and debilitating that it is called Suicide disease.
Trigeminal Neuralgia may be caused by compression of the nerve by one or more blood vessels. Dr Jaydev Panchawagh explains here that as the vessel keeps on pumping its pulsations against the nerve for months and years, severity of the disease goes on increasing.
Drugs are only temporary relief givers. Simply speaking, the drugs are just the numbing chemicals. They do not treat the basic cause. These drugs give rise to side effects because they do not “know” that only the nerve is to be numbed. So, they numb the entire nervous system.
In the meanwhile, pulsations continue to hammer the nerve, severity increases and drug doses increase. The person enters into a negative cycle and becomes victim of the drugs on the one hand, and pain on the other.
This Trigeminal Neuralgia surgery video explains very clearly how there is compression of the Trigeminal nerve by a blood vessel and how it can be treated by MicroVascular Decompression (MVD). The film shows how pulsations cause “short circuiting” inside the nerve and pain is ignited.
Dr Jaydev Panchwagh demonstrates MicroVascularDecompression or MVD surgery. Since the main culprit behind TN is one or more blood vessels compressing the trigeminal nerve, a decompression usually helps in relieving pain. He inserts a teflon sponge to separate the nerve and blood vessel, which gives relief from Trigeminal Neuralgia.
My name is Atulbhai Patel. And I suffered from Trigeminal Neuralgia since 2011. My pain was so severe that I considered suicide.