Trigeminal Neuralgia

TN pain arises when one or more of the three paired branches of the trigeminal nerve are damaged or irritated. Damage and/or irritation can be associated with a variety of different factors including: blood vessels pressing on the trigeminal nerve as it exits the brainstem, demyelination of the nerve associated with MS, nerve entrapment in the muscles of the head or jaw, damage from sinus or oral surgery, stroke or direct trauma to the nerve itself from facial trauma.

TN typically affects one side of the face, but in some cases, the pain may affect different sides of the face at different times or it may affect both sides at the same time. There are two types of trigeminal neuralgia. Classic or typical (TN1) causes patients to experience extreme, sporadic shock-like or burning facial pain that lasts from a few seconds to as long as two minutes. The pain can occur suddenly and vanish or repeat in quick succession lasting several hours. Atypical (TN2) TN is described as more of a constant aching, burning or stabbing pain. Some people experience both TN1 and TN2 at different times and are often left feeling incapacitated both physically and mentally.

Both forms of TN tend to be progressive with periods between attacks becoming shorter, with the pain becoming increasingly worse and/or debilitating. It often forces people to avoid social situations and normal activities of daily life to try and avoid an attack. Advances in imaging have lead to several recently published research studies that suggest many of these symptoms may have a root cause in injury and/or misalignment of the upper cervical spine. This research helps explain why non-invasive procedures such helps relieve trigeminal neuralgia in so many cases.