Trigeminal neuralgia  is universally known as the most painful affliction know to medical practice. It is not fatal but the nature of it can be suicidal.  If you or a loved one has something similar to this disease share your feeling with others. Write something about it and send it  to me. I will publish your entire story free on my website www.IamFightingCancer.com  or   http://www.BrianNelsonConsulting.com/trigeminal-neuralgia-tn/patient-painful-stories.html  You can post your story at no charge. Send it to me by e-mail.   

I had appointment  with Dr. G R is Oct. 6, 2004. As usual I had to  wait an hour.  I finally had to leave for another commitment without seeing Dr. G.R.  I  had been treated by Dr. G.R. since July  and my pain had not seem to be diminished. He would look at me and say I can't see anything bothering you so why don't you just experiment with these pills for me and see what happens. There was no data base to learn from or to supply information. It appears that this practice of medicine is just practicing and not super diagnostic in  getting to the root of the problem.  Since August of 2004 my neurologists were aware that the left side of my face was numb.   Drs. do not offer a guarantee on anything.  I  located neurologist Dr. J.K   Oct. 20, 2004. He had referred a MVD Patient to a Houston Neurosurgeon who successfully  performed the MVD. I later met her. She was a happy camper in the pain world. I  was then  put on 600 mg of Neurontin and  600 mg of Tegretol.  It  significantly reduced my electrical jabs and I finally got some decent sleep. I was so happy taking the Tegretol. October 28, 2004 I had a dental appointment  for a routine cleaning. I mentioned my TN problems as my jaw ached considerably. I could not open my mouth easily for the hygienist to clean my teeth. 

Dentist Dr. T.R. suggested  I considered us of a NTI device to prevent Bruxism, ie teeth grinding. It may be the cause of my very aching jaw pain which destroyed my will to focus very long on anything. I agreed that this program might  be a good one for me.   I have a theory that the thousands of electrical jabs in the middle of the night  may have overworked those poor 64 year old jaws causing me to tighten down on my teeth. Is that possible?  I purchased the TNI.  You can see a 6 minute video on it at www.HeadachePrevention.com  I think that the lower jaw seems to be much more relaxed and I could  open my mouth wider. The back part of the jaw still was aching pain which may be from getting used to the NTI device. I now have read on the web and heard from a Houston dentist  that the NTI device is a temporary . So how long should I use it? Then I lost the tiny NTI device  so the question of how long to use was taken care of by the man up stairs.

NTI Device

Based on my pain circulating from the top of  the left side of my head to the deep part of my throat Dr. K thinks  I have Atypical Facial Pain, ATFP . What is ATFP?. It is is a syndrome encompassing a wide group of facial pain problems.  The outlook seems  even worse than Trigeminal Neuralgia as some experts say that MVD surgery is NOT usually a successful option for ATFP. It is usually treated with medication. Darn! The rest of my life on pills?  You will find details about ATFP on website no. 4 of this compendium. If TN was a fatal disease it would be a whole lot easier to get research money.
I learned from the web about the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association  based in Florida.  Every 2 years they have a national conference. Rosemary and I attended the TNA  Conference in Florida Nov 10-14, 2004  Dr. P.J.  said atypical facial pain may mean that that  there is more than one blood vessel compressing more than one nerve. You have to be  skilled in looking for it.  All should be corrected during the same time if one chooses an MVD procedure. Another Dr. TK.  states that he has never  seen more than one blood vessel causing a problem.  Now, who do I believe?

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