Trigeminal nerve disease is very often confused with typical ENT symptoms – pain in the paranasal sinuses, forehead, head. In fact, at the beginning it is a good clue – neuralgia is accompanied by a chronic runny nose, but after excluding sinusitis by the doctor, you should immediately contact a neurologist.
It is not difficult to make a mistake in this case. When there is a strong runny nose and headache – it must be sick sinuses, when there is pain in the jaw and jaw – the cause of the pain must be located somewhere in the dentition. It happens, unfortunately not so rarely, that the patient takes very strong painkillers and even antibiotics for sinusitis, which are not available, or a healthy tooth is removed because something hurt there. When, after removing the “cause”, the pain still bothers, only then does the laryngologist, dentist and the patient himself have a deep reflection. In fact, it is not surprising that doctors do not consider trigeminal neuralgia when making the first diagnosis. It is a relatively rare disease. On the other hand, it is one of the most common causes of persistent, one-sided pain in the face and mouth. Symptoms similar to neuralgia must be examined, as it can be caused by very serious diseases – e.g. multiple sclerosis. According to neurologists, in as many as 10% of patients, trigeminal neuralgia was one of the first symptoms of multiple sclerosis. The cause of this nerve disease can also be a brain aneurysm and a tumor of the pontine-cerebellar angle, because the source of pain is the posterior cranial cavity, where the trigeminal nerve exits the brainstem.
How does pain occur?
The areas of pain are usually around the cheek, nose, lip or inside the mouth. Patients experience pain mainly during the day. The pain appears suddenly, usually without any preceding symptoms, and is unilateral. Be extremely strong. The pain can be compared to an electric shock, it often leads to the fact that the patient is on the verge of exhaustion, paralysis of the jaw occurs, there are great difficulties with swallowing meals. The patient may also experience a lack of sensation on the side of the face that is affected by pain. Pain is caused by compression of a blood vessel, injury or inflammation in the nerve. Then the affected nerve loses its insulating sheath and the nerve’s work is disturbed, which causes a kind of electrical “short circuit”, which explains the very strong and short-term pain.
Who can get sick and what are the treatments.
Trigeminal neuralgia usually appears in people over the age of forty. However, there are cases where the disease has been detected even in children. Statistically, it affects women more often than men. Oddly enough, many sufferers experience worse symptoms in the winter. Pains treated temporarily with painkillers or anti-inflammatory drugs may subside even for a few months, however, treated in an inappropriate way, they may return with a vengeance. Prescription medications, including some, are helpful in treating this disease antiepileptic drugs i antidepressants. However, their effectiveness is limited. Sometimes surgery is necessary.