Trigeminal Neuralgia Blog: What is Trigeminal Neuralgia? Trigeminal neuralgia is a rare, on-going condition that affects the trigeminal nerve in the face and causes severe pain. It’s a condition that can come on randomly, usually happens later in life, and is more common in women. Trigeminal Neuralgia is also…
Trigeminal Neuralgia Blog: MS and TN Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a “so-called” demyelinating disease. Myelin is the substance which surrounds nerve fibers and enables them to conduct fast electrical impulses. In MS, the body’s immune system attacks the myelin leading to spots (called plaques) that are bare of myelin. This leads…
Trigeminal Neuralgia Blog: Radiosurgery Radiosurgery is an outpatient treatment that focuses hundreds of very small beams of radiation on an intracranial lesion. It has revolutionized the treatment of small brain tumors (including metastatic tumors, meningiomas, schwannomas, and others) as well as brain blood vessel malformations. It has also been used for…
Almost all patients with trigeminal neuralgia are first treated with medication. The medication of choice is carbamazepine (Tegretol). Very commonly, patients are started on a dose that is too high and that can produce significant side effects, like drowsiness, mental slowness, and imbalance. The key is to start at a…
