ask: I would love to know if anyone has had success with treating this condition (trigeminal neuralgia) with an alternative to pain killers.

Hi,
I just did some research on this, and according to the Mayo Clinic, there are different causes:
"Trigeminal neuralgia can occur as a result of aging, or it can be related to multiple sclerosis or a similar disorder that damages the myelin sheath protecting certain nerves. Less commonly, trigeminal neuralgia can be caused by a tumor compressing the trigeminal nerve. In other cases, a cause cannot be found."

Does your mom know the cause? There are different treatment options, depending on the cause (if known), including medication, injections, surgery, acupuncture, biofeedback, electrical stimulation of nerves and different therapies involving vitamins or other nutrition.

You can read about treatment options I mentioned here.

Has your mom tried any of the other options, and is she wanting an alternative medicine treatment (like acupuncture or biofeedback), or is she open to other types of medication or surgery?

Thank you for that information, I will certianly study it.

In the last 5 years my mom has been treated by docs and hospitals for blood clots in her lungs, TB (that has been dormant in her body for 50 years), trigeminal neuralgia, colon cancer (had tumor removed) and pneumonia. She is not interested in more surgury, she even quit the chemo because it was too much.

She is on so many meds and it's a delicate balance and any time there is a new event, the docs mess up her pain meds and she suffers. I would like to offer an option to try an alternative. I may have to share the info with my dad because he's got influence there and does believe in acupuncture.

They live far from me so it's difficult to find local docs for her.

I am thinking she must have the older age kind of TG. She doesn't have a tumor on it and doesn't have MS.

Having websites to send my dad to is very helpful, thanks again~

You are very welcome!

Since you sounded most interested in acupuncture, here is a wonderful resource online: NCCAM, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. They tell you about the procedure, and how to find a practitioner in your area (good for your parents to know what credentials to look for).

To find a practitioner in CAM, you can:
- contact a nearby hospital or medical school for guidance
- contact a professional organization, regulatory agency, or licensing board for the type of practitioner you are seeking.

You can also search the EmpowHer site for great information in a particular treatment. The EmpowHer's acupuncture site is loaded with info.

Be sure to come back to EmpowHer, and ask any further questions that you may have, after looking into some of the options. We have some medical experts whom we can ask, if you have more detailed questions about treatment options.

It sounds like your mom has been through a lot, and wouldn't it be great if one of the alternatives could help several of her conditions?!

My aunt suffers from this excruciatingly painful condition. It can be successfully operated on by a neurogical surgeon with a quite simple op which totally relieves the condition.

I think that after a couple of years, the pain creeps back, but it is then possible for the procedure to be repeated.

Sorry, not quite sure of details of this op, but you need to consult neurologist/surgeon.

Good luck!

Sorry, wrong spelling in my message above - meant to say "neurosurgeon" that you will find in hospital neurology department I think.

All best

There is a specialist in fairfield, ct who is both a doctor and a dentist and she has helped me with the pain from trigeminal neuraglia. it is a non-invasive treatment. i have suffered for years with this pain and after one treatment yesterday, the pain, while still there, has eased up so much. i will schedule further treatments, as anywhere from 6 to 9 treatments should alleviate the pain. i have been taking advil daily for at least 3 years now, but i haven't needed one since the treatment yesterday. one treatment and the pain i have does not require advil.

I have TN as well as my best friend. We suffer from different kinds but there is one thing we do that helps both our TN types. We strongly agree that TN attacks get worse or erupt in frequency with physical or emotional stress. Meditation or any type of relaxation method practiced daily definately helps us. Even during an attack, we try to relax our bodies and clear our minds as much as possible despite the pain . Ice packs during an attack help (i think that's mostly psycological but hey, if it works!) I can safely say we have cut the frequency, length and severity by 50% over the past 2 years. When it gets too overwhelming we take xanax rather than a pain pill for relaxation.
luck to everyone
christel

exercise has actually kept me going as the serotonin actually helps the body to heal itself. yes relaxation also helps but i find that going to the gym does more for me. i suffer from ATN.

im about to try Inosine as it has shown to help in nerve root repair. it's a natural product I can only try it.