Trigeminal Neuralia

[Eliza1853]

I recently found out about trigeminal neuralgia and now I'm terrified.
First of all, even if I never get it, I'm horrified to find out that it exists. TN is nicknamed the 'suicide disease' because it's so painful that lots of people who suffer from it commit suicide to escape the pain. It's one of the most painful conditions there is.

For years I've occasionally had tingling/ a strange sensation on the left side of my face. When I get headaches, it tends to be on the left side- it feels like the same set of muscles or nerves as what's involved in the tingling. Also, when I have visual migraines (which only happens a few times a year), there is sometimes tingling on the left side of my face in the days before and after. So clearly something's going on with the left side of my face, and based on what I've read online, this means something's going on with my trigeminal nerve. Does that mean it's likely it'll develop into TN someday? I have no idea- I hope not. I hope it's just TMJ or anxiety. But I'm so, so scared when I think about the possibility of someday having TN. There are medication options and surgical options, but based on what I've read online, these options work great for some people and don't help much at all for others.

In the past few days the tingling/sensation has been a lot more prominent than usual and I also have some minor tooth pain in a tooth that got a filling about a month ago.
The idea of experiencing the pain even ONCE is terrifying, much less the idea of being one of the unlucky TN patients for whom medication and surgery don't help. I try to focus on two things: 1) not EVERYONE who gets TN commits suicide, so live is still worth living in most cases, and 2) medical science is advancing all the time- maybe someone will come up with a more reliable treatment option soon.

[Fishmanpa]

In other words, I googled and scared myself witless :doh: With this extremely rare condition affecting less than .06 of the US population, I think you're safe :whistles:

FMP

[glassgirlw]

I don’t even know what that is. So I’m guessing you found it on Google unless you’re a doctor yourself :winks:

The important thing to focus on here is you don’t have this disease, illness, whatever it is. You haven’t been diagnosed with it. There is no reason to concern yourself over something you don’t have.

Also - if googling has a tendency to send you into panic/anxiety like this did…it might be a good time to stop googling altogether. :yesyes:

[Carys]

I know what it is as its come up in conversation about Jaw clenching and TMJ disorders (temporomandibular joint).

From Mayo clinic -


Because of the variety of treatment options available, having trigeminal neuralgia doesn't necessarily mean you're doomed to a life of pain. Doctors usually can effectively manage trigeminal neuralgia with medications, injections or surgery.

Honestly, what will you start searching for next that you might have at some point in the future ? Pick something, anything .......preferably unusual and start scaring yourself about that next ? Actually, to cover all possibilites see if you can do a medical degree covering most things, though that might include 6 more years to get advanced enough to know every possible human medical condition in basic forms. I'm sounding sarcastic, but I mean no offense, its just really not a good idea to go looking for conditions that you certainly don't have and finding out about them, 'just in case', it is never going to have a positive outcome. Also, and this is the really important part, you didn't just look up the condition but you looked up the absolute worst case hideous case studies by the sound of it. A non-HA person, even if they did look it up, would read what I read in that there are a variety of options for treating.

[ankietyjoe]

Person with anxiety 'researches' a condition they don't have and then worries themselves silly just in case they DO get it and decide to kill themselves as a result.


Sounds ridiculous when you (accurately) summarize it, right?