10/18/2008: Martha from Baltimore, Maryland replies: "I was wondering what kind of exerciese you did, how much b12 and fish oil did you take. I have TN and looking for alternative treatment. Docs not put me on meds and after reading about them I really don't want to go there."

03/10/2009: Bridget from Hamilton, NJ replies: "I have been using acupuncture to successfully treat Trigeminal Neuralgia. Was on medicines but the side effects were too much to handle. The constant pain from TN have been greatly reduced by acupuncture. 25 points, once a week. At first it took three times a week to produce a change, then twice a week, I am now down to once per week. Give it a try."

03/01/2010: Jackie from Cape Coral, Florida replies: "Dear Veerle (from Belgium)

I read your post regarding the use of Omega3 & B12. My wife suffers from TN. I have passed on the info gleaned from your post. She is taking two capsules of Omega3, twice a day. Plus one B12 capsule in the morning (1500mg).

She isn't one to take medication if at all possible. However, the pain associated with TN forces her to take 75mg (three tabs) at bedtime. If she would follow the doctors advice the dosage would be far greater.

Thanks a million for the info. Please feel free to share any other info that you come by. We will continue seeking info and relief. Spoke to her about acupuncture, but she's not leaning in that direction. We'll see! Thanks again, and good fortune in your search for relief. 'JR'"

01/21/2011: Luca Cazzaniga from London, United Kingdom replies: "

Dear Veerle,

My name is Luca and I am writing you because my 26 years old girlfriend is experiencing trigeminal neuralgia associated to cluster headache. Since the 31st December 2009 she had headache everyday. The several exams did not evidence any specific cause and despite different medication she's still experience an unbearable pain and too many side effects. Obviously her quality of life is largely influenced and she is currently not able to work, practice sport and live with serenity her life. I have been really impressed by your words and your story and I am wondering if you could give us your mail contact just to ask you some advices. I am a physiotherapy student and to realize that I may potentially help her is fantastic. I am aware that this post is really old but I hope that you may answer. This is my mail: cazza67(at)live(dot)it.

Many thanks. Luca and Manu"

[YEA]  04/21/2011: Josh from Houston, Tx replies: "Just to let you guys know, oxygen therapy works. It will take a cluster headache away in 10 minutes. I suffered for 7 years untill I found this. There are too many dangerous maint. drugs to take. So if you can abort them with oxygen its a win win.

J. Thibodeaux"

05/30/2011: Jordan from Sparwood, Bc, Canada replies: "Try not to confuse trigeminal neuralgia with cluster headaches. Trigeminal headaches are caused by intracranial pressure on the trigeminal nerve, sending the sensations to the face. Clusters are caused by the brain being tricked into thinking that it isn't getting enough oxygen, so the blood vessels dialate and the brain too much oxygen. Oxygen therapy helps clusters by giving the brain too much oxygen and making the vessels contract again. Talk to a local neurologist that specializes in headaches to get a proper diagnosis."

[YEA]  06/14/2011: Patty from Brockton, Ma replies: "b12 is important so is Krill but what I found that got rid of TN "face pain" after 40 years was Cervical Chiropractor. thank God I tried the Chiropractor!!"

[BETTER BUT NOT CURED]  06/22/2011: Nathalie from La-london, Us/england replies: "This is directed to Luca and others who suffer from Tn as well as cluster headaches. I was diagnosed with both conditions, August 2010. Unfortunately, I suffered in pain without any relief for 9 months prior, as the doctors could not get a handle the fact that I had multiple conditions.

Firstly, Oxygen on level 7 works miracles for my clusters. I am also on Topamax but have reduced the dosage from 275mg to 50 mg over the year. Secondly, the TN did settle a little with Lyrica, but is wasn't until I started vitamin therapy that I started a significant change in my pain level. I still react to certain food enzymes and odours as well as cold air... However, I have gone from a daily pain threshold of 6-7 to a 1-3 from Glutathione and Meyers IV infusions. I recommend them. N"

[YEA]  07/14/2011: Sarah from London, Uk replies: "Hi,

I've had TN for about 6 years now, for the first 3 it was non stop, and doctors put me on the brain surgery waiting list after all of the drugs didnt work, I was 22 so not to keen on the idea of surgery, and refused to go on anti depressants.

But everything changed when I started having weekly sessions of acupuncture and cranial osteopathy. The accupuncture just treated the stress the condition had put on my mind and body (as I was seriously depressed and had been in therapy for a while) and the cranial osteopathy treated the actual pain. After each osteopathy session I experienced a very bad attack for a couple of days, as my osteopathist had warned me. I continued this treatment for about 2 months, and couldsay for definate that I have been 95% cured since and its been 3 years. When I told my neurologist he actually laughed at me, but with a combination of that and a healthy lifestyle and a relaxing environment (going home to the beach from the city helped a lot) I could carry on life as normal again.

My pain only now flags up if im really stressed or in extreme weather environments.

One more piece of advice is speak to the acupuncturists and osteopathists first and find someone who understands it and is confident they can help.

I hope this helps someone, dont give up there is a light at the end of the tunnel!"

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01/08/2011: Tom from Regina, Sk replies: "Sonia:

It looks like no one has replied to you, and since you're in dire straits I'll try to give you some information which unfortunately is not from first-hand experience until hopefully someone else replies.

First , to your question, here's a good medical description of true TN:

http://facial-neuralgia.org/conditions/tn.html

It even mentions your specific cause:

Physical damage to the nerve caused by dental or surgical procedures, injury to the face or infections.

Here's the trigeminal (aka semilunar) ganglia, splitting to each side:

http://img.medscape.com/pi/emed/ckb/neurosurgery/247017-1505614-248933-1879073.jpg

More images of same:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=TRIGEMINAL NERVE&go=&form=QBLH&scope=images&filt=all

I assume you are in too much pain to try things like oil-pulling, or even swishing some colloidal silver around orally?

It is very likely that you have nerve trauma, not an infection, and that the pain should decrease slowly as the nerves heal and rejoin. To that end, and I realize you may not be able to eat much if at all, you want to speed up the nerves healing with a few nutrients:

Can you afford, or do you even have access to, a naturo who can give you Vitamin B12 injections by needle? This is used by people with nerve problems, like MS patients and people with TN. If not available or too expensive, can you get a bottle of B12 sublingual 1000 ug or even 5000 ug tablets?

Do you have a basic lecithin supplement handy, in any form like granules, capsules, or bulk container? It has a small percent of sphingolipids in it, which are important in forming the nerve myelin (outer insulation sheath).

The above 2 will require NO chewing action, very important.

Hopefully it needs only time and nutrition to heal, since any oral surgeon doing additional work cannot guarantee that you won't be worse off than when you went in.

It would be good if someone with first-hand knowledge could reply to you while you're healing."

01/09/2011: Susu from Sacramento, Ca replies: "I'm not a doctor but in my opinion, even though you aren't having all of the symptoms, you still may have it. I had it after some dental work with what felt like electrical shocks but the pain without the shocks was also unbearable. All of my teeth hurt and it felt like my gums were going into spasms. I couldn't sleep because of the pain, I could barely drive a car and I was still working full time. I found a doctor who would give me vicodin and I was able to keep working and driving, etc. I tried acupunture, and a few other therapies that didn't work but finally went to a homeopath who adjusted my neck. I think he said it was the C4 vertebrae."

03/22/2011: Cgoetz435 from Dublin, Ca replies: "I suffer from cluster headaches. My primary symptom began on my right side and felt like someone was trying "to pull my upper and lower teeth out with pliers. " I went to several neurologists who diagnosed trigeminal neuralgia. They stated "cluster headaches are a male disease" and I am female. Eventually got a correct diagnosis of cluster headaches.

Unfortunately, it's several years later, and I still have tremendous problems with pain. Oxygen therapy is helpful. I take daily meds and at this point, I'm using Sumatriptan injections almost daily. It's imperative that you get an accurate diagnosis. I saw a dentist, a endodontist, 3 neurologists, before getting correct diagnosis. I am currently investigating deep tissue laser therapy for relief. Hope this helps."

[YEA]  07/03/2011: Zoe from Harrison, Ar replies: "I was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia / atypical facial pain in 2009 after dental surgery to my jawbone. Sonia your description sounds very much like mine. I am so sorry. People who haven't experienced this pain, have no idea how horrible it is. It turned my life 180 degrees upside down. Thank goodness for the internet and the facial pain association and god's grace (I think it was formerly known as the trigeminal neuralgia association). Through their support groups I got in contact with a person near Dallas, Texas - who also had trigeminal type pain after dental surgery. I believe her name was Shelley Wilson and she had a benign tumor removed from her jawbone which led to her pain starting. She was on increasingly high doses of neurontin and painkillers for 5 years. I was so fortunate to have found her within 6 months of my pain starting. She led me to Dr. Allen Sprinkle - a dentist in Arlington Texas who specializes in chronic facial pain. He diagnosed the virus that had infected my trigeminal nerves and put me on the all natural Omura protocol (no more anti-seizure meds and painkillers)... It took about 6 months to regain my strength and health but now 2 years later I am pain free. Here is his contact information: Allen Sprinkle DDS 1106 W. Randoll Mill Road Suite 100 Arlington, TX 76012 (817) 461-9998. If you want more information from me you can contact me at batz(at)windstream.net

He also has a website if you google Dr. Allen Sprinkle in Arlington, TX. He's a very kind man and if you e-mail or call for him he's usually very quick in responding.

Don't be discouraged that he's not in your area. He may be able to refer you to someone closer as there are other practitioners of the Omura Protocol around the country. I pray for you that you are well on your way to healing and like I said I am glad to answer any e-mails or questions you may have."

09/30/2011: Diane from Las Vegas, Nevada replies: "Dear Sonia,

I found a fantastic website that explains what Trigeminal Neuralgia is, what the cause is, symptoms and treatment. There is laser treatment for TN that is almost 100% successful. It is non-invasive and completely safe with no side effects. I hope this helps you. Diane"

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