Natural Trigeminal Neuralgia Treatment

When I was 17 I was involved in a car crash and suffered head injuries, (fractured scull, broken nose and lots of stitches).

After recovering, a few months later I started getting very bad head pains in one side of my face, teeth, ear, eye, one tonsil, cheek bone and one side of my scull all at the same time although each pain is different..

I think a good description of a couple of the pains is the lights of a pinball machine going round your teeth, and a bolt that they use to kill cows going into your temple..

Mine always came on at night, after being in bed asleep for about two hours. So I always got up alone as my mum, dad and family were in bed. I never told anybody, and just assumed I must have a brain tumor.

It was very hard to get rid of the pain as none of the pain killers touched it, so I used to put thick rubber gloves on (so i could use really hot water) and bath it. Then I had a better idea, I put the gas fire on and sat in front of that with my head close to the bars.

I had this problem for about 7 years before I ever knew what it was. Then one day i was looking through a very old 'pocket doctor' book about 1900s, that my mum had no doubt got from a jumble sale, and there it was, all my symptoms in black and white, i could hardly believe it, even down to one nostril and one eye running.

I had never heard of neuralgia before, but I was glad I had a name for it. I still had neuralgia on and off for the next twenty years, the wind, the rain or just a whisp on my face would cause it, and also stress and worry.

When I was 43 years old i had a particular stressful time, I nursed my father through lung cancer, then found out my niece was taking heroine and crack cocaine all this while running a business on my own. So I got neuralgia every day, i was like a walking zombie!

I had a brain wave and decided to see an acupuncture practitioner, the best decision I ever made. I had five sessions using traditional chinese five point acupuncture. (where your five pulses are taken and read) on each visit.

Then six months ago I bought some DMSO to treat my dog and thought it would also be a good idea to treat myself for a tooth abscess, low and behold it immediately brought back the neuralgia, after being free from it for about fifteen years I was shocked! but this time i knew what to do, I made an appointment with my doctor because these days you can get acupuncture free on the national health, not five point but it still worked for me. No more neuralgia, gone!

I'm really sorry I can't use dmso because it is absolutely brilliant and soon sorted my tooth out, very powerful and works really fast..

So my answer to anyone suffering from neuragia is acupuncture. I was told it is inflammation of the neuralgic nerve.

Best wishes, Janet..

I experienced nerve pain in my face that was excruciatingly painful and since my mom has had trigeminal neuralgia I knew I had all of the symptoms. I decided not to take medication and to explore natural options and lots of prayer. One day I started to get a cold sore on my lip as I have gotten them all of my life so I took a very high dose of the amino acid l-lysine. My pain completely went away after a few days. My doctor said that it's possible that the herpes simplex virus could have attacked my nerves. Now I take 1 500mg capsule of l-lysine every day and praise the Lord I am still pain free after several months. I hope and pray that this will help others because I know how terrible it is. You can get L-lysine from any vitamin store. They cost around $5.00 for 250 capsules (don't get the pills cause they're hard to swallow). May God bless you!

I have dealt with TN for about 4 years. This is the regimen that I followed for relief. B-Complex, Magnesium Citrate, Lecithin. Take Daily.

Stop all caffeine and sugar as it aggravates/excites the nerves.

It has been 18 months since the last time it fired and that was a relatively calm period. A year prior to that which caused me to find solutions.

When I fires, I would use Capsaicin cream(high potency strength from Walgreens) on my face. I applied it every four hours and relieve comes over time/use. My face would get red but I don't care. Another critical thing that I did was to use a TENS unit electrical stimulation on my face. I would place the simulators, one on my left temple and one on left cheek by my mouth. This would help dissuade the trigeminal nerve from firing as much.

The final key that I learned was to poke my lower jaw out. This would break the electrical connection and stop the firing of that nerve.

Hope this helps!!!

Trigeminal Neuralgia - I had a form of this. Neck pain with electric like shocks up to my head. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes 3. It would stop me in my tracks! This happened each week for the last couple of years.

For a month I have taken 2 tablespoons of COD Liver Oil, and have NOT had ONE nerve pain sense!! I take it every single morning. They have a lemon flavor one on Amazon I take, but the pills should do the same thing. COD Liver Oil does so much good for the body, but the relief I have is amazing. Try it!

I am devastated. When I read your feedbacks and am contemplating the future of my 16 years old I feel so helpless so useless as a mum! Taanya has been suffering so much the last months, and we were like "Oh this must be this, this be that, ". For me giving her Voltaren is a crime, so we were on soft pain killers, Rosemary inhalation etc. Then at one moment I saw the disconnection in her eyes, like she was drowning...alone. I knew then that this was not something we are used to. The ENT specialist was first to mention TN, but at the same time he said, but she is so young. I took her to a Acupuncturist, Chiropractor, 2 dentists. ENT specialist, CT scan, Internal specialist, MRI then a neuro surgeon) finally we have to accept the verdict. She has no tumor Thanks God! But she been diagnosed with TN four days back. She is on Tegretol (2x200mg) and Dexona tablets.

I am frantically looking for alternatives. She is already showing signs of red spots, due to Tegretol. I really do not know how bad is Tegretol, but it is the only working medication now. So we are holding fast to it. In the meantime from what I have seen on this forum, I will enquire for a good acupuncturist on our small island, please do sent her your prayers and good vibes. I wish to God, I could change place with her.

Hello all fellow Trigeminal Neuralgia sufferers,

Several years ago I began suffering a condition which I now believe to be Trigeminal Neuralgia of the right side of my face and head. The pain comes on slowly but continuously until the pain is unbearable starting from my right front upper jaw to the right side of my nose and sinus, under my right eye and up to my right temple and right ear. I don't cry but my right eye tears and makes me want to cry more. I had actually contemplated suicide even before I had heard this condition called the "suicide disease". I have had broken noses, fractured eye socket etc. (not disfiguring) and have blamed the condition on those injuries but was never sure and I have been to many MDs, specialists and Maxillo Facial surgeons who told me that those injuries could no possibly cause headaches and never even diagnosed the headaches as Trigeminal Neuralgia!

However, we all know most of that but I have discovered another possible cause for our condition which may or may not give you relief that I am surprised that no one that I know of has suggested.

All my life I have had a problem with middle and inner ear infections. Some have been excruciatingly painful, and will let you know it's there and demands urgent treatment, which I'm sure some of you have experienced.

The facial nerve center is in very close proximity to the ear. It is possible that the patient can experience a low grade infection of the middle or inner ear which may only itch a little and not become highly inflamed and the patient may neglect the condition. But my friends let me tell you that it can tear your nerve center a NEW ONE!

So if you have this condition try antibiotic ear drops (I use Locacorten -Vioform) Which needs a prescription but is not so expensive. Lie down or turn the head sideways and use a small amount only until you feel the ear close up. Dampen a small amount of cotton and squeeze out water and place in ouside of the ear so the oil will not soak into the cotton. Use especially at night and leave in until morning and more during the day as needed if possible.

Also keep ears completely dry in shower, lake and ocean with ear plugs if necessary. Alcohol after swimming or showering WILL NOT WORK!

Hope some of you will find relief, and won't hurt to try...

My daughter has Trigeminal Neuralgia. It's a debilitating facial pain, a condition known as "suicide disease" because it is believed to be the worst pain known to mankind. Almost two years ago when she told me of the excruciating pain she felt in her jaw I began an internet search to find out what this horrible pain was. It didn't take me long to realize that she had TN ( Trigeminal Neuralgia).

She made an appointment with a facial pain medical group, and she was indeed diagnosed with TN. "There is no cure" the doctor told her, so she was prescribed pain medication, and told to return in four weeks. I began my search to cure her TN pain. After 3,24/7, days of searching I stumbled across a cure. It's caused by being B12 deficient, but you can NOT cure it with the B12 injections that the doctors give, they use the cheaper pharmaceutical B12 Cyanocobalamin. You MUST USE the natural B12 Methylocobalamin injection. You begin with a daily injection of the B12 Methylcobalamin, 1cc for 10 days, after that you continue 1cc weekly, supposedly after a time you can cut the dose down even more but after almost two years my daughter is still having to have weekly shots to keep the pain away.

The B12 Methlcobalamin is much more expensive and a lot harder to find on the internet, but it's out there. After a year of using the B12 Methylcobalamin my daughter decided to try the cheaper pharmaceutical B12, within a week and a half her pain returned. It has to be the injection form and it must be the Methylcobalamin, this has been a God send for my daughter, the best of luck to you with your journey! There is a book out there, written by Dr, Oz's father in law, on facial pain that goes into more detail on this subject, but we have found that the B12 injections were all that was needed to keep the pain away.

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!

I find that sleeping with affected side up helps. (don't sleep with affected side down on pillow).

Also by chance took viral cold sore defence vitamins and they helped clear up TN (contained astragalus 2g, lysine hydrochloride 800mg, vit C and zinc 45mg)

Hello again TN or Cluster Headache sufferers

UPDATE:

When my TN problem first appeared about 4 years ago I was taking Melatonin every night as a sleep aid. The cluster headaches usually would wake me up in the night, but sometimes would appear during the day.

About 2 years ago I ran out of Melatonin and didn't use any for a while and the headaches went away for about a year and a half. I thought the problem was gone but about 2 months ago I found a bottle of Melatonin and started using it again as I suffer from insomnia at times. Soon after I started the Melatonin again the headaches reappeared again and more frequently and stronger than before. I started all my regimens as before when I had the headaches (you can see them on my posts here), with some results but not complete.

Before, I never considered Melatonin as a possible cause but this time when I stopped it the headaches went away after about a week while decreasing in frequency and strength, and now I have been completely free of this curse for 2 months. I can now even sleep on the right side of my face.

I have waited this long to post to make sure the relief is not a coincidence.

I am in no way stating that Melatonin is a bad drug, only that it may not be for everybody.

So, I am suggesting that all of you who suffer with Trigimenal Neuralgia, cluster headaches or migranes and are using Melatonin, to lay off it for a while (at least 2 weeks) and see if that may be or exacerbate the condition.

I cured my Occipital Neuralgia. I used a combination of Antioxidant+NMDA antagonist+Diet. I came across this solution by the way of trying to solve a worsening restless leg syndrome. I came across a website called www.rlcure.com which put together all the pieces of the problem. I had some awareness of the pieces but not how they interconnected. Restless leg syndrome is a sign that your body is aflame with chronic inflammation. I used a bunch of antioxidants to put out the fire. I also used PharmaGABA / L-Theanine and Magtein to enhance brain GABA levels in NMDA. I ate a relatively healthy diet but recognized how certain glutamine foods would make symptoms worse.

The antioxidants I used:

• curcumin BCM-95 (fat soluble)
• grape seed extract (water soluble)
• astaxanthin (fat soluble) (i had always taken this)
• Pterostilbene (water soluble) (resveratol is obsoleted by Pterosrilibene)

I added these later:

• HiTart cherry (water soluble)
• Purple Defense (water soluble)
• blueberry extract (water soluble)

I also use krill oil to potentiate the astaxanthin and the absorption of the fat soluble antioxidants. The fat solubles must be taken with a fatty meal. The water soluble can be taken with or without food. I take them all at same time with biggest meal.

This cured my Occipital Neuralgia and RLS. I used to get a severe headache when I took MSM but not anymore. I thought a while back that the ON was caused primarily by shingles.

Solving these problems enabled me to see that I had something called Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia (ATN). It is different than plain TN in that pain is chronic as opposed to episodic and never got sudden electroshock pain. My pain is located on right side around maxillary and bottom eye. It blended in with the migraine like pain over eye from occipital so hard to distinguish. I thought the pain may have been due to sinus or dry eye problem but through very exhaustive process of exclusion, I was able to diagnose it as ATN. I had never seen ATN mentioned until relatively recently.

I think Occipital Neuralgia needs to be listed under TN category since they all relate to the head region. I primarily use Taurine and Magtein along with some things I eat to control glutamate overload in order to manage the ATN.

I want to take more B12 methycoblamin but it can aggravate it so must go low dose. Phosphytidylcholine aggravates symptoms so can't take that. Any choline supplement aggravates things it seems. I am still trying to find a complete cure for the ATN. I have some control over the ATN pain.

I have had trigeminal neuralgia on and off for many years. About 10 years ago, someone told me about vitamin B1. Now, when I begin to feel an episode coming on, I take B1 and it clears up right away.

Trigeminal Neuralgia: I too suffer from this horrible complaint. I am on Lyrica 125 mg twice a day to help. My worse time is from midnight until 7am.

HOWEVER!!! I find that if after having early morning shocks every 5 minutes, I go for an hour's walk, I then get maybe 2 strikes after which I am totally pain free, so much so I can play a round of golf! The pain will then return later in the day once I cease to walk /exercise despite medication!! So if you want relief during the day try going for a 20min walk

Try it. You have nothing to lose!! Good Luck

I have had this condition for about 25 years, on and off. The older I get the worse it gets. I used to have longer periods of remission, sometimes as much as a year. The drugs offered have terrible side effects, and the surgery is little more than draconian experimentation. There seems to be no recognizable pattern to this affliction, and believe me, I've been trying to find one for years. I don't subscribe to the theory of leaning blood vessels, simply because of the periods of remission. It makes no sense to believe that blood vessels, somehow, change positions capriciously. I have come to the conclusion this may be a virus, not unlike herpes, that resides in the trigeminal nerve. I have gotten some relief from taking lysine, and I'm still working on the dosage. Lysine is used to fight herpes outbreaks. I've also been able to control the intensity and duration of each single "shot" by using hypnosis. I'm going to get into that practice more deeply, because I believe it's quite promising for controlling my pain. I hope my observations are helpful.

I was never diagnosed with MS but had many symptoms. It started with limbs falling asleep for no reason, pins and needles etc. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and my lips would be numb. Or my arm would be completely numb even though I was not applying any pressure to it. Then came other weird symptoms like memory loss, confusion, tremors, loss of balance, head vibrations. You get the drift.

I visited a couple neurologists early on who could find nothing on an MRI so I was sent away and told to "monitor things". But things got worse. When I developed full-blown trigeminal neuralgia I knew something was seriously wrong and the neurologists weren't going to cure me. Trigeminal neuralgia is an extremely painful condition and happens in a small percentage of MS patients. This is due to demylination of the sheath that protects the nerves causing severe nerve pain in the face and head. I was also having severe nerve pain all over my body. I knew if I didn't do something right away I would be on my way to an MS diagnosis. That's when I heard about Dr. Cicero Coimbra, a neurologist in Brazil who was treating his patients with high doses of vitamin D. His patients were becoming totally asymptomatic in a few months! Dr. Cicero has a long waiting list and I could not wait any longer because the pain was killing me and my symptoms were getting worse. So I got a hold of one of his patients from Australia and this woman explained the protocol to me.

WARNING:

Certain precautions need to be taken when taking high doses of vitamin D so do not undertake this without doing more research. I avoided all dairy products in order to prevent hypercalcemia and drank 2.5 litres of water every day. One must also avoid calcium supplements. Well, after 3 months of mega doses of vitamin D (I will not say the dose but it was between 10,000 and 40,000 iu per day) I was pain free! I am now on a maintenance dose of the vitamin D but I have no more trigeminal neuralgia and all of my other symptoms have disappeared! I praise God for allowing me to find this information. I now live a normal, pain-free life. Vitamin D not only halts progression of MS but it reverses damage done. A true miracle.

I have been following this subject for nearly a year, when my Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) began. I was only on Gabapentin for 2 weeks before I really got help with homeopathy. It was temporary, but it started me on my course of natural methods for fighting/living with this condition. I am virtually pain free now (though I am still nervous about it coming back). I attribute my help to 3-4 things that I do daily. I take 3 T of coconut oil a day plus 2 t. Fish oil - but I think the important thing is to get enough 'good' fats in our diet. (I ate low-fat for years... Thinking I was helping my body, but I now know we need good fat). I take 600-1000 mg of magnesium a day. I have discovered Magnesium with SRT, which is timed release and doesn't cause the problems with loose bowels. And I take sublingual B12, 10, 000 mcg daily. But what has really helped me the most is Cell Salts. They are homeopathic in nature, and it simply works. (For me, at least). I take Cell Salts, 12X strength and I take this mixture once a day for 10 days. The basic rule is to take them until your symptoms stop, and then don't take them again until they start again. My formula is: 2 Kali Phos, 2 Mag Phos, 2 Calc Phos and 2 Fer Phos - I take all 8 tablets first thing in the morning - you should not eat or drink anything within 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after any homeopathic remedy. I also visited a laser center in South Carolina. I think it helped, but I am sure my regime has helped me more. It's worth a try... I constantly research this, as I don't want to take the hopeless medical route and I have met people who have had the surgery and it didn't help.... I hope this helps someone.

Jody,

I can't speak for anyone else, but if I had Trigeminal Neuralgia, I would try melatonin lotion as one of my first options because it is a simple noninvasive approach. Here is a link about it and how my friends make it :

https://www.earthclinic.com/supplements/topical-melatonin-pain-relief-success-stories.html

The following study suggests this potential use of melatonin :

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4912970/#:~:text=In this situation, melatonin can, melatonin decreases trigeminal vascular nociception.

Here is a relevant study quote:

In this situation, melatonin can decrease the frequency and intensity of pain syndromes through inherent analgesic mechanisms and circadian rhythm normalization. Melatonin receptors were found in the ganglia and nuclei of the trigeminal nerve, suggesting that melatonin decreases trigeminal vascular nociception.

Art

I was DX with TN- I would get shocks in the lower 2 branches of C5. That would occur when I ate, brushed my teeth or just talking. It would shock on its own, I couldn't control it. The shocks were strong. Later that progressed into a very intense painful shock on the top of my head, at the root of C5. I went to ER and they proscribed Carbamazapine. That took care of the intense top-of-the-head pain, but did nothing for the branch shocks. They still continued on their own.

So I read more and found that a virus also could contribute to TN. I have an old Bob Beck Zapper from the 90's. It works by placing the contact probes over the Ulna and Radial arteries. I would use the zapper 30 min each nite before bed. W/i 2 days the involuntary shocks stopped. Now all I had were the shocks that I triggered off by touching various spots on my face (R side only) I noticed that the intensity of the shocks decreased from 12/10 to 5/10. I quickly learned where not to touch on my face.

After about a month of nightly zapping, I am now to the point where my shocks are gone, even when toughing my face. It looks like the virus was the main cause of my TN. I continue to zap each nite for 30 min. This is a blood purifier and takes care of all pathogens and viruses in the blood.

I am 74 have lots of head pain at times, I use hygrogen proxide 35% food grade from the health store with about 6 eye dropper drops in juice of about 8oz glass 1 to 2 times per day and it cleared my head pain back to normal, it felt like a bad tooth, but dentist says it is not your tooth, it is your sinus. The medical doctor called it tri-geminal - neuralgia. But this has cleared my problem up. Thank the Lord I feel I have found the answer. Baking soda may do the same though. my homopathic doctor taught us that disease cannot live in a high oxygen inverment. That is what is is.

Trigeminal Neuralgia:

I'm back, still dealing w/ sporadic aching / stabbing, get's easier as time goes on ( 4th. year now ), compared to pain after a Grand Mal Seizure, this is a " walk in the park ", mind over matter ( simply pay it no mind and it won't matter ). Turns out increasing B12 daily dosage from 400mg to 1000mg was the culprit, I had surmised such after surfing various sites pertaining to B12 and in some cases side effects.

After seeing Dermatologist, her referral was that of a " Pain Specialist " ( more appt.'s $$ ) I've been dealing w/ idiopathic left temporal lobe Epilepsy way too long to know what comes after referral and original consultation from one " Specialist " to another, what else but more " follow up's & test's " .

I walked that road over 15 years ago after deciding to try elective brain surgery @ Yale Univ. New Haven, been having countless seizures, both complex partial along w/ grand mal ( " slammers " ) & amnesia, whatever is " done is done " logic alone leads one to believe there's no fixin' this but the Nice Cold Gel Pak sure does suffice at times, especially now as I type.

Only managed to make Phase 3 @ Yale ( 5 interior electrodes ) shortly after Triple ByPass making me no longer an eligible candidate for partial lobotomy, might very well have been to my benefit, can't cry over spilt milk.

Reason for writing today is : DO NOT use excess B12 ( in my case anyway 400 to 1000 ) today after cutting 1000 pill into half, the chronic stabbing burn above eye along w/ forehead and side just above ear is every bit apprx. 90% LESS, leaving a slight easily tolerable one on top towards the rear of skull.

If this helps one persons attempt in pain reduction my time won't be wasted, nor will theirs.

Good Luck ........ careful w/ excess B12, see Primary first or have a blood test to know it's dissolution factor / half life.

John, give this a try, it enables me to sleep through the night. It is an inexpensive Multi Use Ice Bag ( available @ CVS, where I bought mine $12.99 )
I'd suggest " lining it " w/ a plastic produce bag to extend the life and stop any leaking, fill it halfway ( approximately ) then refrigerate.

The Cold Temp will lessen any Blood Vessel inflammation causing contact on Nerve that generates Pain.

I came across this article studying the effects of vitamin B12 and it's effect on Myelin Sheath surrounding damaged nerve and nerve fibers. You name it I've tried it, Lyrica ( nasty side effects ) stopped, Dilantin ( taking it for 41 years Partial Complex Epilepsy therapy ) short half life's recurring sporadic nerve pain, Capzasin, Tricalm , Lidoderm / Lidocaine topical Patches ( poor adhesion ) Calamine, Eucerin skin calming cream, I'm certain I missed others.

Turns out the Vitamin B12 had an obvious effect and that I will know for certain by tomorrow and even more so in 72 hours .

INFLAMMATION causes COMPRESSION / cool compress works for me .
Upper Branch V5 Trigeminal Nerve / Fibers

I find, when an attack is starting, that if I take a brisk walk or even 10 to 15 jumping jacks, or running in place the pain subsides for quite awhile. It comes back again but the physical activity definitely stops attack temporarily. Does this have something to do with blood flow? I wonder.

I have been suffering Trigeminal Neuralgia for the last month, but thinking about it I feel it has been coming on for the last 3-4 months very slowly, with pressure in my ears, eyes and sinus.

I have been having acupuncture in my face neck and head and it has made such a difference. My pain was unbelievable, I wanted to cut off my head. I am also taking Vitamin B5 B1 200mg 4 tablets 2 x daily of each. Also Nervagesic (natural) by Mediherb 4 x 2 daily. The B5 is called Pantothenic Acid these all help to calm your nerve's and ease stress while building back nerve covering.

My natural health care professionals told me to de-stress as much as I can, rest and keep taking vitamins including Magnesium in good quantities.

Use heat packs, that is very soothing, stay out of the heat and direct sunlight on your face. If you are suffering with the pain in your teeth, avoid chewing on that side. Eat soft food or soup that needs little or no chewing. Also use a toothpaste for sensitive teeth and brush your teeth up to 5 times a day. This helped ease my pain.

Hope this has helped. I am still suffering but nowhere near as much as I was. Each day the pain seems to lessen. There is hope just hang in there and never stop asking question of people that know what they are talking about. Especially those who have had the same condition.

Hello Stan,

To answer your question, I understand not wanting to use DMSO close to eyes; but to get best effect I need a carrier. So I often use DMSO in cream form. I just use about a teaspoon amount mixed with colloidal silver. That way there will be no dripping of DMSO into eyes. I'd not use above eyebrows and keep an inch away from eyes.