Help For Trigeminal Neuralgia
Eliminating Severe Facial Pain With Complementary Medicine
Apr 20, 2007
Chewing, talking, swallowing, even a breeze blowing gently on the face can cause immense pain to people with irritation of the Trigeminal Nerve. It is the fifth and largest of the cranial nerves which come from the brainstem in the back of the head and carry pain and sensory information from the head and face and cause the muscles of the face and neck to function.
The trigeminal nerve is often responsible for those "ice cream headaches" or the head and face pain that come when eating ice cream or gulping down a cold drink. In that case, typically, the pain goes away as soon as the circulation returns to the nerve across the top of the mouth.
An Integrative Approach
Often a combination of approaches works best. Traditional medical treatment includes: pharmaceuticals, analgesics [pain medications], and surgery. Because it is difficult to control the pain with just one kind of treatment, many people are looking at low-powered lasers, acupuncture, biofeedback, manual therapy and manipulative approaches to decrease pain and improve function in nerves that are irritated by compression, entrapment and a lack of nutrients, inflammation or a decrease in the drainage from the tissues.
Myofascial release, a gentle pain-free hands-on form of Integrative Manual Therapy, can release the tension and compression on a nerve caught in the connective tissue due to an injury or inflammation. Myofascial release often decreases the pain in cases of trigeminal neuralgia, phantom limb pain and tendinitis.
Sometimes the pain of trigeminal neuralgia is due to a lack of proper blood flow to face. This prevents healing and good conductivity. Advanced Strain and Counterstrain is a hands-on positional technique where the client is put in a specific position. It is thought to work by decreasing tension on the blood vessel walls, thereby improving blood flow. This often helps decrease pain in areas that are cold to the touch, indicating a lack of blood flow.
The pain caused by hot inflamed tissue and irritation of the nerve can be decreased with ice or a cold application as well as supplements that support the liver and other anti-inflammatory processes in the body.
Neurofascial Process, a self-care program where the person put one hand on one area and connects it with the other hand to another area, can help decrease inflammation. With trigeminal neuralgia the best hand placements are usually one hand on the face over the area that is painful and the other hand on the low back area. One hand on the painful area and the other hand on the heart for 20 consecutive minutes can also decrease the pain.
Nutritional Approaches
Essential fatty acids often help in nerve conduction problem, including multiple sclerosis, chronic pain and neuralgias. Processed sugar can increase nerve irritation, while green tea can increase availability of antioxidants and decrease inflammation. There is even some evidence that green tea as a mouth wash can decrease cavities (National Institute of Health, 2007).
Viral infections and toxicity issues also contribute to trigeminal neuralgia. Treatment which support the immune system are great, as there is no vaccine for trigeminal neuralgia.
Recent studies have confirmed the effectiveness of acupuncture in various pain syndromes (tension headache, migraine, trigeminal neuralgia, posttraumatic pain, lumbar syndrome) and suggest favorable effects in the rehabilitation of peripheral facial nerve palsy and after stroke. There is sufficient evidence of acupuncture to expand its use into conventional medicine and to encourage further studies of its pathophysiology and clinical value, according to Jellinger, K. A. (2000) in Principles and application of acupuncture in neurology.
The Face Gluten-Free, Pain-Free
Gluten elimination has also been linked to decrease facial pain and an over all decrease the body’s inflammatory response. Neurologic complications are now commonly associated with gluten sensitivity.
A number of cases are mentioned in the medical literature of people with celiac disease [severe gluten sensitivity] and trigeminal neuralgia, who had decreased facial pain when they stopped eating gluten, the protein found in many grains, including wheat, barley and rye.
