Thanks for the vote of confidence Nina.

i agree this site should not be removed. This is very helpful to me because I have sever facial pain due to 24/7 aggressive involunatry movement in my face. I’ve been to at least 15 specialists, including neurosurgeons, neurologists, pain management, ENT, etc… No one knows nor understand this is happening so all brushed me off. I just had an MRI of the neck and it shows budging discs at C3 to C7 and T1 and cervical canal stenosis. I didn’t even know I have neck problem because the severe 24/7 facial pain has been consuming all my energy. I’m going to book an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon so he can review my MRI to see if there’s a correlation between my facial pain and the neck issue.

Red, doctors are not always correct.. Infact I have found that if they don’t see it on an x-ray, it doesn’t exist . Times have changed, doctors do not bother to read up on many diseases anymore. They don’t even understand the drugs they shove down peoples throat, but they do understand the benefits for themselves of pushing these pills… I don’t care what you have written, or what letters you have after your name, it doesn’t make you correct, or God, which is what you asre trying to sound like. You do not own this sight, so move on.

I disagree with Red.. This article should remain. My mother has suffered for 4 years with TN, going from doctor to doctor. All they have given her is shots of this and plenty of dope to swallow. She has a herniated disk in her neck which up till now has always been pushed aside as far as being a possible reason for this facial pain. I have found a doctor that believes as I have from the start, that this TN pain can be caused by another factor. Finally she will meet with this doctor in 2 weeks to be examined. TN is a tricky pain and I for one think every avenue should be checked. You’d be stupid not to think twice about this article…

Thank you for the feedback Red. We can see your point as readers may misconstrue the two separate entities discussed in this article. It is important to note that the first cervical nerves do have both an excitatory and inhibitory interaction with the trigeminal nerve. High frequency cervical spine stimulation is one of the modalities in refractory trigeminal neuralgia. Nevertheless, we will flag this article for our medical editor to review. Your input is greatly appreciated.

I understand your reservations on Wikipedia resources, and share them to some extent myself. Where I take measured exception is with the implication that compressions or dislocations in the cervical spine may be associated with trigeminal neuralgia or trigeminal neuropathic pain (sometimes called “atypical” trigeminal neuralgia).

I deal with and support chronic face pain patients every day, and I hear repeated stories of chiropractors and osteopaths who claim to treat chronic face pain by manipulation of the cervical spine. Results have been very spotty at best, and in some cases quite negative, with some patients experiencing increased and persistent pain after such “treatments”.

This article was drawn to my attention by a chronic face pain patient who claimed that it validates chiropractic and osteopathic adjustment as effective for trigeminal neuralgia. It does not in fact do that. The jury is still out and there have been no double-blind trials that I’m aware of.

The single reference in this article is to a piece in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. A careful reading of the reference suggests that the symptoms of “cervicogenic face pain” are distinct from those of trigeminal neuralgia, and to a lesser degree from those of trigeminal neuropathy. However, this distinction is not carried over into the article on Health Hype.

I would suggest that a medical editor’s footnote might serve to qualify the article appropriately. “Cervicogenic face pain is medically distinct from classic Trigeminal Neuralgia and is generally treated by other means.”

Thank you for your response Red. We will inform our medical editor to assess this article and your response in this regard. Unfortunately we will not consider a reference to any Wikipedia material given the nature of the website and that the content can be changed by contributors. Is there any part of the Health Hype article that you take exception to?

Ear ringing might deserve the medical name “tinnitis”. It is commonly associated with compressions of a ganglion along the auditory nerve, by blood vessels. Blurry vision would generally be associated with other factors such as arterio-veinous malformation, or benign tumors near the optic nerve. I would suggest that you get worked up by a neurologist and have a high resolution MRI done with and without contrast agent, to eliminate such issues and develop a treatment plan.

Regards,

Probably the best reference would be the Trigeminal Neuralgia Fact Sheet from the US National Institutes for Neurological Disorder and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/trigeminal_neuralgia/detail_trigeminal_neuralgia.htm .

Fair disclosure: I wrote the most recent version and coordinated external review by doctors on the Medical Advisory Board of the US Trigeminal Neuralgia Association. Thus the NINDS position reflects the opinions of several medical doctors who specialize in treatment of chronic neurological face pain. I also wrote most of the Wikipedia entry on Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia.

Regards,
Richard A. Lawhern, Ph.D.
Moderator and Resident Research Analyst
“Living With TN” — an online community within the Ben’s Friends cluster for patients with rare medical disorders.