Trigeminal neuralgia is a clinically diagnosed syndrome.

The vast majority of the time, it is of unknown cause or secondary to a blood vessel compressing the trigeminal nerve. The recommended initial treatment is medication. Carbamazepine (Tegretol®) is the drug that has been most studied in this syndrome and has proven to be effective. However, if it is poorly tolerated or does not give you the desired results, do not be discouraged, there are several other drugs that can be substituted or combined with it. Do not hesitate to discuss the different solutions with your doctor. Your opinion and cooperation in the choice of treatment is very important and will certainly have a role to play in the success of the treatment.

In a small percentage of people, neuralgia is caused by a structural injury such as a tumor, multiple sclerosis, or an aneurysm. If you have loss of facial sensitivity, symptoms on both sides of your face, or are under the age of 40, you are more at risk of falling into this category. Your doctor will then have images of your brain taken (magnetic resonance), because if he finds one of these lesions, a specific treatment will be added to that of the painkillers mentioned above.

Nowadays, therefore, there are multiple effective options for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. You must therefore keep a positive attitude while waiting to find, with your doctor, the “recipe” that best relieves you!

D^re Marie-Claude Savage, CHUQ, Quebec