1. Morganne Brown IT 2010 GSU November 7, 2013

2.  Sharp, shooting pain that stems from the fifth cranial nerve.  Pain lasts short amounts of time, typically and is said to be the most excruciating pain that exists.

3.  Mostly unknown  Some possibilities are:  Aging  Multiple Sclerosis  Traumatic Accidents  For example, a massage client of Laura Abbott, MS, LMT was in a car accident that forced her skull bones against the trigeminal nerve, leading to her experiencing trigeminal neuralgia.

4.  The slightest of catalysts can trigger pain from the trigeminal nerve in someone that has trigeminal neuralgia.  Actions/factors such as:  Brushing fingers across face  Talking  Wind  Applying make-up  Eating  Sneezing

5.  Medication  Surgery  Rhizotomy  This causes facial numbness due to the destruction of some of the nerve fibers  Drugs such as anticonvulsants  Severing of the nerve  Causes the face to droop

6.  15,000 new cases/year in the U.S.  Females are more likely to experience it  Nicknamed the “suicide disease” because after 3 years of having it, about 50% of people commit suicide  Patients tend to be over 50 years old

7.  This “suicide disease” is largely a mystery to the scientific world.  Women over 50 who have MS or have been in a traumatic accident are the most likely to get trigeminal neuralgia.  The pain is excruciating and can be stimulated by the simplest brush on the cheek.  It deals with the 5 th cranial nerve.  There are several ways to cope with this disease.