Neuralgia is a condition accompanied by acute paroxysmal pains in the area of nerve trunks location. Neuralgia is not unique to elderly patients: they are often observed in young people, especially in women. Among the applications for medical care, a significant part of such pathologies is in the defeat of the facial nerve.
What is trigeminal neuralgia
The tee nerve is one of the components of the innervation of the skull. Its main function is to ensure the sensitivity of the face, therefore the branches are located on both sides and approach all organs of the facial part of the head.
Disease in the form of a nerve function disorder with short but extremely severe pain attacks is called neuralgia of the trigeminal nerve.
Pathology often has a chronic course: the acute condition is replaced by a long painless period.
Causes of
It is believed that the main etiologic factor of the disease may be nerve compression by vessels with a broken physical shape or abnormally overgrown, sclerotic plaques, less often tumors in the cerebellum, neoplasms of cranial nerves.
Other causes of neuralgia include:
- narrowing of the bone channel due to inflammation of the gums, maxillary sinuses, caries;
- congenital specific structure of the skull base bones;
- in persons with a weakened immune system, neuralgia can cause the herpes virus present in the body.
Often, the exact cause of the disease can not be established. In this case, neuralgia is considered idiopathic .
Provoking repeated bouts of pain can:
- transferred stresses;
- subcooling;
- wind impact;
- injury to the face;
- decreased immune defense of the body;
- long conversation;
- chewing on solid foods;
- shaving, teeth cleaning.
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Symptoms of the disease
All symptoms of the disease are localized along the nerve trunk, which has undergone pathological effects( jaw, forehead, eyebrow area, cheek).Usually the most painful are the points of approach of the branches of the nerve to the epidermis( eye socket, chin).
Patients describe their feelings in different ways, but more often - in the form of intolerable, burning-pulling pain, lasting from a couple of seconds to several minutes. Unpleasant feelings in most cases occur in the nasolabial triangle, then spread to wider areas.
A person with spontaneous neuralgia can abruptly die off or begin to rub face intensively. Sudden pain can also be given to the ears, teeth, scalp, and also to the fingers.
Frequent phenomenon - painful tick because of muscle spasms in the area of the affected nerve.
Other symptoms that can complement the clinical picture of neuralgia of the facial nerve:
- redness of the facial skin( common or in the form of spots);
- burning after the cessation of intense pain;
- uncontrolled salivary, lacrimation;
- no pain at night, and also a decrease in severe pressure on the skin.
In some people, the disease has single episodes during life, in others it occurs in the form of remissions and exacerbations. The danger of neuralgia is that over time it is able to progress with increasing pain and frequent acute periods.
Unpredictable seizures cause mental disorders: a person can lose self-control in anticipation of pain, stop eating properly, neglect hygiene, quit work, physical activity.
In particularly severe cases, deep depression can even lead to suicide.
The photo shows the main places of pain localization in trigeminal neuralgia:
Treatment of
Medical
When choosing drugs for the treatment of a disease, its causes are revealed, which are detected with careful diagnosis and differential comparison with infectious, vascular and tumor pathologies of the head.
Most often, one or more drugs are prescribed from the following groups:
- Antiepileptic drugs( carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, diphenin, acetidipole, tebantin).Most often, carbamazepine is used in the first line of treatment, but due to side effects, mandatory monitoring of blood counts and regular evaluation of liver function are required. The course of treatment can be prolonged with a phased reduction in dosage.
- In case of inefficiency, second-line drugs from the same pharmaceutical group( finlepsin, diphenin, phenytoin) are used.
Additional medications:
- Muscle relaxants of central action( baclofen, baclosan, sirdalud) to eliminate spasticity of muscles in neuralgia.
- Antidepressants are recommended for use before bedtime( amitriptyline, trazodone).
- Group B vitamins( intramuscularly).Medications of choice are milgamma, neurorubin.
- Locally, you can use any creams and ointments with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory components( fast-gel, diclac, diclofenac) to alleviate the pain syndrome.
- For phonophoresis, electrophoresis with novocaine, lidocaine, UHF, acupuncture, microcurrent therapy is performed to relieve pain in a medical institution. Relief to the patient can also be obtained by taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, analgesics in tablets.
- Usually, after 1-3 months, in the absence of results from conservative therapy, operative intervention is planned( decompression of nerve trunks with the help of microsurgery techniques).
Massage for trigeminal neuralgia
Before self-performing massage, consult your doctor to avoid a new attack of pain with the wrong technique.
The main techniques used:
- rubbing shoulders, neck, hands;
- stroking the occiput, the lower part of the scalp before going to the neck;
- light vibrating movements in the area of cheekbones, cheeks;
- massage with pads of fingers in the eyebrows, forehead, nasolabial triangle.
All movements are performed without strong pressure. It is allowed to use a vibrating massager( with the permission of the attending physician).The duration of the session is 2-5 minutes each day, the course - up to 25 procedures.
Gymnastics
The movements and contractions of the facial muscles cause not only relief during the next attack of the disease, but also contribute to reducing the compression of the nerve branches in the future. Additional positive effects of gymnastics:
- improved blood circulation;
- optimization of lymph drainage;
- restoration of conduction of nerve impulses( in case of its violation);
- prevention of stagnation in the muscles.
To perform the exercises, it is recommended to stand in front of the mirror in order to exercise better control over the process. One session of gymnastics includes such activities:
- Slopes and circular rotation of the head( 2 minutes).
- Pulling the neck and head as far as possible towards each shoulder( 4 times).
- Stretching the lips in a smile, bringing them to the "tube"( 6 times).
- Drawing air into the cheeks, exhaling through a narrow gap in the lips( 4 times).
- Pulling the cheeks( 6 times).
- Closing and opening of the eyes with a strong contraction of the eyelids( 6 times).
- Lifting eyebrows upwards with simultaneous forehead fixation( 6 times).
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Traditional methods of
The means of alternative medicine are unlikely to cure such a disease, but it is quite possible to alleviate the pain, relax the muscles and "postpone" a new attack. The most useful and effective methods are:
- Birch buds insist on vodka( 3 tablespoons of kidneys per 0.25 liters of vodka) for 20 days. Then compresses are performed on the affected area daily.
- Rub horseradish and apply it to the skin of the face for 5-10 minutes in the form of lotion.
- Collect lilac buds( 50 g), boil in 300 ml.water for 15 minutes. Then melt 2 spoons of pork fat and combine with 1 spoon of broth. Ointment is used daily, and from the decoction make compresses with an exposure time of 30 minutes.
- It will be useful to drink tea daily from the leaves of mint, spray, raspberry leaves, St. John's wort. These plants relieve inflammation, relax the muscles, improve the body's resistance.
Forecast for convalescence and prevention of neuralgia
As a rule, exacerbations of pain occur in the spring-autumn periods.
Early treatment of a doctor can help prevent a recurrence of the disease, as more than 70% of trigeminal neuralgia episodes are completely stopped by the use of anticonvulsants and no longer return.
Particularly easily amenable to medical therapy of pathology due to trauma, as well as diseases that have developed in young people. In old age, it is not rare that only surgical intervention returns the patient to a full life.
For the prevention of neuralgia it is necessary to comply with such measures:
- timely treatment of teeth, sinusitis, sinusitis;
- is not supercooled;
- to reduce the harmful effects of stress;
- to increase immunity, to be hardened;
- in time to eliminate any acute infections.
Trigeminal neuralgia is a hard-to-treat but treatable disease. The observance of preventive measures and the correct and timely treatment started are the guarantee of a return to a full life.
Neurosurgeon physician on trigeminal neuralgia: