Trigeminal neuralgia - treatment. Inflammation of the trigeminal nerve - symptoms

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Trigeminal neuralgia - treatment. Inflammation of the trigeminal nerve - symptoms
Trigeminal neuralgia - treatment. Inflammation of the trigeminal nerve - symptoms
Anonim

An ordinary person, far from medicine, simply cannot know all the diseases that can be encountered at a certain stage of life. In this article, I want to talk about what trigeminal neuralgia is and how to deal with this problem.

trigeminal neuralgia treatment
trigeminal neuralgia treatment

What is this?

At the very beginning, you need to decide on the concepts that you will have to operate in this article.

  1. Neuralgia is a dull, burning pain that occurs along the course of a nerve. As often as possible, people face not only trigeminal neuralgia, but also facial and intercostal neuralgia.
  2. The trigeminal nerve is the most sensitive nerve in the face. Doctors distinguish such branches of the trigeminal nerve:
  • Branch 1: covers the forehead and everything above the brow bone.
  • Branch 2: wing of the nose, upper lip, upper jaw.
  • Branch 3: lower jaw, lower lip and chin.

Reasons

What causes pain that a person experiences when this nerve is inflamed? This occurs when an artery with a nerve and a vein touch at the base of the skull, causing irritation. Why can the trigeminal nerve become inflamed? The reasons may be as follows:

  1. Incorrectly located vessels of the brain can squeeze the nerve.
  2. Problems with blood circulation in the vessels of the brain.
  3. Brain tumors.
  4. Hypocooling of the face, head.
  5. Infection of certain areas of the face. The trigeminal nerve can be irritated by constant sinusitis, and even caries.
  6. Multiple sclerosis. Since in this disease, nerve cells are periodically replaced by connective tissue.
trigeminal nerve treatment
trigeminal nerve treatment

Symptomatics

On what grounds can a diagnosis of trigeminal inflammation be made? Symptoms of this disease are pain that can appear in any part of the face.

  1. If the first branch is inflamed, the pain will be observed mostly in the eye area. "Give" will be in whiskey, nasal root, frontal lobe.
  2. If the second branch is inflamed, pain will be concentrated mostly in the area of the upper jaw. The pain can “move” from the upper lip to the temple and back. It should also be said that this pain is easily confused with a toothache.
  3. If the third branch is inflamed, the pain is first felt in the chin, then it can spread to the lower jaw and ear.

Now it's crystal clear how pain spreads when a person has trigeminal inflammation. Symptoms in this disease can also be confused with symptoms of other diseases, such as, for example, temporal tendinitis or dental problems. That is why, at the first symptoms, it is important to seek medical help in order to make the correct diagnosis and prescribe competent treatment.

Types of pain

Pain in this disease can be of two main types:

  1. Typical pain. It may quiet down from time to time. Shooting character, reminiscent of an electric shock. Pain occurs at the moment of touching certain areas of the face.
  2. Atypical pain. Its character is constant, it affects most of the face. In this case, the treatment is more difficult and longer.
trigeminal nerve inflammation symptoms
trigeminal nerve inflammation symptoms

A few more words about pain

It is worth mentioning that only one pain sensation can make such a diagnosis as trigeminal neuralgia.

  1. Most often the pain will be one-sided.
  2. Her attacks may worsen with the advent of cold weather.
  3. The frequency of pain attacks can be different: it varies from a couple of attacks a day to pain every 10 minutes.
  4. Seizure duration: a few seconds.
  5. Pain can occur not only when touching the face, but also when brushing teeth, chewing food and even talking.
  6. Most often occurs suddenly.
  7. Spreads along the branches of the trigeminal nerve.
  8. Pain may increase over time, become more frequent.

Diagnosis

How can a correct diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia be made? Diagnosis of the disease should be carried out exclusively by a doctor. On your own, you can make a mistake with the diagnosis, and compare the symptoms with a completely different disease. What will the doctor do?

  1. Neurological examination with pain assessment.
  2. Palpation of the face. Needed to determine the degree of damage to the trigeminal nerve.
  3. MRI - magnetic resonance imaging.
  4. Computer diagnostics.

Treatment

If a patient has trigeminal neuralgia, the treatment of this disease can be carried out in various ways. So, it can be conservative, that is, you can prescribe medications, physiotherapy. Treatment can also be radical. In this case, minimally invasive procedures are used, as well as surgical intervention.

inflammation of the trigeminal nerve on the face
inflammation of the trigeminal nerve on the face

Conservative getting rid of the problem

As mentioned above, if the patient has trigeminal neuralgia, treatment can be conservative. What can the doctor prescribe in this case?

  1. Anspasmodics. These are drugs that relieve pain, significantly facilitating the patient's condition. These drugs may be given alone, but are most commonly used with anticonvulsants. Example: the drug "Baclofen" is attributed together with the drug "Phenytoin" or "Carbamazepine".
  2. Anticonvulsant drugs. To stop the pain associated with inflammation of the trigeminal nerve, doctors most often prescribe a drug such as Carbamazepine. You can also use other drugs of the same group: these can be drugs such as Lamotrigine or Gabapentin. The dosage of these drugs, if necessary, can be increased. However, this can be done only with the permission of the attending physician. It is also worth remembering that this can lead to side effects such as nausea, dizziness, loss of energy, drowsiness.

Alcohol blockades

If the patient has inflammation of the trigeminal nerve, treatment can be carried out with the help of alcohol blockades. Their main goal: freezing the trigeminal nerve. This is followed by an analgesic effect. With this treatment, the patient will be injected with the drug "Ethanol" into one of the branches of the trigeminal nerve. Relief occurs almost immediately, the pain can disappear for a maximum of a day. However, she comes back anyway. If the nerve damage is quite strong, the effect of these injections is not so long. The number of injections allowed varies depending on the degree of the disease and is prescribed exclusively by the doctor. This treatment also has its drawbacks. This method is fraught with the following complications:

  1. Bleeding.
  2. Hematomas.
  3. Vascular damage.
  4. Injury to the nerve itself.

How will the process of alcohol blockade go if the patient has inflammation of the trigeminal nerve on his face? Drugs for neuralgia, which the doctor may prescribe:

  1. Conduction anesthesia. First, an injection of the drug "Novocain" (2%) is made, dosage: 1-2 ml.
  2. And only after that the doctor injects a few ml of 80% alcohol, necessarily in combination with the Novocain preparation.

It must be said that this procedure should be carried out exclusively on an outpatient basis, because it requires skills and abilities.

trigeminal neuralgia diagnosis
trigeminal neuralgia diagnosis

Surgery

How else can you get rid of such a problem as inflammation of the trigeminal nerve on the face? So, in some cases, the patient may be prescribed surgical intervention. What can a doctor do in such a case?

  1. "Release" the nerve from the pressure of the vessel on it.
  2. The trigeminal nerve itself or its node can be destroyed. This is done in order to stop the pain syndrome.

It is worth saying that such operations are minimally invasive.

Bloodless Surgery

If the patient has trigeminal neuralgia, treatment can be done with radiosurgery such as cyberknife or gamma knife.

  1. Gamma Knife. An innovative tool in radiosurgery. With this intervention, the patient wears a special helmet on his head. Gamma rays are directed to the pathological focus and thus relieve the patient of the problem.
  2. Cyber knife. In this case, the treatment is also carried out with a weak dose of radiation, but here the helmet is not worn. With this procedure, the emitting head works, which itself finds the pathological focus and “removes” it.

There are many advantages of this method of treatment. First of all, it is a non-invasive intervention. There is no risk of bleeding and other complications that may occur during a conventional operation. Also, the patient does not require hospitalization, there is no preoperative preparation. It is also important that anesthesia is not required. And another huge plus of this method of treatment: there is no postoperative period. After the procedure, the patient can immediately return to their daily activities.

inflammation of the trigeminal facial nerve
inflammation of the trigeminal facial nerve

Other ways to deal with this disease

If the patient has trigeminal neuralgia, treatment can be carried out in the following ways:

  1. Decompression of vessels. In this case, during surgery, the patient will be “released” the nerve. The doctor’s vessel itself can both be displaced and removed. This procedure can be performed if the patient has an abnormal placement of blood vessels in the cranial cavity. However, after such an intervention, a return of the pain syndrome is still possible. In addition, complications such as facial numbness, double vision, hearing loss, and even stroke are also possible.
  2. Balloon compression. In this procedure, the doctor inserts a catheter into the trigeminal ganglion, at the tip of which a small balloon is placed. It gradually inflates, which leads to the fact that the nerve bursts. This treatment is carried out using CT or MRI. Nuance: after these actions, the disease may return. Complications such as partial facial numbness or weakness of masticatory and facial muscles may also occur.
  3. If the patient is affected by the trigeminal nerve, treatment can be carried out through a procedure such as rhizotomy. This is the intersection of the nerve that is responsible for pain. In this case, frequency rhizotomy is possible, when only the edge of the nerve is destroyed under local anesthesia. But radiofrequency trigeminal rhizotomy is also possible, when a doctor inserts a special needle under the base of the skull. A small impulse is applied to it, which leads to the destruction of the nerve. It is worth saying that this method is most often used in the treatment of the elderly, as well as patients with multiple sclerosis. The effect of this procedure lasts quite a long time. Pain may take at least a few years to appear.
drugs for neuralgia
drugs for neuralgia

Traditional medicine

If a patient is diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia, drug treatment is not the only way to get rid of this problem. You can also try to be cured by various folk remedies.

  1. To prepare the medicine, it is necessary to chop the onion, potatoes and pickles, pour everything with diluted wine vinegar to the state of gruel. The resulting mass must be insisted for about 2 hours. At this time, we must remember that the medicine must be shaken. It is best to do this every 15 minutes. And only after that you can be treated with this remedy. Compresses are made from it, which are placed on the affected areas of the face twice a day - in the morning and in the evening. The compress is kept on the face for 1 hour.
  2. If the patient has inflammation of the trigeminal facial nerve, you can use the juice obtained from black radish for treatment. It just needs to be rubbed along the nerve into the skin. This must be done three times a day.
  3. You can also prepare a healing infusion. To do this, you need to pour one tablespoon of yarrow herb with a glass of boiling water. Then everything is infused for at least 1 hour, filtered. The medicine should be taken one tablespoon three times a day 10 minutes before the main meals.
  4. If the trigeminal nerve is inflamed, treatment can be done with fir oil. It must be rubbed into the skin about 6 times a day. It is best to use a cotton pad for this. Do not be afraid if the skin at the site of rubbing turns red and swells. The pain will soon subside, the burn will go away, and the problem will not disturb.
  5. People say that ordinary boiled eggs help to cope with pain. If the patient has an inflamed trigeminal nerve, you need to boil one hard-boiled egg, peel it, cut it in half and apply it to the skin in those places where the pain is localized. Soon the disease will disappear.
  6. Ordinary chamomile tea can cope with pain. It is very simple to prepare it: 1 teaspoon of grass must be poured with a glass of boiling water, insist a little. The medicine is ready. Now you have to put tea in your mouth and keep it there for a long time.

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