Member-only story
Trigeminal Neuralgia and Upper Cervical Chiropractic
Trigeminal neuralgia is a condition that causes painful sensations similar to an electric shock on one side of the face. This chronic pain affects the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensation from your face to your brain.
If you have trigeminal neuralgia, even mild stimulation of your face — such as from brushing your teeth or putting on makeup — may trigger a jolt of excruciating pain.
The most typical form of trigeminal neuralgia is type 1, or TN1, which causes sudden and severe facial pain attacks. The pain can last between seconds and minutes. Attacks can occur in cycles lasting as long as 2 hours.
Type 2, or TN2, is the atypical form of the disorder and is characterized by a constant pain that people have described as aching, stabbing, and burning at a lower intensity than TN1. A person may experience both types of pain, sometimes at the same time, which can be incapacitating.
Symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia
Someone with trigeminal neuralgia may have one or more of the following symptoms:
- sudden attacks of severe, shooting pain in the face that last between seconds to around 2 minutes
- pain affecting one side of the face
- excruciating pain in the lower…
