International Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Day on October 7th 2013: Today is the first Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Day, please watch this video and sign the petition to get the World Health Organisation to add this to their ‘Health Topics’ lists to get more research and funding into this debilitating symptom: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/trigeminal-neuralgia-awareness-day/ http://www.tnnme.com/ ©Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me, 2011-2013. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.  

Tomorrow is the first Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Day, focused on bringing awareness about facial pain disorders. This year I have gone through severe TN attacks myself and I therefore want to spread awareness about Trigeminal Neuralgia, also called “the suicide disease” because of the severity of pain experienced. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-8PCv4UWJo&w=420&h=315] “The presumed cause of TN is a blood vessel pressing on the trigeminal nerve as it exits the brainstem. This compression can wear away the protective coating around the nerve (the myelin sheath). TN symptoms can also occur in people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a disease caused by the deterioration of myelin throughout the body, or may be caused by damage to the myelin sheath by compression from a tumour.