trigeminal neuralgia gamma knife procedure

They also told me to bring a CD, which they played during the gamma knife part of it. The gamma knife machine makes no noise and there is no pain -- I brought a CD that I knew had 3-minute long upbeat songs, so I could do a countdown of when the procedure would be done. The aftereffects include facial swelling from the frame -- that started shortly after the gamma knife procedure. I put ice on my face to bring down the swelling.

As many as 90% patients have reduction in symptoms after a month of treatment. Some side effects of facial numbness have been associated. Gamma knife surgery for trigeminal neuralgia has been a safe and effective treatment and better than traditional surgery. Take care.

You need to do research and discuss with the doctor what the best procedure is for you. If you have a blood vessel pressing on the nerve, the Gamma Knife will probably not help -- in those situations, usually a balloon procedure or an MVD is the better option. Best of luck in becoming pain free!

I have typical Trigeminal Neuralgia and had a Gamma Knife treatment 6 months ago. I was told to begin weaning off my medication (Trileptal). Since reducing the medication by 150 mg, I am once again experiencing TN pain triggered by chewing, talking, washing my face, etc. Is this normal when weaning off anti-seizure medications used for TN?

I had Gamma-Knife Surgery 4 months ago for Trigeminal Neuralgia. After the surgery, I felt no different than before. However, recently, I began to feel a twinge in my lip like a oncoming cold sore. Two weeks later, I have almost complete numbness on the entire left side of my face. I am incredible greatful because my pain is gone, but I no longer feel anything. I feel as though I can't move my face even though the PA said it's all within the nerve not the muscle.

Hi Deb, Have you gone back to the surgeon that did the EAR operation. It sound like maybe he/she hit the nerve, during the ear suregery! If I were you I'd also get copies of MY medical records from the ear MD as well as the hospital surgical records. THE TN branch is right behind the ear. You may need them for a consult with another TN specialist ( oh make sure you get any and ALL x-rays MRI and stuff flims and not just the reports!

Gamma Knife is not new to TN. I had 2 rounds of Gamma Knife and 2 rounds of MVD. I still have TN and now I have Phantom pain from all of the treatments. The docs are going to try to restore the nerve and start all over again. Gamma knife runs about 150K per round. Insurance companies are hesitate to approve its use for TN now, since it only helps one-half of the TN patients. It is the least invasive of all treatments, the best of all worlds, ONLY if it works.

I am going twice a week to a Chiropractor to get relief from Trigeminal Neuralgia .He is an expert in in nerve pain treatment.I have Trigeminal Neuralgia since Nov ember 20001..I took Homeopathic treatment,Accupuncture treatment..Since one and half years I am taking Gabapentin,colonzepam,baclofom etc.Pain goes and come.some times it almost blind me due to severe pain. Is there anyone who got cure by Chiropractor.

I have had TN (Trigeminal Neuralgia) now for about 17 years. Sharp stabbing pain at times right side of face, usually centered around upper right teeth/top of lip/bottom of nose area. Have had two Gamma Knife procedures done 10/05 and then 10/08 after pain had returned early '08. Pain has returned this spring and continues. Recent MRI shows no changes from before.

Hi, It is difficult to treat such a persistent post herpetic neuralgia. If you have tried gamma ray knife surgery as well, then there is nothing much in the way of a treatment that can be done. You might have of course tried topical creams, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, steroids, local anesthetics, probably electrical nerve stimulation. If your doctor has not prescribed any of these, you may ask for them. There have been some cases where some amount relief is offered by meditation.

I have trigeminal neuralgia and had a gamma knife procedure to alleviate the pain (it has helped greatly). I am currently taking neurontin, tegretol, and triliptol (not sure of spelling) to help with TN pain. I can obviously go ask my neurologist, but I am not scheduled to see him for a few months and wonder if this is something I should look into right away.

I suffer from trigeminal neuralgia and am currently taking BACLOFEN to help with the pain. I was treated with the Gamma Knife about a year ago without success. A friend also had TN and was treated with an alcohol shot to the face that had to be repeated about 4 weeks later. That was over 10 years ago and he has had NO pain since. I can find only passing references to the alcohol shot to the face. My question is where can I go to get this alcohol shot to the face?

At one point I was up to three different meds then had gamma knife procedure. It worked long enough for me to wene off of two of the the meds then it came back with a vengence but was able to control it with neurontin for a while. Two years ago I began taking Trileptal. Long story short it flared up about 10 weeks ago worse than I've ever had it and haven't been able to get it under control. It has been excrutiating. I worked only one day this week.

I am contemplating the gamma knife procedure - has anyone here done this and had success with it?

I've have had TN since Dec 17th. My internist put me on gabapentin which did not help the pain. My neurologist put me on Tegretol, which did not help the pain. My pain specialist put me on Trileptol, which after slowly increasing the dosage finally controlled the pain. April 22nd I had gamma knife surgery. The pain specialist said it'll be 3 months before we know if it worked. There are five surgery options.

Can you please tell me how long I can expect to have numbness following a rhizotomy? My surgery was yesterday (I have atypical trigeminal neuralgia) and I have been experiencing severe numbness on my bottom lip, the left side of my tongue (can't taste anything but salt), the inside of my cheek (keep biting it!), the outside of my face all the way up to my ear. I realize that it has been less than 24 hours since the procedure but I would like to know when I will regain sensation.

I have had trigeminal neuralgia for almost 5 years. I have had MVD, Gamma Knife, Nerve Blocks and 4 days ago I had Balloon Compression. I have taken just about every medicine you can think of and am on ALOT of medicines. In addition I have migraines with cluster variance (this is what my neurologist diagnosed it as) whatever they are they are horrrible. I have high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, Crohn's disease, TMJ, Interstitial Cystitis, Reflux.

I have had severe pain and numbness on the right side of my face for almost 4 years now. They have ruled out Trigeminal Neuralgia because of the numbness and ruled out Bell's Palsy because of the pain. I have had CT scans of my sinues and 5 different MRI's with contrast and w/o. All came up clear. They have ruled out MS. I even had a lumbar puncture to test what I'm not sure (but neurologist at the time said I needed to).

Has anyone had any experience with using Trignotab as an alternative treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia? I am posting this for a friend who does not have access to a computer. She has suffered from this condition for years (30+), has undergone surgery with short term success, has been assessed for gamma knife treatment but is not a candidate. She is currently taking trileptol and baclofen, and is not sure if she can take the Trignotab with these medications.

I know that occipital neuralgia ( eye TN ) has ruinded peoples lives . Go to you tube, type in trigeminal neuralgia, and you will seee videos of a man who suffered from this ..........let me know how thing's go for you . Good Luck, I know the pain .

Hi neuralgia--yes, the connections and overlap between fibromyalgia and autoimmune disorders, the connections with stress, etc. are interesting (and confusing). Too much for me to figure out. :) I wouldn't say I have trigeminal neuralgia as it typically occurs, because I have had very little in the way of pain.

Each of the surgical techniques employed has some degree of success (not 100%) and attempts to reduce pain signals generated by the trigeminal nerve, which transmits painful sensation from the face (hence the term trigeminal neuralgia). First, there is a procedure called glycerol rhizotomy, whereby the surgeon injects glycerol directly into the nerve under x-ray guidance.

treatment she recieved for this was gamma knife, plus takes the tegratol, alothough since the gamma knife treatment she only had 2 attacks frm this, leaving me to belive that the treatment worked an that maybe she doesn't need the tegratol Retard at all, but hey I'm no doctor.

What I really meant was some medications such as tegretol, anticonvulsants,for example,neuron tin are very promising to treat trigeminal neuralgia. In addition, surgical procedure known as microvascular decompression is promising and yields long term therapeutic effect. you do need to see a neurologist to be fully informed of all available treatment options.

hi again....I looked this up on MAYOCLINIC.COM its referred to as TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA....it follows the branches of the trigeminal nerve...look at the site for more info.

I am trying to see a neurosurgeon, but I am terrifed of both the gamma knife and the mvd. My previous neurologist said that he did not see any blood vessels or tumors pushing on my nerve when he reviewed the mri and cat scans. I just don't know which way would be the lesser evil. Also, I would love to have another child within the next 2 years and I wondered how the radiation of a gamma knife would affect that. I have been on tegretol forever and I hate it.

The AAN stated that other therapies, such as procedures on the collection of nerves that gives off the trigeminal nerve (gasserian ganglion ablation, microvascular decompression, gamma knife which is basically focused radiation, and injection) are possibly helpful for cases that do not respond to therapy. With bilateral TN, an investigation for multiple sclerosis is warranted. This is best conducted by a neurologists.

Trigeminal neuralgia gamma knife procedure

Common Questions and Answers about Trigeminal neuralgia gamma knife procedure

trigeminal-neuralgia